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Christine Sterling

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1934 HABS documentation of the Avila Adobe, soon after the opening of Olvera Street.

Chastina Rix (1881–1963), later known as Christine Sterling, was born in Oakland, California.[1] Her most notable works were as a preservationist who helped save the Avila Adobe and created Olvera Street in Los Angeles.[2][3][4] She also helped create China City.[5]

"The booklets and folders I read about Los Angeles were painted in colors of Spanish-Mexican romance,...They were appealing with old missions, palm trees, sunshine and the ‘click of the castanets.’"— Christine Sterling, journal[6]

Early life

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Avila Adobe, 2008

Christine Sterling was born Chastina Rix[7] in Oakland, Alameda County, California[8] on 5 November 1881, one of four children of Edward Austin Rix[9][10] and Kate Elizabeth Kiteridge.[11][12] Her father was a mining engineer[13][14] via UC Berkeley (Zeta Psi) and inventor of the "Rix Rock Drill",[11][15][16][17] later a vineyard planter.[18][19][6] He was born to Chastina Walbridge Rix and Alfred Stevens Rix (1822-1904),[20] a San Francisco Committee of Vigilance leading member and San Francisco justice of the peace[19] from New Hampshire. He left for the gold fields of California in 1852 and married Chastina Walbridge in 1849 in Vermont.[21] Later in 1858 he married Margaret Arabella Tuite in California.[22]

Chastina changed her name to Christine as a teenager, and briefly studied art and design at Mills College in Oakland. After a brief first marriage, she married attorney Jerome Hough. They had two children, June (?) and Peter in 1915, later moving to Hollywood for his film industry work.[8] By 1920 the family was living on Bonnie Brae Street near downtown Los Angeles. Hough abandoned the family and soon died from a stroke[8] leaving Christine a widow without means.

"At last Los Angeles was home, The sunshine, mountains, beaches, palm trees were here, but where was the romance of the past?" — Christine Sterling, journal[6]

By 1928 she had changed her last name to Sterling.

Avila Adobe,1956

Work

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"I closed my eyes and thought of the Plaza as a Spanish-American social and commercial center, a spot of beauty as a gesture of appreciation to México and Spain for our historical past." — Christine Sterling, 1933 booklet[23]

Her explorations of the city led to her discovery of the decrepit Avila Adobe, which she later went on to preserve.[6] Olvera Street opened to the public on Easter Sunday 1930.[24][25]

"It might be well to take our Mexican population seriously and allow them to put a little of the romance and picturesque into our city which we so freely advertise ourselves as possessing. The plaza should be converted into a social and commercial Latin American center." — Christine Sterling[6]

Death

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Sterling lived in Chavez Ravine from 1938 to May 9, 1959, when the city began evicting residents for Dodger Stadium. Sterling moved into the Avila Adobe, where she died, at age 82, in 1963.[26]

Bibliography

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  • Christine Sterling. Olvera Street, Its history and restoration 1933.[27]
  • Christine Sterling, June Sterling Park Olvera Street : El Pueblo De Nuestra Senora La Reina De Los Angeles : Its history and Restoration and The Life Story of Christine Sterling By Her Daughter 1947.[28]
  • Lynn A. Bonfield, New England to Gold Rush California: The Journal of Alfred and Chastina W. Rix, 1849-1854. Arthur H. Clark Co., Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2011.
  • Daily Journal of Alfred and Chastina W. Rix July 1849-May 1857
  • Chastina W. Rix, Journal of My Journey to California, Peacham, Vt. 1853

References

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  1. ^ Smith, Zoey (September 18, 2012). "Visions of Romance: Christine Sterling's Quest for Change". Photo Friends LAPL Blog. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  2. ^ "History | El Pueblo de Los Angeles". elpueblo.lacity.org. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Parra, Alvaro (September 13, 2013). "Olvera Street: The Fabrication of L.A.'s Mexican Heritage". KCET. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  4. ^ Estrada, William D. (1999). "Los Angeles' Old Plaza and Olvera Street: Imagined and Contested Space". Western Folklore. 58 (2): 107–129. doi:10.2307/1500162. JSTOR 1500162.
  5. ^ "Christine Sterling and the Residents of China City – LA Chinatown Remembered". Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e Meares, Hadley (July 11, 2017). "Looking Back at Christine Sterling, the Maternalistic, Problematic "Mother of Olvera Street"". LA Weekly. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  7. ^ "History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America: Containing Biographical Sketches and Genealogies of Both Males and Females". Grafton Press. June 9, 1906. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b c Estrada, William D. (June 9, 2006). Los Angeles's Olvera Street. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738531052. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Fraternity, Zeta Psi (June 9, 1900). "Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America: Founded June 1 ... 1847. Semi-centennial Biographical Catalogue, with Data to December 31, 1899". The Fraternity. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Engineers, American Society of Civil (June 9, 1896). "Constitution and List of Members". American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ a b "History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America: Containing Biographical Sketches and Genealogies of Both Males and Females". Grafton Press. June 9, 1906. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Rix - Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents - Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  13. ^ Rix, Edward A.; Chodzko, A. E. (June 9, 1896). "A Practical Treatise on Compressed Air and Pneumatic Machinery". Press of the Hicks-Judd Company. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Rix, Edward A.; Chodzko, A. E. (June 9, 1896). "A practical treatise on compressed air and pneumatic machinery;". San Francisco [Press of the Hicks-Judd co.] Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "Rix, Edward A. (Edward Austin) Photographs from the Edward A. Rix papers [graphic]". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  16. ^ Rix, Guy S. (Guy Scoby) (June 9, 1906). "History and genealogy of the Rix family of America, containing biographical sketches and genealogies of both males and females". New York, The Grafton press. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ "MERCHANT'S CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, CA". freepages.rootsweb.com. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  18. ^ A History of the San Francisco Viticultural District
  19. ^ a b Estrada, William D. (June 9, 2006). Los Angeles's Olvera Street. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738531052. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ "1860 School Diary of a Vermont Farm Girl" (PDF). Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  21. ^ Kinsella, Susan (October 14, 2016). "taylorbakercousins: A'Cousining in San Francisco with Julian Walbridge Rix, Landscape Painter, Part 1, by Susan Kinsella". Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  22. ^ "Alfred Rix: Historical records and family trees". myheritage.com. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  23. ^ Christine Sterling. Olvera Street, Its history and restoration 1933.
  24. ^ Estrada, William D. (June 9, 2006). Los Angeles's Olvera Street. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738531052. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Google Books.
  25. ^ "First Person: My Life on Olvera Street". LMU Magazine. July 6, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  26. ^ Creason, Glen (May 15, 2013). "The Colorful Rebirth of Olvera Street in 1930 L.A." Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  27. ^ "Olvera Street, Its history and restoration by Christine Sterling. 1933. | eBay". June 9, 2020. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  28. ^ "Olvera Street : El Pueblo De Nuestra Senora La Reina De Los Angeles : Its history and Restoration and the Life Story of Christine Sterling By Her Daughter [pictorial Biography / History Los Angeles California] by Christine Sterling / June Sterling Park: Good Clean Cond. Soft Cover / Chapbook | GREAT PACIFIC BOOKS". June 9, 2020. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
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