Aliso Tree — Los Angeles, rooted in history.
Before the LA riots; before the internment of Japanese-Americans and the massacre of Chinese-Americans; before Slavery; before this land was ever conquered by Spain, Mexico, or the U. S.; before the genocide of Native Americans… millennia after the first humans arrived on the scene, overkilling large mammals to extinction… by the river, within the community of Yang-Na, a sapling sprouted. The sycamore would grow to become a 400-year-old local landmark, called, "El Aliso." Here, a French cooper hybridized the mission grapevine with cuttings from Bordeaux, and together with the terroir, cultivated a vineyard which gave birth to California's wine industry. Indigenous villages and immigrant orchards prepared the ground for what followed: a German brewery; a boxing arena; a mule market; an Edison Electric power station; an artist colony; a gym for indoor rock-climbing; the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States… While the Aliso Tree is no longer standing, it continues to stand for Los Angeles, rooted in history.
"Lewis Macadams points toward the ancient smokestack of the Edison Electric Plant. Thick grids of trackage, classification and storage yards, lumber and produce depots, breweries, foundries, and slum housing. Sixty thousand blue-collar workers and their families were crowded in the stretch of downtown between the river and Alameda Street from Elysian Park to Washington Boulevard."
"Painters were sometimes, even at this early date, employed in the field of technical and advertising art. As evidence we have the description of a 'handsome oil painting' representing the Sainsevain Bros, wine processes in 1860, with laborers at work bringing in grapes, operating the presses, and coopering barrels. Over the whole busy scene as unifying motif spread the mammoth Old Aliso or sycamore, a local landmark near the Los Angeles river, which great tree also gave name to the Sainsevain vineyard nearby. This picture was being exhibited at the San Francisco Mechanics’ Fair in September, 1860, with samples of Sainsevain’s wines."
"The Progress of a Home Industry. Maier and Zobelein Brewery. 'Make The best Beer In Southern California. The Only Strictly Home Beer Manufacturers in Los Angeles. Patronize Home Industry.' We make a specialty of best grades of Bottled Beer for family trade, and deliver to all parts of the city, in pints and quarts."
Aliso Tree — Los Angeles, rooted in history. 