Welcome:

The Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash peoples have inhabited and stewarded the unceded lands in and around Los Angeles County for over a millennia. The combined Spanish and Mexican periods (1769- 1850) lasted less than a century. In the 1850s, the dirt roads around La Plaza were still lined with the adobe homes of the Spanish, Mexican, and "Californio" families who had built them: Avila, Carillo, Olvera, Pico, Lugo, del Valle, Sepúlveda, and Ybarra, just to name a few. In those early days, La Plaza was little more than a dusty patch of land that symbolized "civilization" and perhaps more practically, connected the city's earliest water system, known as the Zanja Madre, to the surrounding homes and businesses. The modern city that has emerged has erased much of that history but there are places where traces of the past can be found and like any site touched by deep human suffering, these events deserve to be named and remembered.

Physical monuments can mark sites and change how we see a place, an object, even a ruin, but what about those histories that have no markers, or that have been overlooked or worse, erased. The City of Los Angeles and the State of California have yet to mark a single lynching site in Los Angeles County, though plans are currently underway for a permanent memorial to honor the victims of the Chinese Massacre of 1871.

I am a Los Angeles based visual artist and in 2000 I set out to correct the historical record on the history of lynching in California. I have traveled across the state looking for historic lynching sites and creating photographic images along the way. I have visited countless regional and national archives and have included my research in publications, public lectures, and artworks. I am also recognized as an expert witness or "teaching witness" with regard to the lynching of Latinos in California and I have testified in court proceedings, literally blocks from a number of historic lynching sites.

As a result of this work, I have expanded the number of known lynchings statewide from 50 cases to over 353 cases and I published the first monograph to consider the history of lynching from a Latinx perspective  - see my book, Lynching in the West (Duke, 2006). I also identified over 59 cases of lynching across SoCal for the years between 1850 and 1918 and haved included a summary of those cases below. I expanded the number of African American cases in the state and combined new and existing material on the lynching of Chinese, Europeans, Native Americans, and "Yankees" from the East Coast into the overall case list. Most surprising to many, I documented over 130 cases involving the lynching of Mexicans, "Californios," and Chilean victims, which when taken together, Latinos represented the single largest racial or ethnic group. Today, scholars William D. Carrigan and Clive Webb have identified around 600 cases of Latinos that were lynched nationwide in their book Forgotten Dead, demonstrating that Latinos constituted well over 10% of all lynchings in the United States (when using the 4,743 lynching cases identified by the NAAPC).

This walking tour was initially created in conjunction with an exhibition of my work entitled "Ken Gonzales-Day: Hang Trees," curated by Rebecca McGrew at the Pomona College Museum of Art in 2006.  At that time, I wanted to create an experience that would allow others, including my students at Scripps and the Claremont Colleges, to begin to imagine what it might have been like to witness these horrific events, but also to understand the challenges of looking for that history, in our town time. Since then, I have revisited the tour and incorporated new data. This updated version of the tour was created in conjunction with a survey exhibition and publication on my work entitled, Ken Gonzales-Day, History's "Nevermade," curated by Dr. Amelia Jones and to be held at the USC Fisher's Museum of Art from August 19, 2025 to March 14, 2026.

Whether walking with me or on your own, I hope that visitors will be able to recognize elements from the events of the 19th and early 20th centuries that still resonate in our own time, as we collectively strive to address the legacies of settler colonialism, the history of lynching, and come to terms with the existential threat to democracy that arises whenever individuals are denied their access to due process.

Getting There:
One can get to Union Station by any number of methods coming by car, bike, or public transit. For more detailed information visit Metro trip planner

Link to Google Map here

Union Station:
The self-guided tour begins at Union Station (stop 1) at 800 N. Alameda Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. Once known as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, it was designed by the father and son team of John and Donald B. Parkinson. One of the most striking features of this landmark building is the main ticket hall which features 62 foot ceilings that were constructed out of metal but look like beautifully crafted wooden beams. The station represents an eclectic mixture of architectural styles that blends Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne styles with Moorish elements. It opened its doors in 1939 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  It stands on ground that was originally a part of the main Plaza square and Chinatown. It has also been identified as part of a Tongva archeological site associated for the village of Yaanga. Feel free to explore the station, or come back after the tour to grab a bite at Traxx or one of the other dining options, in our around the station, depending on how much time you have.

