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.
"Multiple negatives that feature night neon signage in the city, a motor at Santa Monica Ice Plant, and L.A. #3. Images included on the plate are copies of original negatives by photographer G. Haven Bishop. Photographs courtesy of the Huntington Library's Southern California Edison collection."
"[In April 2019,] members of the Kizh - Gabrieleno tribe, the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles basin and north Orange County, dedicated a spot at the corner of Commercial and Vignes in downtown LA that was a sacred burial ground and the former site of the large El Aliso sycamore tree."
"Before the Spaniards came, one native tribe lived all over what is now Los Angeles County. They lived on the islands off the coast. They lived [by El Aliso.] They lived up in the Foothills. These natives called themselves the Tongva, which means People of the Earth."
Aliso Tree — Los Angeles, rooted in history. 