Founded in 1781 by pioneers from what is today northern Mexico, El Pueblo de Los Angeles mirrors the history and heritage of the city to which it gave birth. When the pueblo was the capital of Mexico’s Alta California, the region’s rancheros came here to celebrate mass or to attend fiestas in the historic Plaza. Following California’s statehood in 1850, the pueblo for a time ranked among the most lawless towns of the American West. American speculators, wealthy rancheros, and Italian wine merchants crowded its dusty streets. The town’s first barrio and the vibrant precincts of Old Chinatown soon grew up nearby. As Los Angeles burgeoned into a modern metropolis, its historic heart fell into ruin, to be revitalized by the creation in 1930 of the romantic Mexican marketplace at Olvera Street. Here, two years later, David Alfaro Siqueiros painted the landmark mural América Tropical, whose story is a fascinating tale of art, politics, and censorship. In the decades since, the pueblo has remained one of Southern California’s most enduring and most complex cultural symbols. El Pueblo vividly recounts the story of the birthplace of Los Angeles. An engaging historical narrative is complemented by abundant illustrations and a tour of the pueblo’s historic buildings. The book also describes initiatives to preserve the pueblo’s rich heritage and considers the significance of its multicultural legacy for Los Angeles today

Most accounts of California’s role in the Civil War focus on the northern part of the state, San Francisco in particular. In Los Angeles in Civil War Days, John W. Robinson looks to the southern half and offers an enlightening sketch of Los Angeles and its people, politics, and economic trends from 1860 to 1865. Drawing on contemporary reports in the Los Angeles Star, Southern News, and other sources, Robinson shows how the war came to Los Angeles and narrates the struggle between the pro-Southern faction and the Unionists. Los Angeles in the early 1860s was a developing town, lacking many of the refinements of civilization that San Francisco then enjoyed, and was much smaller than the bustling metropolis we know today. The book focuses on the effects of the war on Los Angeles, but Robinson also considers social and economic problems to provide a broader view of the community and its place in the nation. The Conscription Act and devalued greenbacks encited public unrest, and the cattle-killing drought of 1862–64, a smallpox epidemic, and recurrent vigilantism challenged Angelenos as well. California historians and those interested in the city’s historical record will find this book a fascinating addition to the body of California’s Civil War history.