Originally Posted by kef0913
mlshanks, do you have some deep rooted anger towards Olvera St? It is hardly as horrible as you are making it out to be.
Sorry, but I dispise tourista shlock being sold as history. And frankly, I'd say it's *more* horrible than I let on, but I toned it down for the civilians.
Not sure what you mean by the "real Los Angeles treasures"
Places that are an authentic part of LA history, and unique to our community, not faux Mexican tourista kitch.
...the last time I checked Chinatown was almost entirely Thai and Viet Namese nowadays. The "real" chinatown is in Alhambra.
What in the world are you talking about? LA's Chinatown has been the center for Chinese life in the LA area since the 1850s. While it's boundries have shifted around over the years (it started on the ford of the LA river UNDER what is now Union Station) and significant portions of what is now quaint and Mexican were built for Chinese shop in the Olvera St area.
Take a look here:
http://www.chinatownla.com/ or
Also I have never seen "Hispanic merchants in bad Mexican folk costumes" on Olvera St. Mostly it is just working class Hispanic merchants selling bad trinkets. Pretty much the same stuff you see in Tijuana.
Guess you've never hit it on a big weekend festival... The merchants association love to trot out the polyester costumes for the touristas then.
And yes, it's the same crap you can buy in TJ for two -three times the price.
There is the Avila Adobe, though, which is historically accurate and on Olvera St.
I could go on and on about why the restoration and furnishing of the Avila Adobe (like most of Olvera St.) is historically
INaccurate, but suffice to say that when the historian hired by the city of LA tried to revise some of the worst of the signage and furniture in the house, her fireing was engineered by the Merchant's Assoc. and the Docents... Because they don't want anything that disturbs their quaint touristy "Ramona" view of early LA history.
Other than your preference for sandwhiches over Mexican food, what does Phillipe's have to do with L.A. history any more than Las Golondrinas does? They have both been around for decades and are in downtown L.A.
I don't have a "preference for sandwhiches over Mexican food," I like both. But Las Golindrinas (founded in the late 50s I believe) is barely passable American-Mexican food at premium tourist prices, you can get better and more authentic for less money at
Grand Central Market downtown, say at Ana Maria's or Roast To Go (whose Carnita Gorditas are a work of art). Or going farther afield,
El Cholo Cafe down Western near Pico is *the* old line Mexican restauraunt...being in the same family since 1927. (...of course, given LA's shifting racial settlement patterns, it's now in Koreatown
) The Green Corn Tamales are a seasonal treat, and the
The staff at Phillipe's knows no more about L.A. than anyone else.
Oh? Go read the walls at Phillipe's for a quick lesson in LA history. Or chat w/ the News vendor, who last I was in not only had an encylopedic knowledge of town, but whose family had run the stand since Phillipe's opened in the 20s.
To the OP I would say to decide for yourself. The wikipedia link that mlshanks provided is a good one. Here is also another web site to look at for more accurate information on Olvera St.
http://www.olvera-street.com/
Ah, the merchant's association website...
Yeah, the people who are profiting from this faux-Mexican Disneyland are exactly the ones to tell its history. [sigh]
Olvera street was never the sort of quaint Mexican craft market that it depicts... It was a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural melting pot.
The fights the following two museums in the Olvera St. historic district had in reclaiming their turf and their portion of history are epic....and interestingly not recorded in merchant's association website. (and largely glossed over in their own sites, due to the political clout the merchants still hold)
http://firehousejailmuseum.tripod.com/hihf/index.html
http://www.camla.org/
http://firehousejailmuseum.tripod.com/hihf/index.html