Almost City of Angels 2013 – 2 Days!
Beautiful weather forecast for City of Angels this weekend! Mid 70′s to mid 80′s even, sunny and dry! We’re coming from low-40′s Washington D.C. so we are happy happy happpppy …
Hollywood in 5,000 B.C. (from Wikipedia):
“Recent archeological studies show there was a seafaring culture in Southern California in 8,000 B.C.
“By 3,000 B.C. the area was occupied by the Hokan-speaking people of the Milling Stone Period who fished, hunted sea mammals, and gathered wild seeds.
“Once Europeans arrived the the people in what became Los Angeles were known as Gabrielinos. They were part of a sophisticated group of trading partners that included the Chumash to the north, the Cahuilla and Mojave to the east, and the Juaneños and Luiseños to the south. Their trade extended to the Colorado River and included slavery.
“The lives of the Gabrielinos were governed by a set of religious and cultural practices that included belief in creative supernatural forces. They worshipped a creator god, Chinigchinix, and a female virgin god, Chukit. Their Great Morning Ceremony was based on a belief in the afterlife. In a purification ritual similar to the Eucharist, they drank tolguache, a hallucinogenic made from jimson weed and salt water. Their language was called Kizh or Kij, and they practiced cremation.”
Why “City of Angels?” (from the Los Angeles Almanac)
“Los Angeles is Spanish for “The Angels.” In 1769 Father Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest accompanying the first European land expedition through California described in his journal a “beautiful river from the northwest.” They named the river Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de la Porciúncula. This was the same that of the celebration of the feast of the Perdono at the tiny Assisi chapel of St. Francis of Assisi. The chapel, ruined and in need of repair, was located on what the Italians called a porziuncola or “very small parcel of land.” Painted on the wall behind the altar was a fresco of the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels, so the chapel was named Saint Mary of the Angels at the Little Portion.
“The newly discovered “beautiful river” was named in honor of this celebration and this chapel.
“In 1781, a new settlement was established along that river. The settlement came to be known as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula or The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the Little Portion although its official name was simply El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles.“
Did you know that’s how L.A. got it’s name? I sure didn’t.
And did you know that the Lakers were named after Minnesota, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes?” Yeah, me neither. I also didn’t know that the Lakers hold the all-time record for wins (3,125), winning percentage (.620), and NBA Finals appearances (31).
I mention this because I have come to realize that for west coast swing dancers nothing will get in the way of dancing – not illness, or lack of sleep, or being flat broke, not even starvation, not national holidays, not the threat of war – nothing.
Except a Lakers game.
Comp Updates live from “City of Angels” will start in two days … yippeee! Check my facebook for daily Updates … or Subscribe Here to get on my email list!