Historic Restoration Tour: Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial

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After our visit to San Pedro, Bill and I headed north to downtown Los Angeles for a visit to another historic site with a military pedigree. Located adjacent to L.A.'s historic Olvera Street, the site was once an all-Mormon U.S. Marine installation that played a central role in the "Siege of Los Angeles," a standoff between the U.S. military and locals early in the Mexican-American War.

In 1957, 110 years after the American Flag was first raised over the fort, the City of Los Angeles in conjunction with Los Angeles County, the L.A. Board of Education and Department of Water and Power, paid tribute to that famous battle with the completion of the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial.

Located in what is now a pocket park set atop a hill overlooking much of the downtown area, the memorial is essentially a massive retaining wall that features an 80-foot long by 45-foot high waterfall. Large sculptural panels depicting the site's history flank the waterfall, which was turned off in 1977 due to drought.

On the day of our visit, we found the site in decay and occupied by a handful of L.A.'s large homeless population. Bill is part of an effort to refurbish the memorial that will eventually result in the reactivation of the waterfall.

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