Upon exiting the station, you will see the La Plaza ahead of you, which encompasses the oldest surviving settlement site of Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, which was founded in 1781 by eleven families from present day northern Mexico. A plaque with all their names can be found in the center ring of La Plaza. Don't worry, you will get a closer look towards the end of the tour, but for now, it is important to remember that La Plaza remained the city's center until the 1870s when it fell into decline and the population expanded from (an underestimated )1,610 in 1850 to 102,479 by the year 1900 (LA Almanac).

Exiting the parking lot in front of Union Station you will turn left and follow Alameda Blvd. south over the 101 Freeway. You are going to the N.E. corner of the intersection of Alameda & Aliso Streets (stop 2). This is the site where in 1861 an angry mob dragged a 15 year old Francisco Cota up from lower Alameda and repeatedly stabbed him before lynching him to a nearby poll. He was Latino and was presumed to have killed a Frau Leck, a german shopkeep and mother of two. There were no witnesses and he was denied due process, in spite of the fact that he was murdered blocks from the city jail.

The historian, Harris Newmark wrote, "...and having tied a rope around the murderer’s neck during the excitement they dragged him down to Alameda Street, where I witnessed the uproar. As they proceeded by way of Aliso Street, the mob became more and more infuriated, so that before it reached the spot which had been selected for his execution, the boy had been repeatedly stabbed and was nearly dead. At length, he was strung up as a warning to other malefactors.” (Newmark, 305)

The editors of the Los Angeles Star defended the lynching writing that the crime "..was enough to stir our citizens to call aloud for instant vengeance..., and the yawning gates of hell opened to receive him none too soon."

There is no signage or plaque to mark this historic site. Note: Avoid aiming your camera at the Metropolitan Detention Center  because it is a federal facilty and they may send patrol cars. I have been questioned when leading tours.

Cross the street and head towards Los Angeles Street. Turn left at the corner and proceed to steps near the parking structure of the Los Angeles Mall, on the West side of the 300 block. This block once housed Goller's Wagon Shop (stop 3) where 9 Chinese men were lynched, It was also close to the site of Staney's Boot and Shoe Shop where other members of the Chinese community sought refuge on the night of Oct 24, 1871 during the brutal events of the Chinese Massacre. It all began after a gunfight broke out between two Chinese men on the Calle de los Negros in the late afternoon of October 24, 1871.  Jesus Bilderrain, a Latino patrolman was injured in the gun battle and saloon owner-turned-rancher Robert Thompson was killed. News of the shooting and death spread and a multiethnic mob of about 500 Angelenos (nearly 10 percent of the city’s population) converged on Calle de los Negros. By the end of the night, between 18-24 Chinese men and one boy had been lynched or shot across at least two locations. (RFI, Rasmussen, LA TIMES)

The following names have been identified as those that were lynched: Ah Wing; Dr. Chee Long "Gene" Tong, the communities only physician; Chang Wan; Leong Quai, laundry worker; Ah Long, cigar maker; Wan Foo, cook; Tong Won, cook and musician; Ah Loo; Day Kee, cook; Ah Waa, cook; Ho Hing, cook; Lo Hey, cook; Ah Won, cook; Wing Chee, cook; and Wong Chin, storekeeper. They were later buried in the City Cemetery.

In the 1850s, visitors flooded into the Bella Union Hotel (201 N. Main Street) (Stop 4) to dine on wild bear or and hear the latest news. The Bella Union was not only a hotel, but was the last Mexican Capital under Pio Pico, who owned it for a time. It was a barracks from U.S. troops during the Mexican-American War. It was a transportation hub. Phinneas Banning operated coaches to Wilmington and the San Bernardino from here. It was home to the Overland Mail Co. operated by John Butterfield, who would go on to found American Express. and Even the Los Angeles Star, LA's first newspaper, was published here! It is in front of Joseph Young's sculpture, Triforium,1974, which was created with 1,494 colored glass cubes, a visionary computer system, and a custom glass bell carillon that made sound.

Coronel Adobe. Courtesy of University of Southern California. Libraries and California Historical Society.

