A shoeshine boy totes his gear and enjoys a churro while he poses in passing for a picture taken by a tourist.

Olvera Street is Old Town Los Angeles. It’s one of the city’s greatest treasures and oldest tourist attractions. In fact it is the

Many of the shop and stand owners are children and grandchildren of the people that worked there way back in 1930 when the street was first closed to thru traffic and converted to an open-air Mexican marketplace by a well-to-do woman named Christine Sterling. According to the legend she was a hopeless romantic obsessed with the book

I’ve been going to Olvera Street for years, usually to enjoy the #6 combo platter at La Luz Del Dia (on the corner near the plaza), where, like all the other restaurants there, you can enjoy your tasty Mexican meal on the patio – SO California! Then there’s strolling and shopping while being serenaded by the Mariachis. Much of the exotic merchandise you will find is classic Olvera Street fare that your grandparents could’ve found there decades ago. Really, the whole place is one of the best time warps around. All things considered, it may very well be my favorite street in town.

GOD BLESS AMERICANA AND OLVERA STREETIANA!