Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá

Downtown LA

Stops

Mins

Sometimes the history we choose to remember hides a history we’re supposed to forget.

When you stand in La Placita Olvera today, under a rainbow of papel picado, what you don’t see is how this neighborhood has been shaped by a long history of colonialism, poverty and resistance. Our narrator Karla Estrada helps uncover this story.

We learn how in the 1920s, La Placita and neighboring Olvera Street were decaying, until wealthy socialite Christine Sterling vows to rebuild her own version of a technicolor "Mexican" tourist attraction.

Yet even as Olvera Street opens, the Mexican Americans living in the neighborhood are under siege. In February 1931, the first mass public immigration raid in US history takes place in La Placita, ushering in a decade of Mexican American "repatriation". The majority of those forced to leave are US-born children: American citizens. As Karla tells us, this story still resonates today, in her own experience of family separation across the border.

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‍Tour Stops

1. La Placita/The Story Begins

2. The Avila Adobe/Christine Sterling’s Vision

3. Olvera Street/Opening Night 1930

4. America Tropical Interpretive Center / Siqueiros Mural

5. La Placita/ The 1931 Raid

6. Union Station / Departing Los Angeles

7. LA Plaza courtyard / The Repatriation Memorial

Tips & Accessibility

This tour is free.

For the best experience, fully charge your phone or tablet and bring headphones. The tour requires access to cellular phone data or an internet connection. WiFi may not be available. Alternatively, you can download a version of the tour before heading out.

Augmented Reality
Augmented reality scenes appear throughout the tour. When prompted by the narrator, activate the scene by tapping [View in 360].

Timing & Access

This tour runs approximately 60 minutes. The distance traveled is approximately 0.7 miles, and is mostly flat (total descent 35ft). There are up to 10 steps up or down to enter landmarks.
The tour can be taken at any time, but it is best taken Tuesday-Sunday between 11am and 3pm when the America Tropical Interpretive center is open.
Consider allowing an additional 30 minutes to 2 hours to explore suggested stops and landmarks along the way.
Audio transcripts for this tour are available as a PDF download.
An interactive 360 video of this tour with closed captions is available on the experiences page.
This tour was created in February 2024. While we make an effort to keep things current, you are walking through a living neighborhood and sometimes things change. Be curious, and embrace the unexpected.
Restrooms are available inside the Avila Adobe, inside the brick underpass to the right as you walk up Olvera Street, and in Union Station.

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Credits

NARRATOR - Karla Estrada

NARRATOR - Katy Long

CHRISTINE STERLING - Connie Wetzell

ANGLO WOMAN / MOTHER - Jennifer Houseal

YOUNG ANGLO BOY - Remy

PEDRO GONZALEZ - Luis Garcia

ANGLO-AMERICAN OFFICIAL and TRAIN ANNOUNCER - Joe Morgan

ARTHUR MILLIER, NEWSPAPER MAN (Anglo) and ANGLO MAN 2 - Daniel Amerman

DAVID SIQUEIROS and NEWSPAPERMAN (Mexican) - Daniel Vera Ayala

MIGUEL’S GRANDMOTHER - Jessica Kehayias

ANGLO-AMERICAN MAN 1 - Keith Barbaria

IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL - Scott Montiel

MEXICAN MAN 1 and MEXICAN TEEN - Jose Leon

MEXICAN VICE CONSUL - Esteban Silva

OLDER MEXICAN MAN - Alejandro Maciel

TRIAL LAWYER - Devon Irelan

YOUNG EMILIA - Addy Nofal

Sr CASTANEDA - Juan Manuel Lenis Ortiz

Production

SCRIPT - Katy Long and Karla Estrada

RESEARCH - Gabby Santas

PRODUCER - Cathy Edwards

SOUND - Epidemic Sound, Smithsonian Folkways Recording, Aarnoo and Felix Blume

Copyright

Funding

This project was made with a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Click & drag around the video to explore Karla’s story and our immersive tour of Olvera Street.