Next continue down to Temple Street. The historic Temple Block was located at the intersection of Main, Spring, and Temple Streets which formed a triangle-shaped intersection that was the commercial heart of Los Angeles for decades. The pointy tip of the Temple Block began on the south side of Temple at Main St. under the present City Hall. This is near the location of the first courthouse/City Jail (stop 5) which was eliminated when Spring Street was redirected to its current location. The courthouse saw no fewer than 9 men lynched. There was David Brown (1855) and Felipe Alvitre (1855). Alvire's noose broke the first time and he had to be hanged a second time.

On January 18, 1855, The Los Angeles Star wrote, "From very early on, people began to circulate through the streets, and to gather to witness the death of the unhappy Alvitre. It had been anticipated from the day before that there would be a fight between the Californians and the Americans as to why Brown should not be hanged, and we believe that this led the Sheriff to erect the gallows in the prison yard and not on the hill as is customary. At 2 pm the adjacent hill was covered with people, as was the main street near the jail. At 3 o'clock the Sheriff, Barton, protected by about a hundred men armed to the teeth, came out with the prisoner destined for death. Alvitre was almost a boy—of good appearance."

On Nov 30, 1858 Pancho Daniel was taken from his cell and lynched to the jail gate. Daniel was part of the notorious Juan Flores/Pancho Daniel band, and was said to be from from Sonora, Mexico. He was being held in the jail when a large crowd broke in and lynched Daniel to the cross beam of the jail's gate. Andréas Pico, Juan Sepúlveda, and other prominent Mexican-Americans or "Californios," helped bring an end to the "Flores Revolution" as it was sometimes called.

Old courthouse, one block south of Temple between Hill & Grand - near Gloria Molina Grand Park.
Courtesy of University of Southern California. Libraries and California Historical Society.

Thomas, a Gabrielino-Tongva Indian (1860) was also lynched in this same jail yard.

Then in 1863, Boston Daimwood, a notorious stagecoach robber, was being held for trial when a mob broke in and lynched him and three other men and one boy. Their names were Eli Chase, Boston Daimwood, José Olivas, a man known as only as Wood, and a teenager named "Ybarra," who allegedly stole a chicken.

The site of the Tomlinson & Griffith Corral (stop 6) was between Main and Spring and a short distance from the Temple Block.

"Fronting Temple Street is a white adobe wall and a two-part wooden gate with a crossbeam atop it (pictured above).  This is the Tomlinson and Griffith lumberyard, located at the corner of New High [abt. 3/4 way down the block] and Temple streets, a bit of the latter is at the far right, where the ox-team is in view."  Spitzzeri

According to Spitzzeri, John J. Tomlinson was "an early proprietor of a stagecoach line form the rudimentary port at San Pedro and a fierce rival of Phineas Banning," both of whom became lumberman in 1860s. "Shortly afterward, his brother-in-law, John M. Griffith, came to Los Angeles and the two men became partners in both the stagecoaching and lumbering businesses until Tomlinson died in 1868." The high beam of its gate (pictured below) and an angry mob claimed the life of Miguel Lachenal or Lachenais (likely French or Mexican) in 1870. Harris Newmark and others historians have argued that as many as a dozen men may have died at this site but Tomlinson didn't own it that long. Recent scholarship also notes that 6 Chinese that were killed at this corral during the Chinese Massacre of 1871.

The site was apparently the same location as Banning's Corral. Charles Wilkins was lynched in 1863 at the site. He had murdered John Sanford, a local merchant and fled town. Wilkins was later apprehended in Santa Barbara and was returned to Los Angeles where a judge found him guilty of murder and he was being held in the jail for sentencing. But after the verdict, reports all suggest that as many as 200 persons, suddenly charged into the courtroom and dragged the prisoner away and hanged him to a nearby corral. (Los Angeles Star,12/19/1863). Hubert Howe Bancroft, the great historiographer of California history, recorded the lynching as happening at Banning's Corral (Popular Tribunals, 510). The Daily Alta Newspaper gave this description, "As the Sheriff was taking him from the Court House, the prisoner was seized by a crowd of excited people, and hurried to the lumber yard of Major Banning, where he was hanged to the cross piece of the large door-frame of the yard" (Alta, v.15, n. 5047, 23 dec. 1863). The Los Angeles Herald also gave Banning's Corral as the location. Other accounts identify the location as the Tomlinson & Griffith Corral, suggesting the same property changed hands.

