VIDA AVILA ADOBE

AUNDREA PINTO

ANTHROPOLOGY 121

DR. LEANNA WOLFE

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Home of Francisco José Avila, the Mayor of Los Angeles in 1810. The inner center garden of the house is a beautiful yard with vegetation that does not require much water. The surroundings roofs of the garden harvest grapes.

This wooden cart was utilized for transportation for various harvests, it was pulled by a horse.

The kitchen were all the meals were prepared was consider to be to notch. It displays a wooden bucket for washing dishes (bottom right). The cave shaped stove where they cook the meals had a bottom base for placement of wood as well as a chimney for the smoke to escape. Many of the pans used inside this kitchen were made of iron.

Outside the kitchen there was a clay outdoor oven. Most of the utilities used for the oven were made of adobe giving the food a distinct flavor. The adobe pots and pans were very strong and could with last the heat of the oven.

The dinning room shows the best dinning wear including silver, porcelain plates, and glasses. This table contained eight people. The heads of the table will sit at opposite ends while the rest will sit in the shared bench seat.

After meals the family will go into the living room. If guests were at attendance the men and women will break into their own living room. The men would smoke and the women would play piano and talk. The giant crucifix hanging above the chair illustrates the strong influence of their Catholic faith.

The women’s living room was a place of strong Catholic décor. Above the piano there is a statue of Jesus Christ. To the left of the piano one can see a mini alter of a crucifix with candles.

The study is where the head of the household will often retire at the end of the evening. The book open is a guest login book which shows who came to visit. Mr. Avila took pride in this room for it showed the variety of foreign goods such as the chairs and rugs.

The décor around the house truly shows their devotion to the Catholic church. The statue of the Virgin Mary holding a rosary and the mini painting of the Virgin was depicted in the halls as well as many rooms.

The master bedroom consisted of more Catholic Décor. One can see such décor by the crucifix above the bed and the painting of the Virgin Mary praying at the left side of the bed. Most of the light in the room was from candle light. The bed itself is quite different from current styles. It is very elevated to the point a stool is needed to get into the bed.