Frenchtown Confidential

When Philippe Garnier clawed his way back from bankruptcy , he commissioned three buildings in the Plaza. The Garnier Block survives, housin...

Once upon a time, a long long time ago by Los Angeles standards, the city was just a tiny pueblo that lacked a proper bakery. You might assu...

I have been mapping historic French LA for 8.5 years. It's harder than it looks. Among the many, MANY changes to the street grid, the in...

Winston Churchill said it best: "If you're going through hell, keep going." The Garnier brothers' glory days at Rancho L...

One of the most frustrating things about digging through Los Angeles history is finding out something with character, charm, historical sig...

Frenchtown had a longstanding friendship with Los Angeles' Little Italy. In fact, the Italian Hall was built by a Frenchwoman. Miss Ma...

If you couldn't make it to my September 2017 LAVA Sunday Salon, it's now available on Youtube . As always, much love to Kim and Rich...

Felix Signoret Regular readers may recall that, two years ago, I wrote about the violent life and death of Michel Lachenais . Today, we...

I'm still sad about the French Hospital's recent closure . Thankfully, I have happier news to share. Marchesseault Street - rena...

LAVA's September Sunday Salon was yesterday. I was absolutely thrilled to give my talk and participate in the walking tour (and with a s...

When the words "French sea captain" and "Los Angeles" are mentioned in the same sentence, the name of former Mayor Josep...

Sophie Baric* and her sea-captain husband, Charles Baric, lived in the Plaza, close to the Old Plaza Church. They were good friends with the...

For the next few minutes, try to imagine getting a bad coffee craving in LA's early days. There was no Intelligentsia, no Stumptown, n...