Bella Union Hotel →
The rooms were not over 6x9 in size. Such were the ordinary dormitories of the hotel that advertised as being the "best hotel south of San Francisco." If a very aristocratic guest came along, a great sacrifice was made in his favor, and he was permitted to sleep on the little billiard table.
Why it's here: Horace Bell came to Los Angeles in 1852 and was a founding member of the Los Angeles Rangers, who pursued outlaws in what was then the most violent county in America. The Bella Union, a one-storey adobe, had been the last capitol of Mexican California under Governor Pío Pico and the county’s first courthouse. A lost place: it was demolished in 1940 and the site became a parking lot.
Here Before Us