Olvera Street

Visit Olvera Street to learn about Los Angeles’ history, browse the shops and stalls, and enjoy tacos and other Mexican specialties. The area also boasts some small museums, including the Avila Adobe, LA’s oldest house. A number of LA city tours stop here: You can learn about the city’s beginnings on a historical walking tour, or explore by bike to cover ground a bit faster. Some hop-on hop-off tours also have an Olvera Street stop.

• There is no admission fee to enter the market.

• The narrow, 1-block lane is a pedestrian-only area.

• Olvera Street abuts the “old plaza,” El Pueblo's central square.

Olvera Street runs parallel to Main Street from Cesar E Chavez Avenue. It is just a block from Union Station and is easily accessible via LA’s buses and metro lines, as well as other area train networks.

The marketplace is open daily from late morning until evening, with extended hours on the weekends. Olvera Street and the old plaza are busiest on Saturday and Sunday, when the area sometimes hosts mariachi bands and costumed dancers. To experience the area at its most festive, visit on holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Día de los Muertos, or Epiphany (for the festival of Los Tres Reyes).

If you’re interested in visiting more of LA’s historic ethnic districts, head just north to Chinatown or just south to Little Tokyo. While Chinatown is no longer the center of LA’s Chinese and Chinese-American communities, the area still boasts dozens of restaurants and shops as well as museums and historic landmarks. Little Tokyo is home to the Japanese American National Museum as well as sushi restaurants and ramen shops, Japanese stores, and beautiful gardens.

The Mexican market on Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is open daily between 9am and 8pm. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the Latinx cultural and community hub adjacent to Olvera Street, is open Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 5pm. Other businesses on and around Olvera Street have their own opening hours.

Olvera Street is one of the oldest streets in Los Angeles. It was established in 1858 in the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles. It was named Vine/Wine Street and was renamed Olvera Street in 1877 after a judge who lived there, Agustin Olvera. The popular Mexican market opened in 1930.

Downtown Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is just 600 feet (182 meters long). It consists of 27 historic buildings and the lively Mexican marketplace. Although it’s not big, Olvera Street is a very popular Los Angeles tourist destination and a hub of local Mexican culture, craft, and cuisine.

Olvera Street is important as a focal point of Los Angeles’ Mexican culture. It’s one of the city’s oldest streets in its oldest area, the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument area. It contains some of Los Angeles’ oldest buildings and is one of the city’s most popular attractions.

Yes, admission to Olvera Street is free and anyone is welcome to browse the shops and walk around the historic area. The street’s numerous museums are free to visit, and sometimes free walking tours led by docents are also held. Some privately run walking tours do charge a fee, however.

Olvera Street’s mural is called América Tropical and was painted by artist and political activist, David Alfaro Siqueiros. It was completed in 1932, but with its depiction of native Americans being attacked and colonized, it was considered too controversial and was whitewashed. From the late 1980s, the mural was restored.