The Region - News from July 22, 1985

An association of bullfighting aficionados has placed a plaque in Olvera Street Plaza commemorating the bullfights that were fought there more than 100 years ago. Bloodless bullfights were held in the plaza on Sundays and religious holidays during the 1830s and 1840s, according to William Reid, president of Los Aficionados de Los Angeles, a club founded in 1949 that claims 200 members from Los Angeles to Sri Lanka. Reid said the fights were attended by parishioners from the adjacent Church of Our Lady Queen of Angels and the wealthy ranchers who owned town houses on the plaza. In 1849 the fights were moved to a permanent bullring constructed on land now occupied by French Hospital in Chinatown, Reid said. The fights were held there until the city outlawed them in 1860.