Well, it’s 2:35, I guess we’ll start. Hi guys, thanks for joining the tour. We have a rare beautiful day in notoriously “sunny LA,” to kick over whatever fragments are left of the historic sites of the Pueblo. We meet here on Fort Hill, also known as Fort Moore Hill, at the Fort Hill Memorial, also known as the Pioneer Memorial. [Semi-truck air horn…..rush-blast of gritty wind…]
THE MONUMENT HAS just been cleaned, after 22 years as “That hobo jungle crack park off the 101 freeway ramp.” Also known as “Skid Row Heights” during that era. Look down, now they’ve trimmed the overgrown ficus trees — you can glimpse a remnant of the bygone authentic atmosphere from the vanished LA of 2018.
Back in September,1846, the occupying Yankees were besieged up on this hill by the revolt of the Angelenos, down there in the Plaza. When the spirited and brave, or foolish and treacherous, revolt of the Californios was finally defeated, or betrayed, and California was strong-armed, or welcomed, into the Union, U.S. forces returned and built a real fort over “The Angels,” where they could get a sweeping view of the entire Pueblo and the valley of Los Angeles. I guess we should feel lucky we can JUST glimpse this famous view today.
The redoubt was named for Capt. Moore, who was horribly speared to death and trampled under hoof by the California Lancers on the field of San Pasqual. You won’t learn much about the real history of the site — which is in fact a salient in history as well as geography — from the exhibit. It’s just 50’s-style racist LA civic boosterism about how the Boston Nation brought progress, water, and power to this arid, lifeless, backward Mexican land. Check the VVV post on the blog for the story.
The panels were fired by Gladding, McBean Pottery, who also did the waterfall tiles. The style is dazzling, now that they’ve been cleaned.
“The terra cotta art wall designed by Henry Kreis is the most notable feature of the memorial. Fabricated by the prominent California terra cotta manufacturer Gladding, McBean, it was reported at the time of its installation to be the largest bas-relief in the United States. This is the only public artwork in Los Angeles portraying an historic event that occurred at the actual site of the work. It depicts the ceremonial flag being raised over the fort on July 4, 1847. To insure the authenticity of the uniforms worn by the U.S. First Dragoons, the New York Volunteers and the Mormon Batallion – the units witnessing the ceremony – Kreis was advised by noted California historians Glenn Dumke and Robert Cleland.
LA County Arts and Culture website
Heres a great depressing video, too short, alas, about the monument, free for tour members.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YE2QEv_15g_cqdlWewwOP8H0Uc9pS-0a/view?usp=sharing
Next we’ll head down the grand staircase to the Plaza. We can’t legally cross this street, or any of the four streets that now are now connected by this staircase since there are no crosswalks between. So we’ll have to zig-zag for miles between intersections, or you can follow me and jay-walk sprint — ready, GO! As you flee across the lanes, note the cheerful ghetto mural that enlivens the wall of the lofts. It lures the hipsters into believing they’re moving into a real ethnic community, built up over generations by hard-working Mexican Americans, and memorialized by child graffiti artists trained by nuns at the local Teen Drop-In Center.. Tish-tosh!
Hmmm…we want to go toward the Church…but we’re blocked by traffic and three rings of fencing. Just meet me over there!
[shouts over shoulder] Note also that the ramp has been redesigned into a boulevard leading into Chinatown, the real ethnic neighborhood that is now a vacant ghost town, just waiting for hipsters to discover it, and tear it down to build more of This Shit.
Note how the 1960s street shade-tree planting — gorgeous pink crapemyrtle, obviously taken into account by the color designers of the new lofts — ends with the new lofts.
The Valley Village View 