The Fascinating Origin of Los Angeles' Name

The city of Los Angeles has a fascinating origin story that dates back to 1769.It was then that Gaspar de Portolá established a Spanish outpost in the area, and Father Francisco Palou founded the future “city of Our Lady of the Angels” on the banks of the river called Porciúncula. This is where the city's full name comes from: Our Lady the Queen of the Porciuncula Angels, Our Lady the Queen of the Porciuncula Angels. The Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to explore the region in 1542, but it wasn't until 1769 that Gaspar de Portolá established a Spanish outpost in the Los Angeles area. Father Francisco Palou described how the first settlers founded the future “city of Our Lady of the Angels” on the banks of the river called Porciúncula.

The words 'the Queen', or “the queen”, are an interpretation that emerged long after the chronicler of the Portola Expedition, Juan Crespi, wrote about a stop on July 31, 1769, next to the Los Angeles River. Crespi named the river “in honor of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula”, a title derived from an upcoming Franciscan religious celebration. The newly discovered beautiful river that Father Crespi wrote about in 1769 (later called the Los Angeles River) was named in honor of this celebration and this chapel. After years of clandestine transactions, bribery and other mischief, Superintendent William Mulholland opened the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913 with the words: “There it is.” Los Angeles is a diverse city with many ethnic groups such as Mexicans, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Salvadorans, Iranians and Armenians.

During World War II, nearly 100,000 workers worked in shipbuilding and manufacturing warplanes around the port of Los Angeles. Griffith was one of the first directors to film in the Los Angeles area, attracted by its mild climate and low-paid non-union workers.Race riots erupted again in 1965 with the Watts riots and were at the center of the 1991 Rodney King beating and subsequent Los Angeles riots. Studying its history is something locals love to do and talking to them is one way to do it. It is to this incident that Los Angeles owes its name.