Sonoratown was a neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, California, home to many migrants from the northern Mexican state of Sonora in the mid 1800s. Many settled there after having made their way to northern California during the gold rush. The neighborhood became a slum as more and more settlers arrived. In 1914 occurred one of the first marijuana drug raids in Sonoratown, in which police raided two "dream gardens" (marijuana gardens) and confiscated a wagonload of the product.
However it was also recognized as a historic site; a 1914 guidebook to Los Angeles told tourists, “Some of the [Sonoratown] homes are old adobe houses that have stood there since the town was young. Sometimes an old adobe is back in a yard, almost out of sight, sometimes it has been so freshened by paint or whitewash as to be hardly recognized, but a sharp eye will find them.”
In the early 1900s the Mexican community began to disappear as that part of Downtown Los Angeles became a desirable industrial center, with many rail yards. Later it was replaced with the New Chinatown.Nathan Masters, "A Brief History of Sonoratown, L.A.'s Lost Barrio," KCET.org, January 18, 2012 There were significant populations of French and especially Italian heritage, which were almost entirely dispersed in the course of postwar suburbanization.
Geography
The settlement which became Sonoratown was established in 1732 on the Tongva (or Kizh) village of Yaanga."History; The Principal Events in Los Angeles," Los Angeles Evening Express, image 3
Later, the Sonoratown neighborhood encompassed the area which later became Chinatown and included the Plaza in Downtown."Celebration of Mexican Independence," The Evening Express, Los Angeles, September 14, 1880, image 3 It was centered on First and Aliso streets (Aliso ran approximately along the route of today's 101 Freeway).Myrtle Gebhart, "Backwater in City Current," Los Angeles Sunday Times, September 9, 1923, image 41Nathan Masters, "History & Society: Photos: Aliso Street, Before It Became the 101 Freeway," Lost LA, KCET
A 1914 description placed it “north of the old Plaza and Church of Our Lady of the Angeles [a short distance from] the ancient cemetery where many of the early Spanish settlers are buried,” meaning the Plaza Church Cemetery. A 1924 description said that Sonoratown ran "along North Main Street from Temple Street to the Old Plaza, where it meets Chinatown on the northeast and Little Italy on the northwest."Timothy G. Turner, "Most Interesting Place in Los Angeles," Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1924, image 55
Population
In 1888, writer Lola Gitt reported in the Los Angeles Evening Express that "Sonoratown, the Mexican quarter, contains a good sprinkling of Chinese as well.""Our Beautiful City," Los Angeles Evening Express, June 23, 1888, image 3
The Sonoratown precinct, as enumerated by the 1910 federal census, held 3,036 people, the greatest population of all the precincts in Los Angeles.R.H. Titus, "Los Angeles Population Center at Seventh and Main Streets," Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1911, image 89 In 1934, it was "the center of a great Mexican population."Chapin Hall, "Downtown Travel Rambles," Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1934, image 105]
Community development
Children and education
An orphans home, or orphanage, was planned for "the Binford property" in Sonoratown in 1882 when the owner, G.E. Long, sold it to a group of women for $2,100."The Orphans' Home, Los Angeles Daily Times, March 4, 1882, image 3] The Los Angeles Daily Times commented:
On investigation the ladies find that they will have to make considerable additions to the building to accommodate the little ones, and Mrs. Mamie Perry has very generously offered to assist the ladies in raising the necessary amount by giving a concert in this behalf.
On June 25, 1882, the Los Angeles Common Council appropriated $7,337 to build a schoolhouse in Sonoratown.,"Municipal Matters,' Los Angeles Daily Times, June 25, 1882, image 3 and in 1895 a charity kindergarten was established by the Los Angeles Free Kindergarten Association."For the Little Ones," Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1896, image 9
Anyone interested in the scientific method of teaching children "through doing" can visit the school . . . . There will be found a number of very little people, whose dark skin, black eyes and hair in many cases attest to their foreign birth or parentage. The American language is to many of them a sealed book, for they are Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Arabian and French . . . .
