MZN Project Highlight: Olvera Street
Building History
MZN Construction is honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to a historically significant site for the City of Los Angeles
El Pueblo De Los Angeles
Founded by Spanish colonizers in the late 17th century under the name El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, El Pueblo is one of two pueblos to have survived in the present day. The district includes the city's oldest and most historic structures formed around the Plaza. As the focal point of the historic site, the Plaza served as the central hub for social gatherings and festivities in the 18th and 19th century. To this day it remains a site for celebrations.
Olvera Street
As one of the most popular tourist destinations in Los Angeles, Olvera Street serves as a hub for locals and visitors to experience the likes of a modern day Mexican marketplace. Home to many of the plaza's historic buildings, the block-long narrow street offers dozens of craft shops, restaurants, and businesses where several merchants are descendants of the original vendors who opened shops in 1930.
Before it's opening, Olvera Street had been heavily neglected which opened it up to various sorts of illegal activity, but due to the efforts of Christine Sterling, a young socialite from Northern California, Olvera Street and it's history was preserved. With the help of investors and government agencies, El Pueblo is able to keep its rich history alive for the influx of tourists that visit from around the world every year.
In 2016, the city approved the La Plaza Village project, a $140 million mixed-use project on the corner of Spring Street and Cesar E. Chavez avenue near Olvera Street. The area will include restaurants, stores, and housing units. Signage around the area will include history about the area in conjunction with Olvera Street district. The completion of the project is expected to drive up tourism twice as much as the current rate, making the need for Olvera Street to be even more accommodating to the rising number of visitors.
“El Pueblo is a living museum that attracts more than 2 million visitors to the oldest district in Los Angeles.”
On Location!
Thought to have been a saloon in the 17th century that served the likes of merchants and travelling Vaqueros, the “winery” at El Pueblo will now serve as restrooms for the millions of visitors that tour the site every year. Being that the functionality of the building is changing, there have been many discoveries made by our team through out the construction process. Within the first few weeks of work, bones were found on site to which an archeologist was called to identify exactly who the bones belonged to. We can’t wait to update you once the artifacts have been properly determined by outside professionals!
Inspired by the rich history of El Pueblo, MZN Construction is dedicated to delivering the best service and contributing our efforts to maintaining the city's most historic district.
References
Sewell, Abby. “Construction Is Set to Begin on $140-Million La Plaza Mixed-Use Project near Olvera Street.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2016, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-plaza-village-20160803-snap-story.html.
Trausch, John. “History.” Olvera Street - The Original Los Angeles, olvera-street.weebly.com/history.html.