Phillippe Garnier constructed the building specifically for Chinese merchants and organizations. Interestingly, he only built the exterior walls; he allowed the Chinese occupants to arrange the interior as they pleased. Between 1890-1948, the building housed an importing firm and other businesses, the headquarters of the Chinese Benevolent Society, schools, churches, and temples. These organizations and institutions were very important, not only to maintain cohesion among the community but to also serve as an intermediary between the community and the rest of the city and American society. The city forced the community to move to its current location (New Chinatown) beginning in the 1930s because of the planned construction of Union Station. Fortunately, the Garnier Building survived.

The Chinese American Museum celebrates the cultural legacy of Southern California's Chinese community. It is located in the last remaining building of the city's original Chinatown. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This photo shows the Garnier Building as it appeared in the early 20th century.

"Chinatown and China City in Los Angeles," by Jenny Cho (see link below)

Website

"Chinatown and China City in Los Angeles," by Jenny Cho

Book

The Chinese American Museum is dedicated to preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of Chinese immigrants in California. To this end, it offers fine art and historical exhibits using items in its collection of 7,500 items, which includes artifacts, documents, and photographs. It opened in 2003 after 20 years of planning, becoming the first museum of its kind in Southern California. It is housed in the historic Garnier Building, which was constructed in 1890 by Philippe Garnier who rented it to Chinese merchants and organizations (many Chinese social functions were held here as well). As such, the building became the center of Chinese cultural life for much of the first half of the 1900s. 

The building is also significant because it is the last remaining Chinese building in Southern California. It is also a contributing property of the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, a historic district in the oldest part of the city that was once the center of the city and eventually home to the city's original Chinatown. The museum's aim is to not only highlight Chinese contributions but to celebrate the multi-cultural heritage of Los Angeles and Southern California as well. 

Chinese American Museum

This short walking tour starts at Union Station and includes a few museums and historic buildings such as the Avila Adobe before making its way to the iconic Los Angeles City Hall which was completed in 1928. 

After years of public votes and a population boom in the 1920s, construction of Union Station in Los Angeles began in the mid 1930s. Union Station served as a consolidation of railways into one terminal&nbsp;including; Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Topeka, Atchison,&nbsp;and Southern Pacific. The cost of construction was shared by all railway companies.&nbsp;Union Station was completed in 1939 and conducted its first regular passenger service on May 7th. The station was used heavily during World War II as a major hub for troop movement. The site of Union Station is rich with history as it is located adjacent to the original Los Angeles settlement. This settlement was founded in 1781 by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve.1&nbsp; Construction of Union Station reflected the racial prejudices of this era. The site of the station was set to be in what was the original Chinatown region of Los Angeles. This was the original center of the Chinese Community in Los Angeles. Many Chinese residents and business owners, along with some Mexican residents, were forced from their homes and businesses&nbsp;only to watch them be demolished in order to clear the way for Union Station. New Chinatown has since been moved west of its original location.3&nbsp; Over the course of many years multiple services have been added to Union Station. In 1982 commuter rail between Union Station and Oxnard California was attempted but later abandoned. A second successful attempt was made in 1990 with the addition of Amtrak service. In 1992 Metrolink Commuter rail service was extended to San Bernardino and Ventura County California. Light rail service has been extended to Pasadena California and Metrolink has added service to Orange and Riverside Counties California.2 Today Union Station provides service to over 60,000 passengers each day. There are 16 tracks, 9 platforms, and 4 different railway lines. Railway lines include; Amtrak, Metrolink, Metro Rail, and Metro Liner. "The station itself is a reflection of the grandeur that is Los Angeles. In the waiting room, travelers stroll to their trains along terracotta tiled floors accented with inlaid marble strips. Walls are&nbsp; clad with both travertine and early models of acoustical tile. Adjacent to the indoor waiting areas are beautiful enclosed garden patios and courtyards. These lush outdoor spaces were planned by landscape architect Tommy Tomson, who chose a selection of colorful and fragrant plants including orange trees, fan palms and espalier magnolias." 1

Located downtown, Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station for the city of Los Angeles, California. Opened in May 1939, Union Station was designed by architects John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson. The building features Dutch Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, and Streamline Modern architecture. Today the transportation hub provides service to over 60,000 travelers each day. 

