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LOS ANGELES’ 224th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED WITH
“LOS POBLADORES - WALK TO LOS ANGELES”
September 4th Historic Re-enactment
Commemorates the Founding of the City
LOS ANGELES – August 8, 2005 – San Gabriel and Los Angeles’ shared history comes alive Sunday, September 4, 2005, with “Los Pobladores – Walk to Los Angeles” celebrating Los Angeles’ 224th birthday.
The annual Walk represents a key chapter in California’s history, with the re-enactment of the nine-mile journey of the original Spanish settlers of Los Angeles, known as Los Pobladores, from San Gabriel Mission to the Los Angeles River where, on September 4, 1781, they founded El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles. The Walk coincides with Los Angeles’ actual founding date and planned birthday festivities at El Pueblo Historical Monument on Sunday, September 4th.
Everyone is invited to wake up early Sunday morning, September 4th, lace up their walking shoes and join the 6:00 a.m. Walk celebrating San Gabriel and Los Angeles’ shared, living history. Join the descendants of Los Pobladores, San Gabriel and Los Angeles city officials and staff, walking clubs, residents, and others, as they re-enact the historic walk from San Gabriel Mission to found the City of Los Angeles.
The newly-elected Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, is also scheduled to participate in the Walk. This will be the first time an acting Mayor has joined the nine-mile trek from San Gabriel to Los Angeles since the initial re-enactment was organized in 1981. Mayor Villaraigosa will accompany Rubén Beltrán, the Mexican Consul General of Los Angeles, who will lead this year’s Walk as El Capitán.
“The ‘Walk to Los Angeles’ is the peoples’-Walk”, stated Mayor Juli Costanzo. “San Gabriel celebrates its diverse, multi-cultural past, present and future, and the annual Walk to Los Angeles provides an opportunity to commemorate and honor the contributions of generations of people from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds, who have come to the region and made our community what it is today.”
This early morning, moderate nine-mile walk from San Gabriel Mission begins at 6:00 a.m., heads west along Mission Road for nine miles, and ends approximately 3 hours later at El Pueblo Historical Monument, home of world famous Olvera Street. Walkers are greeted with a warm Los Angeles welcome celebrating Los Angeles’ 224th birthday and day-long festivities. Transportation back to the mission is provided for all walkers.
The events are free to the public. For information and to register for the Walk to Los Angeles, visit: www.sangabrielcity.com or www.lacity.org/ELP, or telephone (213) 485-8372 or (213) 485-9769.
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