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History of Olvera Street • The indigenous people of the Tongva Nation, the aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles Basin had long been established near the river when King Carlos the III of Spain ordered the settlement of the territory by Felipe de Neve thus sending 44 families on the long journey from Mexico to Alta California to start the pueblo de La Reina De Los Angeles in 1781. • Olvera Street is located on the general site of the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles, near the Plaza, the Plaza Church and the Zanja Madre. Originally called Vine Street, in 1877 it was renamed after Agustin Olvera, the first judge of the county of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, by the 1920’s the once robust community had become a dangerous and dilapidated area long abandoned by its prosperous founders.
History of Olvera Street (cont.) • So when Mrs. Christine Sterling, a wealthy young matron who loved history, found herself surrounded by original adobes and run down historic buildings, she began a crusade that would change her life and preserve the heritage of Los Angeles. • Along with several other wealthy citizens of Los Angeles, she founded the “Plaza de Los Angeles Corporation,” and became its lifelong manager. Mrs. Sterling opened Olvera Street to the general public in April 1930. Although there have been many developments in the last seventy years, her idea of a Mexican Marketplace still exists and continues to attract visitors from around the world
Some of The Events That Are Held At Olvera Street: • Dia De Los Muertos • Las Posadas • Los Tres Reyes • Fiesta De La Candelaria • Blessing of The Animals • Fiesta De Las Flores
Dia de los Muertos • This celebration that merges pre-Columbian beliefs with Catholic rituals. • People honor their loved ones who have passed away. • Activities on Olvera Street include children’s workshops, music, dancing, parades, unique altars and more! • Dia De Los Muertos on Olvera Street
Las Posadas • Christmas celebrations from December 16th through the 24th. • This recreation of Mary and Joseph's search for a "room at the inn." is presented by the Olvera Street merchants, their family and friends. • Visitors are encouraged to join the nightly candle light processions and Christmas carol singing in Spanish and English. • Las Posadas in Olvera Street
Los Tres Reyes: Epiphany of the Three Kings • January 6. This traditional holiday represents the day the three kings arrive at the nativity with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the baby Jesus. • Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar are depicted in a colorful procession commemorating the journey following the star to Bethlehem. • In Mexico and other Latin countries many children receive their Christmas gift on this day. We on Olvera street celebrate this tradition with prizes,free champurado (Mexican traditional chocolate drink) and pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) as well as a Piñata filled with candies for the children to break and enjoy.
Fiesta de la Candelaria • Olvera street Merchants have been celebrating the Candlemas, or 'Fiesta de la Candelaria" on Feb. 2 for over 10 years • Candelaria is the Christian festival commemorating the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. • The name Candelaria comes from the procession of candles, inspired by the words of Simeon "a light to lighten the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32).
Blessing of the Animals • The Blessing of the Animals is a traditional event dating to 1930 that is held every Sabado de Gloria (Saturday before Easter). • The event was originally held in conjunction with the Feast Day of Saint Anthony of the Desert, but it was changed • The original procession has grown into an all-day event with vendors, performers, and a procession where participants bring their animals to be blessed by religious authorities and others to take advantage of better weather. • Video of blessing of the animals
Fiesta De Las Flores • The entire Monument, including the colorful Olvera Street Mexican Marketplace is decorated to create scenes from Los Angeles’ historic past. • Various areas provide opportunities for both amateur and professional photographers alike. • Local professional & amateur musicians provide entertainment.
La America Tropical • 1932, by David Alfaro Siqueiros • Upon his expulsion from Mexico in 1932 for radical political militancy, David Alfaro Siqueiros came to Los Angeles for six months. During that brief time, he completed three murals. The first, "Street Meeting," was painted at the Chouinard School of Art, where he taught a class on fresco painting. He painted the last mural, "Portrait of Present Day Mexico" (which still exists), at a home in Pacific Palisade. But Siqueiros' most important mural in Los Angeles was his second -- "Tropical America." The powerful political statement was executed along the exterior of the second floor of Olvera Street’s Italian Hall, where the Plaza Art Center was located.
La America Tropical • A Mayan pyramid in the background is overrun by vegetation, while an armed Peruvian peasant and a Mexican campesino (farmer)sit on a wall in the upper right corner, ready to defend themselves. • As it turned out, no one but the artist and his close assistant knew that at the center of its 82-foot length, among the images of Mexican jungles and Mayan antiquity, was what Siqueiros had painted in by night, at the last possible minute: a tormented figure of an indigenous Mexican lashed to a cross, with an eagle -- an American eagle, it was thought -- poised to strike.
David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) • But it took the political and social upheavals of the Vietnam War and the Chicano Civil Rights movement 35 years later for the prophecy be realized. For when murals began appearing in urban neighborhoods across the nation during the 1960's, Tropical America acquired its most far-reaching significance by becoming their predecessor and prototype. • Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and is joined by Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera as the 20th Century's most influential muralists. They revolutionized mural content and style by portraying Mexico's rich history and contemporary economic conditions in visually bold political terms. Inspired philosophically, influenced by Marxism in his treatment of class struggle, Siqueiros believed that public murals were a powerful medium to make his work accessible to a broad audience traditionally ignored by elitist art institutions. After becoming Secretary of the Mexican Communist Party in 1928 he was frequently jailed or expelled from Mexico and nearly gave up painting.
