South of Old Plaza are a number of historic buildings, including the 1870 home of Pio Pico, California’s last Mexican governor. It was the city’s first three-story building, and later a glamorous hotel with 21 parlors and two interior courtyards. At the time of writing the building is closed to the public while it undergoes a seismic retrofit.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. LA Plaza

0.02 MILES

This museum offers snapshots of the Mexican–American experience in Los Angeles, from Spanish colonization in the late 18th century and the Mexican…

2. Chinese American Museum

0.03 MILES

Follow the red lanterns to the small 1890 Garnier Building, once the unofficial Chinatown ‘city hall'. Changing exhibits highlight various historical,…

3. Plaza Firehouse

0.04 MILES

The city’s oldest fire station (1884) is now a one-room museum filled with dusty old fire-fighting equipment and photographs.

4. La Placita

0.08 MILES

Founded as La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles (Our Lady the Queen of the Angels Church) in 1781, and now affectionately known as la…

5. Old Plaza

0.09 MILES

El Pueblo’s central, magnolia-shaded square is crowned by a pretty wrought-iron gazebo. Sleepy and a little sketchy during the week, it often turns into a…

7. Avila Adobe

0.14 MILES

The oldest surviving house in LA was built in 1818 by wealthy ranchero and one-time LA mayor Francisco José Avila. After subsequent lives as a boarding…

8. América Tropical Interpretive Center

0.15 MILES

Everyone from Hollywood stars to LA intellectuals attended the 1932 unveiling of América Tropical, a rooftop mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros, one of…