How 18th Century Spanish Conquistadors Built the Heart Los Angeles Around Crooked Streets

Map historian Daniel Steiner, who previously explained how the first street grid in New York City started in Gravesend, Brooklyn, talked about how Spanish Conquistadors in the late 18th laid out the map for the city of Los Angeles.

In 1850, when California became part of the United States, most of the area began following a grid formation, except for the heart of the city, whose crooked streets are a reminder of the city’s Spanish roots.

It would be 60 years until California was part of the US. New lines were being drawn that would clash with the existing Four Square leagues came under….the Jeffersonian Imperial vision, and so a new grid of streets gradually evolved away from the Spanish one to reflect the standard American north/south/east/west grid. So at the heart of it, Los Angeles is a crooked city.

Original Los Angeles Map
Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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