"I remember that Senor Griffith spoke to me one day. I think it was in
'74, telling me that Fort street was destined to become the most
important business street of Los Angeles. How strange his words seemed
to me then!

"My friend, George D. Rowan, who brought to Los Angeles the first
phaeton seen in our streets, was responsible for the changing of the
name of Fort street to Broadway. I remember when he subdivided the block
bounded by Sixth, Seventh, Hill and Olive streets and sold 60-foot lots
for $600. Ah, if we had only known in those days what a great city Los
Angeles was to become!

"Late in the fifties O. W. Childs contracted with the city to dig a
water ditch 1,600 feet long, 18 inches wide and 18 inches deep and the
city allowed him a dollar per running foot. In payment for the ditch
digging he took land, a large part of which was the square from Sixth
street to Twelfth street, from Main to Figueroa. When Childs put this
property into the market his wife named the streets.

"Because of the large number of grasshoppers in the vicinity she called
the extension of Pearl street, which is now Figueroa, Calle de los
Chapules, or the Street of the Grasshoppers. Three streets she called
after the trio of Graces. Faith, Hope and Charity. The street she named
Faith is now Flower and Charity street became Grand avenue. And can you
imagine why these names were changed? Why, because residents of the two
streets objected to being referred to as 'living on Faith and Charity!'

"None of us old settlers placed much value on real estate then. Childs
gave to the church the block bounded by Broadway, Seventh, Hill and
Sixth. In the boom year of 1887 this block was sold for $100,000 and St.
Vincent's college, which had occupied the site, was moved to the corner
of Washington and Charity--Grand avenue it is now.

"In those days too, we had a Lovers' Lane. It was a narrow road, deep
with dust and shaded by willow trees that followed the line of what is
now Date street and Main street was then Calle Principal. There are few
who recall where Pound Cake Hill was. It was the hill on which now
stands the county courthouse at Broadway and Temple.

"My father often told me of the great horse race between Jose Andres
Sepulveda's 'Black Swan' and Pio Pico's 'Sarco.' Don Jose imported the
'Black Swan' from Australia while Don Pio's horse was a California
steed. The race was run along a nine-mile course on San Pedro street in
'52.

"