True Birthplace of Los Angeles

Las Tunas Adobe, San Gabriel, California

Site of famous Mission Play productions

A visit to the enchanting Las Tunas Adobe in San Gabriel, California, just 12 miles from the Plaza of Los Angeles, underscores how important San Gabriel is to the history of Los Angeles. It was from within yards of this adobe house (its first rooms built for Spanish priests in 1776 and 1810 by Native American “neophytes” and later expanded by Anglo families) that Spanish-Mexican families began their walk from the San Gabriel Mission in 1781 to a site near the old Indian settlement Yaanga, just west of the Los Angeles River. There they settled, founding La Reina de Los Angeles – the Queen of the Angels – the tiny pueblo that after the American takeover became the enormous City of Los Angeles. A trip to San Gabriel’s Mission District reveals the ethnic layering that 18th & 19th century Los Angeles was constructed upon: Native American; Spanish & creole Spanish; multiracial Mexicans; Anglo Americans & European immigrants, and Asians… Take a short walk today from the historic San Gabriel Mission to the stunning Mission Playhouse, to the little California history museum run by the Daughters of the Golden West, and eat an authentic Mexican American meal at Lunas, and you encounter people from all the interwoven ethnic roots of Los Angeles. The LA metropolitan area  is truly an endlessly fascinating domain to explore.