Shortchanging El Pueblo’s Past, Present and Future
Perhaps no site is more historically and culturally significant to Los Angeles than the El Pueblo Monument. As such, you’d expect the city to treat it as the crown jewel of Angeleno landmarks. Instead, it seldom seems to win any more respect than the common chucherias being hocked up and down Olvera Street.
Want proof? Witness this week’s Downtown News piece by city editor Richard Guzman which reports that El Pueblo appears yet again to be falling prey to our civic leaders’ shortsightedness.
For decades the Plaza area — which attracts an estimated 2 million visitors annually — has remained mired in Christine Sterling’s 1930s romantic fantasy of a Mexican bazaar filled with the song and dance of happy campesinos and artisans. Even today, the place screams old-style tourist trap while portraying early L.A.’s flavor about as accurately as Disneyland presents Main Street USA… Read more
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