The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space

2. The Rise and Decline of the Mexican Plaza

43 C h a p t e r t w o The Rise and Decline of the Mexican Plaza When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Californiaborn Mexicans assumed control of the direction and affairs of Los Angeles and the Southern California region, which prior to independence was controlled by the colonial governor. Historian Herbert Howe Bancroft noted that the reaction to Mexican independence was widespread throughout Alta California. In April 1822, public festivities included taking an oath of allegiance in the main plazas at Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and other settlements.1 The Spanish flag was lowered and the flag of independent Mexico raised at central plazas throughout Alta California. Thus, Mexican independence elevated the status and symbolic significance of the pueblo and Plaza of Los Angeles, which briefly served as the capital of Alta California . As the heart of this Mexican pueblo, the Plaza was a place where secular and religious fiestas, commerce and political life were characterized by a collective significance, unifying the pueblo and rancho, reaffirming traditional loyalties, and defining Mexican Los Angeles as a whole.2 In addition to Mexican independence, other changes were taking place in the life of the Los Angeles pueblo during the 1820s. Cattle ranching and agriculture expanded. Overall population of the pueblo increased. The local political elite grew, and popular participation in the political process in- 44 ˚ the los angeles plaza creased. Los Angeles’ administrative district separated from that of Santa Barbara. A parish church was constructed, and this led to greater autonomy from the missions. The zanja (ditch water system) was rebuilt. The zanja system was developed almost immediately after the founding of the pueblo in 1781 and provided water for agricultural irrigation and domestic purposes.3 In the late nineteenth century, the system was expanded to provide water power for the city’s emerging industry. The Zanja Madre, or mother ditch, ran directly through the pueblo near the Plaza and was the main water line that tapped directly into the Los Angeles River. A total of nine subsidiary zan­ jas tapped into the Zanja Madre. Perhaps the most significant event for the pueblo during the 1820s was the construction in 1818 through 1822 of the church of La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles next to the Plaza. The first chapel for the original pueblo was built in 1794, thirteen years after the founding of the pueblo in 1781. Within twenty years, however, the pobladores had outgrown this small chapel, and in 1814 the foundation of a new church was laid near present-day Aliso and Alameda Streets. In 1815 the Los Angeles River’s channel changed course from the eastern side of thevalley to thewestern side and flooded the foundation of this second church.4 The church was moved to its present location on higher ground. Hence, when Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola decided on a new location for the church slightly east of the old 1784 location, it then was necessary to select a new site for a Plaza.5 The original plaza vieja (old Plaza) site was established in 1781 and carefully designed by Felipe de Neve as a rectangular space in accordance with Spanish colonial law and design, while the designated site for the present Plaza, which was laid out in 1818 and completed in 1822 as previously noted, was on part of the pueblo’s ejidos and on private house lots. Thus, without a plot plan, the ayuntamiento, or town council, was faced with two interrelated problems at the new Plaza site. The first was how to square the irregular line that defined the Plaza’s boundaries. The second was how to resolve the property disputes that would follow.6 The 1830s and 1840s were a period that saw significant economic development in the Los Angeles district. The growth of the ranchos and exports in hides, tallow, and soap were consequences of the secularization of mission properties in 1833 along with the rapid increase in the number of Mexican land grants made by the governor—more than eight hundred under Mexican rule. However, the liberal reforms that came with the end of Church influ- The Rise and Decline of the Mexican Plaza ˚ 45 ence did not apply to the Indian. According to historian Michael J.Gonzalez, “By enticing the Indians with alcohol or drawing them into gambling debts, enterprising gente de razón soon...