Preservation of Olvera Street

Both statements regarding Olvera Street’s preservation (Op-Ed Page, March 24) underscore the historic significance of the area. Councilman Richard Alatorre notes that the birthplace of Los Angeles is “the cornerstone of our city’s proud Latino legacy,” while Vivien Consuelo Bonzo claims that the street has “embodied the traditions of the Mexican people for almost 60 years.”

If history is to be invoked, it should be accurate. If Olvera Street is to be preserved because it represents the beginnings of Los Angeles, the international composition of its founders and its early settlers should be acknowledged. While many residents have been made aware of the multiethnic heritage of the original 44 pobladores, few visitors to El Pueblo Historic Park appreciate the area’s continuing multicultural heritage.

As early as 1823 Giovanni Batista Leandri, an Italian, operated a general store on the south side of the Plaza. In 1836 Matias Sabichi, an Austro-Italian or Dalmatian sea captain, opened a business near the southwest corner of the Plaza. By the 1850s Olvera Street, known through part of the 19th Century as Vine or Wine Street, was home to Austro-Italian wine merchant Giovanni Cavacichi and Italian vintners Giuseppe Gazza, Antonio Pelanconi and Giacomo Tononi. A few years later Secondo Guasti operated a restaurant in the Avila Adobe, which had also served as a boarding house known as the Hotel Italia Unita. In an adjacent building the Italian Mutual Benevolence Society was organized in 1877. The group continued to meet in this area until 1932 when the headquarters were moved from the Italian Hall on the northwest corner of Olvera Street.

This richly varied neighborhood also included Chinese residents who occupied buildings on the east side of the Plaza as well as the Garnier Block, the headquarters for the Chinese Benevolent Society for nearly 50 years. Phillipe Garnier, the owner, was a member of a French settlement clustered near the south side of the Plaza, which included such names as Prudhomme, Vignes and Mascarel.

Clearly, from its beginnings the historic center of Los Angeles has been cosmopolitan. In the interest of accuracy this multicultural legacy should be represented in any plan for the restoration of El Pueblo Historic Park. The recognition of such a legacy would not only be consistent with history, it would also represent an appropriate monument to the rich past of a city which today has become the new Ellis Island of the United States.

GLORICA RICCI LOTHROP, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Cal Poly, Pomona