Los Angeles Union Station

Though references to Los Angeles' Spanish Fantasy Past were abundant, there were few visible examples of it in 1920s Los Angeles. The city was modernizing at a rapid rate, and there were few vestiges of the Mexican/Spanish past that Anglos had supplanted. The city devoted much of its energies to advertising its modernity, and very little to bringing up its ethnic past. According to historian Phoebe Kropp, Christine Sterling, a newcomer to Los Angeles in the 1920s, was disappointed by what she didn't see. The Plaza was the previous center of the Mexican pueblo of Los Angeles, but it did not display its past in a pretty, touristy package. Instead, the center of the Mexican town had fallen into disrepair, and had become a synonymous with vice, urban blight, and immigration. Sterling appealed to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and asked them to endorse her plan to transform the Plaza into a tourist attraction. Civic Boosters--many of whom had supported mission revival and boosterism of El Camino Real--saw an opportunity to turn the "slum" into a profit-generating tourist spot where they could capitalize off of the romanticized vision of Los Angeles' Spanish and Mexican influence. &nbsp;With help from the Chamber, Sterling transformed the street into a pedestrian promenade and restored a number of buildings. The Depression seemed to have little influence on Sterling's project. She was able to construct fountains and small wooden booths on the street. According to Kropp, Sterling's foray into preserving (and creating) the Plaza involved "a well-rehearsed preservation script, effectively combining narratives of Anglos' patriotic duty, imminent doom, female historical housekeeping, and civic altruism in order to amplify her cause."1 A major hurdle for Sterling and other boosters/backers of the Plaza project involved divorcing the Plaza from its actual Mexican/ethnic past in favor of a romanticized, fictional one. Sterling had to justify her project as one that worked to improve that area. Under her care and supervision, she could transform a dirty, ethnic, vice-ridden place into a picturesque site of leisure for Anglo tourists.

Olvera Street in Los Angeles has become a representative symbol of "Old Town" Los Angeles. Sometimes called “the birthplace of Los Angeles,” it is a Mexican Marketplace that recreates a romanticized “Old Los Angeles” with a narrow, tree-shaded, brick-lined market with old structures, street vendors, painted stalls, cafes, restaurants and gift shops.  Olvera Street was created in 1930.

Olvera Street/Calle Olvera

The Avila Adobe was built in 1818 by Francisco José Avila, a native of Sinaloa, Mexico who was a famous and affluent ranchero, or cattle rancher. He was also the mayor of Los Angeles from the years 1810-1811. In 1823, the Mexican government granted Francisco Avila a large 4,439-acre land grant which covered much of present-day Beverly Hills and the Miracle Mile district. This land was called Rancho Las Cienegas, near La Brea Pits, approximately seven miles west of the pueblo.    Although the house was renovated in 1929 to prevent the state of California from tearing it down, the Avila Adobe still has the look and feel of early 19th century Californio, when Mexico owned present-day California. The Adobe Avila is immaculately built of tar from the La Brea Tar Pits, clay from the LA River and wood from the riverbank. This beautiful historic home features 3-foot-thick walls made of sun baked adobe brick over cottonwood timbers, a traditional interior courtyard, and 1840s-era furnishings that bring to life an era when the city was still part of Mexico. The ceilings, which are still the original, are fifteen feet high with support beams made from cottonwood. The floor of the building was originally hard-as-concrete compacted earth. This concrete replica was swept several times a day to keep the surface smooth. It was later covered with varnished wood planks.Today the Avila has seven rooms left. The largest room in the home is the family room which was used for dining, entertaining and social gatherings. The 'sala' or living room was only used for special occasions such as weddings or baptisms. Other areas of the adobe include a large courtyard with covered porches, stables and workshops. Following Francisco Avila's death in 1832, his second wife, Encarnación Avila, continued to live in the house with her two daughters. From January 10-19, 1847, the Avila Adobe was captured and used as a military headquarters by the invading North American army under Robert Stockton in the Mexican-American War. After Encarnación Avila died in 1855, the home passed to her two daughters, Luisa and Francisca and their husbands, Manuel Garfias and Theodore Rimpau. Francisca and Theodore Rimpau and their nine children continued to live in the adobe from 1855 to 1868. From 1868 to the early 1920s, the adobe was rented and used as a restaurant, rooming house for transients, or was often vacant. The Avila Adobe's condition slowly worsened and was finally condemned in 1926 by the City Health Department, which caught the attention of Christine Sterling, who began a public campaign to save the adobe. After a few short years of trying to find funds to restore the house, Sterling was able to find the funds to restore the house after a few short years thanks to awareness brought forth from LA Times owner Harry Chandler.

