I have a friend who's coming to visit, and really wants to do the "tourist thang," which includes taking the train up from San Diego and going to Olvera Street. I haven't been there in years. What is/are the best restaurant(s) to try? Any parking tips? I hear it can be a bear to find a place to park.

Thanks in advance!

I would skip Olvera Street. It is a throwback to the bygone days when Hispanics were a minority in L.A. Nowadays, Hispanic culture in L.A. is... everywhere. Like its next door neighbor Chinatown, Olvera Street is in seedy downtown L.A. where nobody goes unless they work there or have jury duty. Also like Chinatown, you will find far better ethnic cuisine of your choice in whatever neighborhood you happen to be in. If you really need a genuine Mexican serape, find a weekend flea market at a community college or visit the Tijuana border. I would only recommend Olvera Street to someone changing Amtrak trains across the street at Union Station and who has some time to kill.

Oops. You did mention your friend is arriving by train. So you will already be there. Park at Union Station and walk over.

mbstone is right. Olvera St. is nothing more than a flee market now. If your friend is going back to SD and you have 30 minutes to kill before they head back, then go.

While I don't LOVE Olvera street, I don't think it's as bad as all that. True, better food can be had elsewhere, but it is kinda cool to see where LA started and to go to the couple historic houses (sorry, I don't remember the name, but they are easy to find, its only a block long after all). Also, walk around the corner and tour the fire house. I don't think you can go down anymore, but next to the fire house was also the entrance to the Chinese catacombs.

Most of the lots in the are charge $5 or more to park, depending on weekday/weekend, but you can just park at Union Station and walk over if your friend is taking the train in. Don't know if I would make a day of it, but its not a bad way to kill an hour or two.

The best restaurant, and it is quite good, is Las Golindrinas. It has been there forever. Last time we were there the doorman at our hotel wanted to help us with directions, I asked if Las Golindrinas was still open and he brought up a big smile and said Yes ma'm and it is still good. When the taxi dropped us by the church and pointed to the restaurant, he also advised us to take the subway back assuring us it was safe, cheaper, and stopped right by our hotel.

Olvera St is a tourist thing, but it's also a vibrant part of downtown LA. I see more Latinos there on a Sunday than gueros. And they're buying the kitschy stuff and eating churros! Since Olvera street is directly across from Union Station, no problem. The train station itself is a classic and should be enjoyed. Notice the seats, the ceiling, the tiles, the woodwork around the ticket places, the rose gardens, everything from the 30's that made train travel glamorous is still there. Including the hobos. Also nearby across from Olvera St. is Philippe's home of the original French dip sandwich and 5 cent coffee if you're so inclined.

I don't know why you are looking for parking if taking the train, but there is parking, you just have to look around. If you're meeting her at Union Station, there is parking there, or the Hill Street garage, both expensive. During the week there is a DART or something mini-van that takes you around the area for 25 cents or so. With a good driver it's better than any tour bus. You see and can visit Chinatown, the jewlery district and the fabulous art in the Bunker Hill area. Have a drink at the Biltmore, then taxi back to Union Station. What a great day!

As a historian, I beg you, don't subject more people to the fake Olvera Street that was Christine Sterling's 1930s impression of a Mexican market that never existed in the heart of Los Angeles... It's freaking auto club kitch in the oldest part of town, and bears no relation to traditional California culture. Hell, the real history of the place is so hidden by fake Mexican that one could hardly tell it existed. For example, the building at the far east, is the Italian-American hall...and that of the far west, a traditional Chinese store. All the Hispanic merchants in bad Mexican folk costumes wouldn't know the history of the town if it bit them in the backside.

Taking a San Diegan to Olvera Street is sort of like taking a Frenchman to the Paris themed casino in Vegas. It's erzatz....and not even a very good replica or fantasy. There's nothing there that your guest can not get better in her home town, cheaper in TJ, or more historically authentic in Old Town San Diego.