The old Red Sandstone Courthouse courthouse (1888 - 1936) was also on the south side of Temple, but just after Spring St. before N. Broadway. 

Continue north on Temple to Hill St. and turn right and go back over the Hollywood Freeway. As you walk over the overpass you will see the Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts on the old Fort Moore Hill across the street. This was also the cite of the old old cemetery where a number of those killed in the Chinese Massacre were interred.

Continue to the 1958 Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial (stop 7)at 501 North Hill Street, which was renovated in 2014 for $5.5 million dollars. As you may notice, it makes no mention of the many Mexicans and Mexican Americans that were executed and/or lynched at this site but that is not surprising given its celebration of the "Mormon Battalion" depicted on the monument.

Once there, you may be able to walk up the stairs to the top of the memorial and see the same view witnessed by the many men who were hanged before the gathered citizenry, which in some cases numbered in the thousands. The site of La Plaza used to be visible from the memorial but is now mostly obscured.

1836: María del Rosario Villa de Féliz and Gervasio Alipás died by firing squad, under Mexican rule on Fort Moore Hill.

“Angelenos thronged the Plaza and crowded the flat roofs of the surrounding adobes to catch a view of the spectacle. Alipás did not resist, and a twelve-man firing squad completed the execution without ceremony.”

“For the crime of husband-murder the junta had sentenced her to gaze upon the body of her dead lover for an hour before she too was executed. But she was so overcome with fear that the vigilantes took pity on her. They dragged her up the hill and dispatched her without delay.” (John Faragher, Eternity Street)

FORT MOORE Hill (10 men)
Lynchings that took place on this site:
1852: Reyes Feliz
1852: Doroteo Zabaleta (Pico, Yorba, Sepulveda were present)
1852: Jesus Rivas (Pico, Yorba, Sepulveda were present)
1852: Cipriano Sandoval
1852: Benito Lopez
1852: Barumas
1854: Ignacio Herrera
1857: Jaun Flores, "After eleven days on the run, Flores was brought in by a 120-man posse led by Andrés Pico" Addressing the crowd from the scaffold, he stated "he bore no malice, was dying justly, and that he hoped that those he had wronged would forgive him". When his lynching was carried out, his noose being too short, Flores instead died from suffocation instead of having his neck broken as intended. There was no trial - only a "public vote." Newmark
1858: Tomas King (1 of 2), "condemned by public vote." (Newmark, 192)
1858: Luciano Tapia a.k.a. Leonardo Lopez (2 of 2), "condemned by public vote" "Tapía's case was rather regrettable, for he had been a respectable laborer at San Luis Obispo until Flores, meeting him, persuaded him to abandon honest work. Tapía came to Los Angeles, joined the robber band and was one of those who helped to kill Sheriff Barton." (Newmark, 192)

Legal executions that took place at this site: (4 men)
1857: James P. Johnson
1862: Syriaca Arza
1885: Francisco Martinez (1 of 2)
1885: Adolfo “Rodolfo” Silvas (2 of 2)

I sometimes read the names out loud with visitors to create a space for reflection, remembrance, of what it means to brown, then and now. Once you feel you have experienced the site, you can head down the little stairs on the south side of the street and take Acadia Street back down to Los Angeles Street where you will turn left heading towards La Plaza. Please be attentive to your surroundings as there may be encampments of unhoused persons along this route.

Walking on Los Angeles Street. keep your eye out for a bronze plaque commemorating those who where killed in the Chinese Massacre (stop 8).

This is near where the Chinese Massacre began. As noted, 18-24 Chinese men and one boy died at the hands of a mob of over 300 Anglos and Latinos. This specific site was near the original site of the Calles de los Negros which was eliminated when Los Angeles Street was extended, widened, and further altered by the construction of the Hollywood Freeway though historic Los Angeles.

The first attack took place at the former Coronel Building or Coronel Adobe  which was located on the northwest corner of Arcadia Street and Calle de los Negros (now part of the 101 Freeway Entrance and Los Angeles Street).

The Chinese American Museum is around the corner at 425 N. Los Angeles, and you enter from the plaza side. It is a great place to visit if you have the time. The Colonel Adobe was very near the current site of the Chinese American Museum and is where Johnny Burrow; Ah Cut, (liquor maker); Wa Sin Quai, were shot. here.

