Sound the Alarm – A Visit To the Old Plaza Firehouse

So yesterday I was telling you all about my visit to Avila Adobe at Olvera Street. Well, what you may not know (and what I certainly didn’t) is that Olvera Street is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (you said a mouthful, toots!). This monument consists of multiple historic structures from the days of early LA. Amongst these structures are a few interesting museums. And today I’m going to introduce you to another one – Old Plaza Firehouse.

Now this historic bakery….just kidding. Thought I’d make sure you were paying attention. It is indeed a fire station.

As I was saying, this historic building was built in 1884 and was the first in the city built specifically as a fire house. It was initially used by a volunteer fire crew before going through various incarnations in later years (saloon, cigar store, market, drugstore, etc.) It was restored and opened as a museum in 1960. Wow! At the point the museum itself is historic!

Since it was used as a firehouse in the days before the horseless carriage it is quite unlike the ones we are all familiar with. Luckily, it’s filled with lots of historic equipment to bring us back to the days of yore.