Better to take her to eat down the street from Union Station at Phillipe's, a real Los Angeles institution. Or explore Chinatown or Little Tokyo with your guest. Or park at the station and take the red line subway out to Grand Central Market on Broadway where there are all sorts of great places to get a good lunch from Mexican to seafood....and then walk 4 blocks to the LA Public Library. Or park near Hollywood & Highland, ride the Red Line in, and return to explore on Hollywood Blvd. Or go down to the Fashion district. Take some ideas from HERE

Why not celebrate the real Los Angeles treasures...
Rather than a historical abomination?

mlshanks, do you have some deep rooted anger towards Olvera St? It is hardly as horrible as you are making it out to be.

Not sure what you mean by the "real Los Angeles treasures" but the last time I checked Chinatown was almost entirely Thai and Viet Namese nowadays. The "real" chinatown is in Alhambra. 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. There is the Avila Adobe, though, which is historically accurate and on Olvera St.

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. The staff at Phillipe's knows no more about L.A. than anyone else. The food is good, but that sort of depends on what you are in the mood for, doesn't it?

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/

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.

Places that are an authentic part of LA history, and unique to our community, not faux Mexican tourista kitch.

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

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.

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.


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

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.

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

You really must have thing for Olvera St. I've never said it was the end all be all of Hispanic L.A. but the OP was just talking about visiting for a bit with their friend.

As far as Chinatown goes - um - have you seen the schlock stores there, or the signs in Viet Namese? Have you been to Alhambra? The very things you are saying about Olvera St could equally be applied to Chinatown. Bad costumes trotted out for holidays, schlocky tourist stores, and inferior restaurants.

While it is true that Chinatown was once the center of Chinese life in L.A. it is also true that Olvera St. was once a true part of Hispanic culture in L.A. Of course at the time that Olvera St was a truly representative of L.A. most of L.A. was Hispanic (moreso than even now). Both are now more designed to separate tourists from their money.

As a place to meet, have lunch, and maybe take a look at an historic house, there are much worse places in L.A. than Olvera St. I am sure you will disagree...

Now now boys(?). To know so much about Olvera Street, you have to have been there yourself, mlshanks (and on big holidays, no less!), so why deprive our friends from the south the opportunity to see it for themselves. Methinks they will not be too impressed, but it's a fun half hour.

I will agree that Grand Central Market offers better food (and an opportunity to see the tortilla-making machine in action, which I find fascinating), and by no means should anyone buy a margarita at Las Golindrinas, but in a city with precious little in the way of "history," Olvera Street is a fine starting place for a visitor coming into Union Station.

I've been friends with a variety of the professional park staff who have passed through the site, including two ex-historians... As well as having been dragged to the site for a variety of school programs, professional conferences, and events put on by historiacal groups. Yes, I've been there.

Los Angeles is a city with plenty of history...
That doesn't register for most people.
From "Cattle on a Thousand Hills" to Hollywood, the creation of the "sun belt" to the designing of the aerospace industry. I could put together a week of historical touring within the LA basin...and never take folks to Olvera Street.

But that's just me...

I'm in the mlshanks camp on this one. By no means would I make this a focus on a trip to L.A. There are so many better places to go. OS is not worth stopping at - period. If you take your SD friend there, apologize in advance for wasting their time.

Hey, I didn't mean for everyone to start sniping at each other! I'm a native Californian, and yes, I do know my history! I certainly know better than to think of Olvera Street as the be all and end all of Alta California history; it came up in conversation because my friend will be arriving around noon time and it would be someplace close to get something to eat. We wouldn't be going there for the sights -- or the lack thereof.

We'll be going someplace else now .

The OP question implies ignorance - you do not come off as "knowing." Having a heated dialogue can be insightful and informative.

Ignorance? Just because I didn't feel it necessary to post any personal information in my initial post? Does one need to outline their educational credentials and confirmation of their local knowledge prior to asking a simple question? And no, I didn't find your "heated dialogue" to be insightful and informative. This isn't a history forum, last time I checked. It's a place to get Travel&Dining recommendations. That's all I was asking for.