Avila Adobe is believed to be the oldest surviving residence in Los Angeles. The structure was built in 1818 by the mayor of Los Angeles, Francisco Jose Avila. The area was part of Mexico at that time, and the mayor, like nearly all others in the area, where either citizens of Mexico or members of Native American tribes. Today, the home is located in the paseo of historical Olvera Street within the Plaza Historic District- a California State Historic Park.

Avila Adobe

Founded on August 18, 1814 under Franciscan Fray Luis Gil y Taboada, La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (The Church of Our Lady Queen of the Angels), didn't have a church building until 1784. Their second church building was constructed in 1822 to serve the new settlement of Los Angeles PobladoresThe chapel named&nbsp;La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles was constructed using the materials left over from the original church building. Over the years the small chapel, which collected the nicknames "La Placita" and "Plaza Church, was the only Roman Catholic church in the emerging area of Los Angeles.The church has been operated by the&nbsp;Claretian Missionary Fathers since 1908 and was designated as a cultural landmark in 1962. Today the church is part of the Diocese of Los Angeles and serves as a neighborhood parish church.&nbsp;

La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles or The Church of Our Lady Queen of the Angels, is a historic Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles. The church was founded by the Spanish settlers in the early 19th century at a time when modern-day California and much of the southern U.S., was under Spanish rule. El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels) was the name of the Spanish city that would go on to be known as Los Angeles in the 20th Century. 

La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (The Church of Our Lady Queen of the Angels)

Pio Pico (1801-1894) was born on May 5, 1807, and was the last Mexican Governor of Alta California. He played an influential role in politics--before and after American acquisition of the territory. He and his brothers were considerably wealthy--owning acres of land, and a sizeable amount of cattle. Pico elected architect Ezra F. Kysor to develop what he imagined would be the greatest hotel in Los Angeles. Construction began in the Fall of 1869 and was opened for business in the Summer of 1870. Pio and his brother, Andres, sold most of their landholdings in the San Fernarndo Valley in order to finance the construction of the hotel. The elegant, and ornate hotel was an immediate success, but it was short-lived. As the Southern legs of the railroad lines were completed in the 1870s, greater numbers of people flocked towards Los Angeles. The area surrounding the Pico Hotel became a racialized segment of the city. As the neighborhood declined, Pico's wealth declined as well. The Chinese Massacre of 1871 was said to have occurred very close to the Pico House. One Pico House employee claimed to have seen the massacre from his post at work. Pico spent much of his late years involved in litigation. He lost most of his property, and was left nearly destitute. He ultimately lost the hotel in 1880.

The Pico House/Hotel was constructed in 1869-1870 by Pio Pico, a successful businessman, and the last Mexican Governor of Alta California. The Pico House was the first three-story hotel in Los Angeles when it was created, and it had about 80 rooms. It is located across the street from Union Station and near El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument.

Pico House (Hotel)

This historic structure was the third federal building in Los Angeles and replaced a previous courthouse that was completed in 1892 and served as the post office, District Court, and other federal agencies. After growing in size, a larger building was constructed in 1910 on the corner of Main and Temple. As the city's population grew, a larger building was needed to serve as the courts and to house federal agencies. The second federal building was destroyed in 1937 to clear the site for the existing courthouse. Gilbert Stanley Underwood was selected to design the building. He was acclaimed for his public architecture with works in national parks, over two dozen post offices, a number of federal courthouses, and the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. The new courthouse is a stunning example of the Art Moderne architecture style. The defining features are the stepped rectangular shape and restrained use of external ornamentation. The base is polished granite, while the 17-story steel structure has a terra cotta facade.

