Reminiscences Of A Ranger

Reminiscences of a Ranger

Reminiscences of a Ranger

Gunfights and general lawlessness were common in the frontier cities of the American West. Tombstone and Dodge City are legendary. But neither saw violence approaching that of Los Angeles in the 1850s. In his Reminiscences of a Ranger, Horace Bell reports that "midnight raids and open day robbery and assassinations of defenseless or unsuspecting Americans were of almost daily occurrence" in southern California, a territory newly acquired from Mexico. To combat this lawlessness, in 1853 the citizens of Los Angeles formed a volunteer mounted police force known as the Los Angeles Rangers. Under the command of Captain Alexander Hope, the Rangers strove to keep the peace within the city, and they hunted down bandits and murderers in the surrounding region, including several connected with Joaquin Murrieta's band. The life of a mounted ranger appealed to Horace Bell, a civilian who later became an attorney and ran a newspaper. As John Boessenecker says in the introduction to the book, Bell's memoir is a history of early Los Angeles, an essential and highly entertaining source for this period of the California Gold Rush. With a sharp eye for detail, Bell sketches numerous pioneers, politicians, military figures, and outlaws, and he vividly describes riots and shootouts in the city streets and campaigns against Indians and bandits.

El Pueblo

Founded in 1781 by pioneers from what is today northern Mexico, El Pueblo de Los Angeles mirrors the history and heritage of the city to which it gave birth. When the pueblo was the capital of Mexico’s Alta California, the region’s rancheros came here to celebrate mass or to attend fiestas in the historic Plaza. Following California’s statehood in 1850, the pueblo for a time ranked among the most lawless towns of the American West. American speculators, wealthy rancheros, and Italian wine merchants crowded its dusty streets. The town’s first barrio and the vibrant precincts of Old Chinatown soon grew up nearby. As Los Angeles burgeoned into a modern metropolis, its historic heart fell into ruin, to be revitalized by the creation in 1930 of the romantic Mexican marketplace at Olvera Street. Here, two years later, David Alfaro Siqueiros painted the landmark mural América Tropical, whose story is a fascinating tale of art, politics, and censorship. In the decades since, the pueblo has remained one of Southern California’s most enduring and most complex cultural symbols. El Pueblo vividly recounts the story of the birthplace of Los Angeles. An engaging historical narrative is complemented by abundant illustrations and a tour of the pueblo’s historic buildings. The book also describes initiatives to preserve the pueblo’s rich heritage and considers the significance of its multicultural legacy for Los Angeles today