Hasta Manana El Pueblo de Los Angeles… or LA or Tinseltown as it’s come to be known.
But my final adios to the City of Angels, another of its titles, is back where it all began.
With 44 adventurous and resilient farmers from Mexico who travelled 1,000 miles to be here in 1781.
Well, it was pre-Universal, pre-Disney and before Hollywood and Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
The district of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is a world away from that but it is no less lively.
Across the road from LA’s biggest and grandest train hub, Union Station, El Pueblo de Los Angeles hums to a Hispanic beat.
With salsa music playing in the plaza and a senior couple kicking up their heels when I arrive.
Flying around old LA
I have been here before five years ago on a whistlestop visit between Santa Monica, Venice Beach and the Walk of Fame.
But now with more time to give before my FlyAway coach to the airport I immerse myself in Hispanic Los Angeles.
The Olympic Theatre is a much-loved institution to Los Angelenos, particularly of a certain vintage.
Which was known for its boxing, wrestling and roller derby days, and some all at the same time.
You’ll see a collection of exhibits and TV footage of all three sports as well as a nod to the Hispanic musical heritage… all free.
At the repurposed LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
The Hispanic story
It’s all a fascinating insight into how the Hispanic Los Angelinos played.
As is the walk through the Hispanic story in El Pueblo de Los Angelos on the left of the ground floor.
It is a familiar one I witnessed in an MLK 50 Civil rights-themed odyssey through Tennessee and Mississippi.
So it doesn’t surprise me to see Californian Hispanics’ champion Cesar Chavez painted alongside Martin Luther King.
The museum is like the best afternoon lesson at school.
I watch testimonies from grown adults speaking of how deportation in the Twenties split up families.
And how the arrest of a group of Mexican youths over the death of a young man sparked the Zoot Suit riots of the 40s.
You also get invited into the homes of the Hispanics in the recreated Main Street on the upper floor.
House about that?
Now if historical recreations is your thang, and it is mine, then El Pueblo de Los Angeles also boasts the oldest house in the city.
The Avila Adobe is a mite smaller than those in the Hollywood Hills but it is no less significant… and free to browse around.
Built in 1818 by ranchero Francisco José Avila my takeaway is of the double the life size Crucifix that greets you on entry.
LA’s missionary roots should always be remembered despite it now being a temple to consumerism.
If it’s takeaways of the spicy Hispanic type that you seek then the smells emanating from the Olvera Street will draw you in.
Mexican soul food
I follow the LA Dodgers fans off their free shuttle bus from the ball game into Cielito Lindo, or the Lovely Sweet One.
Where I am persuaded to order the best Mexican in LA, the Beef Taquitos combo.
Which they have been serving with their secret avocado sauce recipe and beans and cheese since 1934.
Brad jokes that Buddy, also high on the Dodgers’ victory has been coming here since it opened its doors.
Market ravers
I explore the stalls on the market with the whiff of the leather products persuading me to invest in a new wallet.
Alas, I have little money to put inside it after a week of partying in California.
It’s Hasta Manana El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument for now.
But as someone quite revered in these parts once said… ‘I’ll be back’.