Creating advocates for history through the stories of greater Los Angeles.
by Michael Ackerman At last August’s Curious Cases series presentation at the Homestead, The King Family of El Monte and Personal Justice, 1855-1865, Paul Spitzzeri briefly recounted the lynching of four Latino men following the killing of Sheriff James Barton and a three-man posse, though he'd given a more detailed account in a previous Curious Cases... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri Not quite a decade after he and his family migrated to the Mexican department of Alta California, about four years since he played a role as a negotiator in the seizure of Los Angeles by American forces during the Mexican-American War, and about three years after the Gold Rush was unleashed... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri It sprawls through about 2,500 acres in Tonner Canyon, east of the Homestead and within the cities of Chino Hills and Diamond Bar, and has been owned by the City of Industry for forty years, but today a new phase in the history of Tres Hermanos Ranch began today with an... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri For five-and-a-half years from 1979 to 1984, including high school and part of college, I lived in Placentia in north Orange County. A few hundred yards to the south was Anaheim and just a few feet to the north was Yorba Linda. The latter styled itself "The Land of Gracious Living,"... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri During the last half or so of the 19th century, Los Angeles and much of California and the West Coast was rife with anti-Chinese sentiment. It began with the first arrival of miners from China drawn to the Gold Rush and in an avid search for "Gold Mountain." One result of... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri Well, yes, we do interpret the 1890s at the Homestead and it is of interest that many of our economic issues now can be compared and contrasted to that era and up through the end of our interpretive era at 1930. But that's not what this post is about. Instead it... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri After her acquittal in the late April 1881 trial on charges of murdering Francisco P. "Chico" Forster, Lastenia Abarta returned home to live with her mother and several siblings and receded into obscurity. The story of her and the dramatic shooting of her much-older paramour occasionally was revisited in the press,... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri With two days of testimony giving great detail of the personal relationship of 18-year old Lastenia Abarta with 40 year-old Francisco P. "Chico" Forster, including the elopement that went awry and ended with her shooting and killing him, as well as abundant testimony by local doctors about her alleged insanity due... Continue Reading →
by Paul R. Spitzzeri In addition to the compelling and detailed testimony of Lastenia Abarta at her late April 1881 trial at Los Angeles for her shooting and killing of Francisco P. "Chico" Forster, there was also a significant and very interesting series of statements made by members of the town's medical fraternity. Their expertise... Continue Reading →
