A couple dances in the Olvera Street courtyard.
Drive just two
hours south of Bakersfield and step more than two centuries back in time.
Easily a day trip from Bakersfield is Olvera Street, commonly regarded as the
birth place of Los Angeles. Together with neighbor Union Station, the inner-city
crossroads offers a day full of history, entertainment and downright joy.
Historic buildings, colorful vendors, spicy food and drinks, and noisy street entertainers make a visit to Olvera Street a never-to-forget experience.
Growing up in Los Angeles County, it's hard to believe that this treasure existed right under my nose but was ignored until I took a side trip during a recent business conference. I plan to return often. And here is how I will do it:
Take the 8:35 a.m. Amtrak bus from Bakersfield, arriving at the Los Angeles Union Station at 10:45 a.m. Return to Bakersfield on the 7:05 p.m. Amtrak bus, arriving at 9:20 p.m. Since margaritas are served by the pitcher on Olvera Street, taking the bus may be a safer alternative to driving your own car.
For the $17 one-way ticket ($14.40 if you are a senior) you also avoid the stress and cost of driving and parking. Tickets for children 2 to 15 years of age are half-price. Infants are free. Amtrak officials recommend buying tickets a week or two in advance. Fares can increase closer to departure.
All aboard for Union Station
Los Angeles Union Station is the first stop. Take your time. Enjoy the depot, which is listed among "Great American Stations," has been featured in numerous movies and television shows, and is considered a national and Los Angeles landmark. The Los Angeles Conservancy (laconservancy.org) conducts tours of the station.
The station was opened in 1939, when Los Angeles' population was beginning to boom and city officials decided a central depot was needed for the three railroads that brought people to Southern California.
Designed in part by the father-and-son team of John and Donald Parkinson, the station is a blend of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival and Art Deco. The iconic main entrance opens to a concourse with various passenger waiting areas filled with upholstered wooden arm chairs, courtyards and gardens. Waiting for a train in Union Station is a pleasure.
Directly inside and to the left of the entrance is the original main ticketing concourse, which is now blocked off to the public, and reserved for private parties and movie shoots. An antique wooden ticket counter runs the 115-foot length of the room. Elaborate ironwork chandeliers hang from cross-beams that run across the painted ceiling. And like most of the station's floors, those in this room are terra cotta tile, with inlaid marble strips.
At the south end of the station is the former Fred Harvey restaurant, which is now used for private parties. It was the last of the chain's restaurants to be constructed in a passenger terminal. Brass and glass doors open into the restaurant, which features a tile floor patterned as a Navajo rug.
Conservancy docent Greg Figueroa explained that the station once resembled a small city, with a barber shop, lounges, showers, smoking room and even a jail. As he guided his group through the station's rooms and courtyards, he pointed to a wooden gate built for the 1982 sci-fi classic "Blade Runner" and the polished wooden information booth that was featured in the 1949 Burt Lancaster movie "Criss Cross."
If only the station's walls could talk.
The arrival of World War II and the emergence of the defense industry packed Union Station with troops and newly arriving residents. But with the nation's increased dependency on airline travel, rail passenger volume declined in the 1950s and 1960s. Union Station lost its glamour and usefulness.
Since the 1990s, Union Station has enjoyed a rebirth as a transportation hub, serving Amtrak passengers and well as travelers riding commuter trains, buses, and a growing system of subway and light rail. In 2011, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority completed its purchase of the station and its importance in the area's transportation system is expected to grow.
Olvera Street: one big family
Any day is a good day to visit Olvera Street. But if you want a full-throated experience, visit on Sunday. Families in their church clothes and nearby residents mix with tourists, clogging the narrow vendor-filled street known as Olvera and the surrounding plazas.
No money in your pockets? Not a problem. Pick out a spot along the brick fences and sit down for an afternoon and evening of free entertainment. Tip the entertainers if you can. But they don't seem to mind if you can't. Don't be bashful. If you, your feet and your partner feel the urge, dance to the music.
Hungry? Smack your lips around many fine offerings of Mexican food, while being serenaded by roving Mariachi bands. And don't be timid about asking the couple at the next table -- which has been squeezed in at your elbow -- for a menu recommendation. It's all one big family. If you like margaritas, go for the "pitcher discount," especially if you are riding Amtrak back home.
For just one day, you may suspect that you have crossed over the border into Mexico, as bartering with vendors is not just possible but expected.
But Olvera Street also has a serious, historic side. The thoroughfare, which began as a short dirt lane called Wine Street, runs through El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, which is located near the site of the early Los Angeles pueblo, where about 45 people of American Indian, African and European heritage settled in 1781.
Several historic buildings can still be seen, including the Avila Adobe, built around 1818 by former mayor Francisco Avila; the Pelanconi House, the oldest brick house in the city, which dates to 1855; and the Sepulveda House, built in 1887 as a business and residence. As the town grew, the people built their own parish church, known today as the Old Plaza Church.
When Wine Street was extended in 1877, it was renamed Olvera Street to honor Agustin Olvera, a prominent local judge. The pueblo existed under Spanish colonial rule until 1820, with newly independent Mexico governing from 1821 to 1848. The plaza was the heart of the Mexican community life and Los Angeles' economic center.
After the Mexican-American War, the United States flag flew over the pueblo. The change in governance and the influence of the Gold Rush pushed Los Angeles to expand away from its historic center.
By the late 1800s, the Old Plaza was a forgotten and dilapidated gateway for the city's poor, disenfranchised and new immigrants until Christine Sterling, a community activist and history buff, took an interest in the 1920s.
Fighting the city's plans to demolish the old buildings, Sterling rallied Los Angeles' power brokers, including Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Money was raised and plans were developed to transform the pueblo into a center of commerce, tourism and historic preservation. The grand opening of Paseo de Los Angeles, which is popularly known as Olvera Street, was held in 1930.
In 1953, it was designated a state historic landmark. Today, it is a department of the city of Los Angeles.
No one ever claimed that the area's restoration would be historically accurate. Rather it is a depiction of the quaintness of Mexican culture -- a living museum.
The Historical Society of Southern California reported Sterling's comments about the renovation: "Olvera Street holds for me all the charm and beauty which I dreamed for it, because out of the hearts of the Mexican people is spun the gold of romance and contentment. No sweeter, finer people live than the men and women of Mexico and whatever evil anyone believes about them has been bred in the darkness of ignorance and prejudice."
Sterling was involved in the management of Olvera Street and the historic plaza until her death in 1963.
This article appeared in The Bakersfield Californian on June 23, 2012.
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