The Avila Adobe is the oldest surviving home in Los Angeles. (The nearby La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, more commonly known as La Placita church, is 4 years older.)
This home was built by Californio cattleman Francisco Avila in 1818 as an in-town residence for his family. He also had a home on his ranch near what is now the Mid-Wilshire area by the La Brea Tar Pits.
Covering the kitchen, shown below, is a grape arbor and growing nearby is a pomegranate bush with these 2 green pomegranates on it.
Members of the Avila family lived in this adobe until 1868 then turned it into a rental. By 1926 the building had fallen into disrepair before being restored as part of a revitalization of Olvera Street.
The building is now managed by the National Park Service and entry is free. It offers a good idea of how well-to-do people lived in Southern California back in 1818.
The home faces onto Olvera Street which was the Main Street of the little town of Los Angeles back then. The parlour was considered spacious for the era. I doubt that there was really a piano in this home when the Avilas first moved into the home. Guitars were a more common musical instrument during the Californio period. The rooms in the Adobe are furnished with items typical of the early 1800s. The adobe courtyard, surrounded on 4 sides by the building walls which were 2.5 to 3 feet thick, was a center of household activities and festivities.This cart was built by Darryl Robertshaw in 2004 as a replica of the carts used originally to bring produce to Olvera Street, the main street of Los Angeles. There is a similar cart used for bringing in grapes on display at the San Gabriel Mission.This kitchen looks very spiffy painted white. No doubt it was discolored by smoke back when the Avilas lived in the home. Kitchens back then were always separate from the main house– not only in California, but in homes around the world. Here in California, the Avila kitchen was outdoors on one side of the courtyard.
In contrast to the 1800s, today Olvera Street where the Avila Adobe is located, is a busy shopping zone primarily for tourists.
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