City’s 224th Birthday Marked by Walk, Festive Celebration

In honor of the 224th birthday of the city of Los Angeles, a group of Angelenos on Sunday did what they don’t usually do: They walked.

Starting at 6 a.m., they set out from Mission San Gabriel and walked nine miles to Olvera Street to reenact the 1781 journey of the original settlers, known as Los Pobladores, to found the city, El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles.

About 10 a.m., at an octagonal quiosco decorated with silver-star pinatas, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa cut a frosted, two-tiered birthday cake.

“We’ve come a long way,” Villaraigosa said after the 2 1/2 -hour walk. “We’ve come from being a sleepy little town to a town of America’s hope and promise.”

Many of the walkers stayed through the afternoon for a festival at Olvera Street, featuring blacksmiths, wood carvers and potters reenacting their trades from those times.

Marco Gascon, a 45-year-old resident of Highland Park who walked with his son and nephew, said he was happy to get to know his city better.

By smell, for instance. There was the lemony smell of the trees by the San Antonio Winery near the Golden State Freeway and then the oily smell of the factories along Mission Road.

“Walking is one thing, driving is another,” he said.

“We walked past Lincoln Park. I noticed it before when I was driving my daughter to the DMV for a driver’s license. I didn’t know there was water in a pond there.”

Evelyn Tapia, 69, and her friend Barbara Moore, 61, also spent part of the walk pointing out landmarks to a mutual friend, Susan Dao, 46, including the county coroner’s office and the Los Angeles River.

“Look,” Tapia said, pointing around her. “There’s Union Station, Water and Power behind it, the Civic Center and Disney Hall. We have it all here.”