SAN GABRIEL >>Hundreds will retrace the footsteps of Los Angeles’ first settlers Saturday as they walk or bike the nine-mile path from San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo Historic Monument in commemoration of the city’s 234th birthday.
For decades, descendants of the city’s 11 founding families, Los Pobladores, have made the traditional three-hour journey on their own, but in recent years, there’s been an attempt to revive the event and involve more local groups, said Lisa Sarno, assistant general manager at El Pueblo.
San Gabriel Mayor Jason Pu said many people are unaware that San Gabriel is the birthplace of the Los Angeles region.
“It’s the settlers who came from the San Gabriel Mission that founded what’s now El Pueblo on Olvera Street, and that settlement eventually grew into the city of Los Angeles,” he said. “We’re proud to celebrate Los Pobladores and the shared history we have.”
Pu and other elected officials will be at the mission early Saturday morning to say a few words before the journey begins.
•MAP: Route from San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo
Starting at 6:30 a.m., walkers through travel down major streets in San Gabriel and Alhambra, including Mission Road and Valley Boulevard, culminating at the historic plaza on Olvera Street.
The cyclists, led by Father Tony Diaz, will start at 8 a.m.
Although people will begin arriving at the plaza around 8:30 a.m., the festivities are slated for 10 a.m., where there will be live music, cultural dancers, history presentations and arts and crafts for kids.
The free event will commence at 9:45 a.m. with a ceremonial walk from Union Station to El Pueblo Historical Monument.
Participants will walk along a brick path outlined to show the final steps of Los Pobladores, the colonists who founded El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (The Town of the Queen of the Angels) on Sept. 4, 1781.
Sarno said shortly after, there will be two historical presentations that visitors won’t want to miss.
The first begins in the Pico House at 10:30 a.m., and is titled, “Chasing Ghosts: Uncovering Los Angeles’ Hidden Italian History.”
Sarno said the Pico House has quite the history of its own, as it was the first luxury hotel in Los Angeles, built in the 1800s by Pio Pico, the last governor to lead the area when it was still under Mexican rule.
The second presentation begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Chinese American Museum, and is titled “Good to the Last Drop,” a discussion about the city’s water policy from 1848 to 1878. She said what makes it interesting is how closely it mirrors what is going on right now with the drought.
Inside the museum, there will also be an exhibit featuring the original “mother line,” or first water pipeline that drew water to the city of Los Angeles.
Registration for the annual heritage walk begins at the mission at 6 a.m. Participants will be offered a free bus ride back to San Gabriel after the event.
