From KCRW, I'm Bob Carlson and this is unfictional.

And now we would like to welcome all of you that have been lined up with your pets.

This is the most recent blessing of the animals at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, Alvera Street.

We have a dog that looks about the size of a small pony over here.

Christina Mariscal Pestine is a vendor here and she helps organize this event.

So the blessing of the animals actually predates Oliver Street.

It was something that was done by the priest of the church in the Pueblo and the farms around would bring their

livestock to be blessed so that they would have a prosperous year.

Oh I'm seeing our first turtle right here with the little bow and everything.

What a beautiful turtle. This spot has been at the center of things for thousands of years

when it was Tongva and Gabrielino land through the Spanish conquest and

when Los Angeles was a regional capital as a part of Mexico.

A applause for the music.

Nowadays, Alvera Street Mexican Marketplace is a commercial theme park and a living museum

with restaurants, shops, and stalls busting full of candy, cheap souvenirs

and Mexican handicrafts, leather goods, clothes, pinnatas, wrestling masks, there's places to get really good food.

I'm an LA native and I love Alvera Street.

It was one of my favorite places to go as a kid, and it's been a destination for decades worth of school field trips.

But at the same time, it's easy to understand when some people say

Alvera Street is a tourist trap or a monument to cultural appropriation.

There's some truth to that because from the moment the marketplace opened it was

full of contradictions. On this episode it's the surprising history of Alvero Street.

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