Mascarel s bakery catered to a French enclave that was, by 1845, well established. Helene Demeestre traces it to 1827 when Louis Bouchet became the first French person to settle permanently in Los Angeles. In 1831, he married into a prominent, Californio (Mexican Californian) family, started a successful wine business, and now Bauchet St. meanders in a loop just north of the 101 and east of the L.A. river. It intersects with Vignes St., named not after Pierre, who brought Mascarel to California, but Pierre s brother Jean-Louis, a vintner also known as Don Luis del Aliso. Jean-Louis named his winery El Aliso after the giant sycamore, revered by the Tongva, that once stood just north of Commercial Street and south of the 101.
Sue Strachan, Uptown Messenger
A tree is growing from the French Benevolent Society tomb in Lafayette Cemetery No. 2.
The cemetery off of Washington Avenue in Central City is, to be expected, quiet on a Monday morning. Tombs in various states of care are engraved with names reflecting the teeming diversity of New Orleans when the cemetery was established in 1850: Oberschmidt, Armato, Battiste, Tujague, Noble.
Other tombs, the large multi-level ones, are often benevolent associations: Deutscheler Hendwerker Verein (German Craftsmen Association, 1868), Societé de Bienfaisance de Boucher (French Butchers Society, 1867), Young Men Olympia Benevolent Association, 1883, and Société Française de Bienfaisance et d’Assistance Mutuelle (French Benevolent Society, 1850).