Los Angeles Detour

Earlier this week, Monte had a meeting in the MTA building and I had a chance to explore the neighborhood, which is right near Union Station and the historical district, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles, whose founding dates back to 1781. I'm a born tourist of the type that likes to walk around just looking at stuff. I've posted a small sampling of photos above.

I admired the Pico House, once the city's most luxurious hotel, and paused at a shrine in the courtyard of a church. Then I went inside the Avila Adobe, built in 1818 and the oldest surviving house in Los Angeles.

At the colorful Olivera Street Mexican marketplace, I bought a too-sweet coconut confection and a big mesh Frida Kahlo shopping bag to replace the fraying one I've been using for a decade. And see that blue fountain above? A plaque informs us that through this very spot flowed the Zanja Madre (Mother Ditch) which channeled the water of the Los Angeles River to the citizens of L.A. for 123 years, from 1781 to 1904.

Since I've lately been obsessed with rain and the lack thereof, I couldn't resist an exhibit about the history of water in L.A.. There I read about the drought of the 1860s, saw pictures of water permits and skinny cows, and learned a bit about water fees, which were based upon the length of irrigators rather than by volume. By 1870, rates were $1.50 per day, $1.00 per night. Delivered water for domestic use was 50 cents a week for a daily bucket.

The history of California, and Los Angeles in particular, is certainly the history of water. A sign on the wall bears the words of William Mulholland, spoken in 1913 at the opening of the aqueduct diverting water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles: "There it is. Take it."

Meanwhile, back at the MTA building, Monte was wrapping up his meeting and I walked back and seated myself in the spacious lobby, with its glossy floors and dome-like ceilings. A guard sat at his post beneath a mural of blue skies, white clouds, and California fields looking storybook green.

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