Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: J. J. Prats
Taken: December 4, 2018
Caption: Southern End of Olvera Street in 1930
Additional Description: This and numerous other historic photos of Olvera Street and the plaza are in an installation on the hallways of the Old Winery, 12 Olvera Street, open to the public at no charge. The card below the photograph reads:

Christine Sterling’s Diary: April 20, 1930

“The street opened last night in a blaze of glory. Thousands of people came and everyone seemed happy. The surface of the old street felt again the touch of dainty slippers and polished boots. Romance sings the love songs of yesterday; vendors softly call: ‘Mire niña que buenos.’ ‘Tamales muy calientes.’ ‘Dulces Señora.’

“Olvera street today is a little world of its own. The surface is covered with red tiles, and wild doves come to feed among footsteps that do not hurry. The olive and pepper trees are no longer strangers to the soil, but seem always to have been there. Mexican men and women sell attractive Mexican wares from under little canopies and whisper to the sunlight: ‘Gracias a Dios. Ha vuelto a nosotros un palmito de nuestra tierra.’”

Submitted: December 21, 2020, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.
Database Locator Identification Number: p558496
File Size: 8.270 Megabytes

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