Built between 1937 and 1940 as a Works Progress Administration project, this Los Angeles landmark replaced two previous courthouses nad originally served as both a post office and a federal courthouse. The building was designed by architects Gilbert Stanley Underwood and Louis A. Simon and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The structure was later designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012 owing to several landmark court cases that were heard in this building. A new federal courthouse replaced this iconic Los Angeles structure, which is now home to government offices and the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Spring Street Courthouse 

The Los Angeles City Hall is one of the most recognized landmarks in the City, and it is even featured on all official City documents. In 1925, three top architects in the Los Angeles area, Albert C. Martin, John Parkinson, and John C. Austin, received the commission to design and construct City Hall. Austin oversaw the general administration of the project, Parkinson the architectural design, and Martin the structural design. The new building replaced the City's government headquarters that was built in 1889. On March 4, 1926, ground was broken for the building, and less than two years later, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County became the first agency to occupy the building.City Hall was officially dedicated on April 26, 1928. Entertainer Sid Grauman oversaw the dedication, and over 15,000 people attended, including the the mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Irving Berlin sang. Austin said he envisioned a building best described as "Modern American." There are traces, however, of a classical design seen in the grand columns and the steps at the front. The tower, with a stepped pyramid topping the setbacks, evokes an Art Deco style. Entering the City Hall, there are majestic bronze doors with hand-carved bas reliefs done by Henry Lion that depict major events in Los Angeles' history.The interior design was done by architect Austin Whittlesey, and connected Los Angeles to other well-known cities such as Paris, Alexandria, and Florence, while also recognizing the birth of aviation and film-making. The predominant feature of the interior is the beautiful Rotunda. There are eight figures on the ceiling that represent: Government, Public Service, Art, Education, Trust, Law, Health, and Protection. When the City Hall was dedicated, a white airplane beacon was put atop the City Hall to honor Charles Lindbergh. However, it eventually became a distraction to pilots and it was changed to red before being taken down entirely in the 1950s. In the 1990s, the original was restored but only shines on special occasions.At the time of its opening in 1928, the City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles and shared the skyline with only a few structures such as the Richfield Tower and the Eastern Columbia Building. That was until 1968 when the Union Bank Plaza was constructed. In 1971, the Sylmar Earthquake cracked the imperial tower and it took another twenty years for a renovation and seismic upgrade. Now the building can withstand an earthquake with an up to 8.2 magnitude.City Hall has been featured in a variety of pop culture, including:<ul><li>As the Daily Planet in Adventures of Superman</li><li>The home of a CIA unit in Alias</li><li>The first episode of Dragnet was filmed here</li><li>In War of the Worlds, City Hall is destroyed by aliens</li><li>Prince's music video for "Diamonds and Pearls" was filmed here</li><li>Atlas Shrugged: Part I was filmed here</li><li>Appears in the video games "Midnight Club: Los Angeles" and "L.A. Noire"</li></ul>City Hall remains one of Los Angeles' most treasured landmarks, and the observation deck atop is open and free to visitors to check out exquisite views of the City of Angels.

Built in 1928, the Los Angeles City Hall is the center of government for the City of Los Angeles. It houses the mayor's office as well as the meeting chambers and offices of the city council. The building was designed by John Parkinson, John C. Austin, and Albert C. Martin, Sr., and was dedicated on April 26, 1928, with over 15,000 people attending. At 454 feet tall, the building is 32-stories high and was the highest building in Los Angeles for more than thirty years. The concrete in its tower was made with sand from each of California's 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions. The City Hall remains one of the most recognized buildings in the City of Los Angeles and has been featured in several movies and television shows. 

Los Angeles Union Station to City Hall

Chinese American Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information