Now continue towards the Plaza. You will see the Plaza Firehouse (1884) (stop 9) at 126 Plaza Street on your left, and is also worth a visit. It has an old fire engine and many historic elements. As you continue clockwise around the plaza you will see the Pico House  (stop 10) at 430 N. Main. It was built in 1869-70 and opened in 1870.  It was the city's finest hotel at the time. The Pico House was built by Pío Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule. The hotel was built in the Italianate style, with deep set round-arched windows and doors and the Main Street and Plaza facades were stuccoed to resemble blue granite. The hotel was designed by Ezra Frank Kysor (1835–1907) and had had eighty two bedrooms and twenty one parlors as well as bathrooms and water closets for each sex on each floor. The hotel offered guests a late night supper with "oysters and imported wine," and an aviary with exotic birds.

Continuing around La Plaza, you will see LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes - A Los Angeles Historical Museum, which is great for families if you have time. You will see an open space that was once a cemetary, and then the original Catholic chapel on the left side of La Plaza (stop 11). Continue clockwise until you reach the entrance to Olvera Street (stop 12).

The Los Angeles Plaza Historic District encompasses approximately 9.5 acres in downtown Los Angeles. Christine Sterling (1882-1963) had a passion for the city's past, and in the 1920s she waged a personal battle to save this historic site and had Wine Street renamed to Olvera Street in memory of the first County Judge, Agustin Olvera.

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Américan Tropical, 1932. Photo: Ken Gonzales-Day

The Olvera home is gone but the Avila Adobe (1818) is still standing and is open to the public (Stop 13). Other historic buildings on Olvera St. include the Pelanconi House (1855) and the Sepulveda House (1887) at 622 N. Main. This is the last stop on the tour. If you have a little extra time please stop in to see the América Tropical Interpretive Center (Stop 14)and see the rooftop mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros.

"América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos," also known as "América Tropical," is a 1932 mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros, created when he was teaching at the Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles. It depicts a Maya-like pyramid, a crucified indigenous figure, an American eagle, along with revolutionary snipers, which alluded to U.S. imperialism in Latin America. The mural was commissioned by the Plaza Art Center but was whitewashed over shortly after completion. Siqueiros returned to Mexico but was forced into hiding and eventually exiled again in 1940 after being implicated in an attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky. He returned to Mexico in 1944. 

Having now experienced a glipse at the city's turbulent past, the hungry (and thirsty) explorer may want to end their trip by visiting some of the many shops and restaurants on Olvera Street and whether sipping a margarita, or taking a rest under the massive plaza tree, I hope that you will agree, that this history is all around us and that these tragic events continue to resonate in our own time.

ADDITIONAL LOS ANGELES COUNTY LYNCHINGS (not on tour).

EL MONTE
1861: José Claudio Alvitre, El Monte
1874: Jesus Romo “El Gordo,” El Monte

SAN GABRIEL MISSION
1852: Unnamed, American Indian
1857: Pedro Lopez (1 of 4)
1857: Diego Navarro (2 of 4)
1857: José Santos (3 of 4)
1857: Juan Valenzuela (4 of 4)

SAN PEDRO
1862: Manuel Cerredel
1864: Jesús Arellanes
1918: Marion (Warren) Cezerich

ORANGE COUNTY (est. 1889)

ORANGE
Yorba Ranch House
1857: Francisco Ardillero & Juan Catabo (El Catabo)

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
1864: Unnamed, San Juan Capistrano

SANTA ANA
1873, Francke Torres, Santa Ana
1888: Fritz Auschla, Santa Ana
1892: Francisco Torres, Santa Ana

SAN DIEGO COUNTY (est. 1850)
SAN DIEGO
1852: Antonio Garr, Native American, (Execution by Firing Squad)

SAN LUIS OBISP0 COUNTY (est. 1850)
1857: Miguel Blanco

VENTURA COUNTY (est. 1873)

VENTURA
1857: Encarnación Berreyesa, near Ventura
1857: José Jesús Espinosa, San Buenaventura Mission

FURTHER READING
Jean Bruce Poole and Tevvy Ball, El Pueblo: The Historic Heart of Los Angeles
(Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles, 2002)9