The Dobinson School of Expression and Dramatic ArtClassified advertisement, Los Angeles Times, June 3, 1909, image 24 presented a children's operetta in July 1905 under the auspices of the Castelar Street and Solano Avenue Child Study circles to raise funds for a playground in Sonoratown."Group of Children Who Took Part in Entertainment to Raise Money for a Playground in Sonoratown," Los Angeles Herald, July 12, 1905, image 11
In 1909, a citizens' committee was reported to favor the purchase of the "old French Hospital" in Sonoratown and renovate it as "a detention home for children," but R.W. Pridham, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors thought the price of $41,000 to be excessive because of its "location in the heart of crowded Sonoratown." The hospital was forty years old at the time, "with twenty-six small rooms, poorly ventilated and lighted by one small window each. There is no plumbing, and the building is in a state of decay.""Protests Follow Proposal to Buy French Hospital for Detention Home for Juvenile Court Children," Los Angeles Herald, May 27, 1909, image 10
Committee member and lawyer Philaletha Michelsen said: The location is anything but desirable. . . . In this place there is absolutely no incentive to a higher or better sphere of life. I would be as particular in selecting a home for these unfortunate children as for my own. I should not care to have my children brought up in the slums of a great city."Modern Portia Seeks Supreme Court Fight With Unwilling Lawyer," The San Francisco Examiner, December 27, 1907, image 3
Social service work
A settlement house, Casa de Castelar, was established in February 1894 on Buena Vista Street (today's North Broadway) by women from the Los Angeles College alumnae organization."The College Settlement," Los Angeles Express, November 7, 1894, image 2"Local Clubs; College Settlements," Los Angeles Herald, April 25, 1897, image 25
The Sonora Union Rescue Mission opened a building at 608 North Main Street on August 1, 1907, "for the attendance of the Spanish and Mexican population of Los Angeles." The work was "visiting families, those in sickness or sorrow, holding nightly meetings and making the mission a center of family gatherings [and] Sunday school.""Will Open New Rescue Mission in Sonoratown," Los Angeles Herald, August 1, 1907, image 4
Health
Dr. Louise Harvey was appointed sanitary inspector by the city on May 15, 1895, without pay, to assist the settlement association. The city's Board of Health at the same meeting asked the City Council to print circulars in Spanish "giving the sanitary rules.""The Public Service," Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1895, image 12."Some More Oil Well Talk," Los Angeles Herald, May 16, 1895, image 11
Three years later, nurse Emelie Lutz was living at the center at $50 a month, with two other workers, Mary Waugh and Maude Foster. Some two hundred problems involving sanitary conditions were investigated each month by the Board of Health. There were also public baths available."The Casa de Castelar," The Evening Express, August 19, 1895, image 2
Mexican independence celebrations
Residents and visitors celebrated Mexican Independence Day in Sonoratown every year. In 1880 the speakers at the Plaza included Joaquin Villalobos, Eulogio F. de Celis, Antonio F. Coronel, and Henry T. Hazard.
The next year the Los Angeles Herald reported:"El Dia Glorioso," Los Angeles Herald, September 17, 1881, image 3
At an early hour in the morning people from the country began to pour into the city on foot and on horseback, in carriages, wagons and by every conceivable vehicle; and, by noon, the space in the neighborhood of the Buena Vista Street Plaza . . . was literally packed and presented a gala appearance. The procession was very large and fully equalled in numbers and enthusiasm those of previous years, and in the splendor of the decorations was never approached. The triumphal cars were models of good taste and elicited universal admiration. . . . Our lack of knowledge of the Spanish language . . . precludes our giving any report of the orations of Messrs. Del Valle and Oblanda, the orators of the day. The day's festivities were concluded by a grand ball at Turnverein Hall and a number of private balles [sic] in Sonoratown.
In 1888 the festivities began on a Sunday at the Arroyo Seco, followed on Monday with a street procession which was finished with "literary exercises" from a stand built by the side of Pico House."Local News; The Celebration of Mexican Independence," LLos Angeles Daily Herald, September 14, 1888, image 1
By 1901, according to the Los Angeles Daily Times, the neighborhood had "almost fallen into its last sleep with the crumbling of age," but it "shook itself wide awake" that year to celebrate with "gay music, pretty señoritas, enthusiastic speeches and stirring gunpowder salutes" during a two-day celebration which included a dance, a concert and "literary exercises.""Sonoratown All Gayety," September 28, 1901, image 14
Prostitution
In October 1882 the City Council received two "numerously signed petitions" from "residents living up near the depot, for the removal of the houses of ill fame which have been opened in Sonoratown.""The City," Los Angeles Times, October 1, 1882, image 4
In 1890, a Los Angeles city humane officer named Wright told the Los Angeles Times that Sonoratown was "noted for its fast youth, but since the suppression of the dance houses in that section, it is no longer the general rendezvous for youth on the downward grade of immorality.""Youthful Depravity," April 21, 1890, image 3
In August 1895, City Council members and police commissioners met in secret session to discuss what should be done about prostitution being carried out on Alameda Street, and a suggestion was made that the women "be removed" and settled in "Sonoratown and the district east of the present quarters.""At the City Hall: A Secret Session," Los Angeles Times, August 31, 1895, image 6 "Why choose Sonoratown or any other congested district of our city?" a letter signed M.F. asked on September 4. "The Second Ward of Los Angeles, of which Sonoratown forms a portion, is a neglected district . . . . Most of the houses are tenements, often a family of eight living, eating, sleeping and trying to be very decent in two, sometimes three, very small rooms. . . . Why even suggest that Sonoratown is to be the future abode of this evil?""The Tough Problem" Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1895, image 6
Deterioration and redevelopment
Sonoratown was noted in the 1880s and 1890s as an "eyesore""Municipal Wants," Los Angeles Herald, April 13, 1882, image 2 with "tumble-down adobes""Good-bye, 'Sonoratown,'" Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1887, image 4 and "crumbling walls.""Saunterer," Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1890, image 12 It had "unmistakable signs of decay"Marian de Crequy, "The Seamy Side of Los Angeles," The Herald, July 25, 1895, image 1 and more than once was denominated as "the seamy side" of Los Angeles."Seamy Side of the City," The Herald, July 30, 1895, image 1 One of the problems in the city's enforcement of building standards was the lack of adequate title records for all properties.