San Gabriel Mission

The San Gabriel Mission's wayward cross is back in its rightful place atop the historic landmark. Four years ago, on a cold winter night, someone sneaked into the mission and took the 50-year-old metal cross that was leaning against the church building. Authorities eventually recovered the 8-foot, 100-pound cross, but it remained in storage until this week, when it was hoisted to its rightful place.

Still deciding where to celebrate Easter Sunday? Here are some places Angelenos are expected to be en masse: Easter at the Hollywood Bowl is free to the public and will feature an address by Francis Chan, author of "Crazy Love. " “Whether you are simply curious about faith or a longtime follower of Jesus, Easter at the Bowl will leave you filled with life and an unshakable hope!” organizers said on the event website. The bowl service hosted by Bel Air Presbyterian Church and the Christian Assembly Church begins at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Re "Mission Possible," editorial, Jan. 6: I agree with your conclusion and attitude regarding the changes in the San Gabriel mission district. However, I believe that if you were to research it, you would find that Juan Bautista de Anza visited the mission at its original location, which was on the western bank of the Rio Hondo River where San Gabriel Boulevard crosses, near the city limits of Montebello. The mission was later moved north due to flooding conditions. JOE R. TOLOSA JR. Glendora

Archaeologist Deanna Jones couldn't believe her eyes as she hunched over a shallow pit dug next to railroad tracks in front of the San Gabriel Mission. She was inside the recently excavated foundation of a long-gone adobe building that once stood in the mission's 40-acre Bishop's Garden, first cultivated in the early 1780s. As Jones scooped a trowel full of dirt from what had been the adobe floor, a silvery glint caught her attention. "It looked like a piece of scrap metal at first," said Jones, a 29-year-old Van Nuys resident who has worked four years as a professional archaeologist.

On July 29, 1993, an open meeting of concerned citizens met with San Gabriel city officials for an unveiling of the proposed redevelopment plan for the San Gabriel Mission area. The plan is a good one but is seriously flawed in its present form as it regards traffic engineering and control. The plan calls for the closure of Mission Drive adjacent to the mission and elimination of parking around the hospital area. I believe this part of the plan is going to cause more problems and inconvenience for the community than the City Council and their contracted Orange county consulting firm care to admit.

Groundbreaking for the first phase of beautifying the district around the San Gabriel Mission is slated for Wednesday, city officials said. Last month, the City Council accepted a bid of $1.879 million from Gentry Brothers of Irwindale to make the improvements. "For many people, this is going to be a dream come true," said Councilwoman Mary Cammarano. Plans to create a setting worthy of the mission have been discussed in various forms for at least 25 years, she said.

Hoping to create a setting worthy of the San Gabriel Mission and attract businesses and tourists to the area, the City Council unanimously approved a plan to beautify and redesign the streets surrounding the historic landmark. The design by a landscape architecture firm in Irvine aims to unify the district with trees, street lamps and decorative paving reflecting the character of the Mission.

After Mission San Gabriel was rebuilt after an 1812 earthquake that toppled its bell tower and caused its high-arched roof to collapse, a portrait of the reconstructed building referred to it as "La mision de los temblores," the mission of earthquakes. In the years since, the mission has lived up to that name, withstanding four other major temblors.

Although it would be cheaper to simply patch up the damage the San Gabriel Mission sustained in the Oct. 1 earthquake, mission officials hope to raise the estimated $4.5 million needed to completely restore the 182-year-old structure. San Gabriel City Councilman Michael Falabrino, who heads the recently formed Mission Earthquake Restoration Committee, said the group has begun applying for money from private foundations as well as from federal, state and other private sources.

The J. Paul Getty Trust has awarded $50,000 for emergency repairs to the often-damaged historic San Gabriel Mission, one of California's oldest. The grant is one of 23 totaling $1.4 million the Getty Trust awarded Wednesday to preservation projects worldwide. Other local recipients include the Los Angeles Conservatory and the China Exploration and Research Society, based in Altadena.

Mission artifacts that could be more than 200 years old were discovered during an archaeological survey near the San Gabriel Mission, an environmental consultant said Wednesday. Pottery, brick, livestock bones and remnants of a masonry waterway associated with a mill built in 1823 were among the artifacts discovered Tuesday during the dig. Archaeologists also recovered items linked with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s.

The San Gabriel Mission's wayward cross is back in its rightful place atop the historic landmark. Four years ago, on a cold winter night, someone sneaked into the mission and took the 50-year-old metal cross that was leaning against the church building. Authorities eventually recovered the 8-foot, 100-pound cross, but it remained in storage until this week, when it was hoisted to its rightful place.

Some towns were named for nearby historic missions. One stemmed from the fact that its site had been used for smoke signals. Still others were based on simple geography. Los Angeles County has 88 cities, each with its own story. Here's how some of them got their names, along with the year they incorporated. San Dimas (1960) The area known as Mud Springs served as a watering spot for animals when explorer Jedediah Strong Smith passed through in 1826.

Father Ralph Berg had just finished celebrating his fifth Mass in two days at the historic San Gabriel Mission. A little weary, trying to beat back a cold, the Roman Catholic priest was nearing the end of the Sunday-Monday Christmas marathon. By the time Monday afternoon rolled around, the San Gabriel Mission had offered 18 Masses and services in two days in English, Spanish and Vietnamese between its two adjacent sanctuaries. The reason?

While many Angelenos took advantage of the Labor Day holiday to sleep in, Irene Sepulveda Hastings was meeting relatives she didn't know existed. Wearing a white lace mantilla that cascaded over her head and onto a gauzy, floor-length white dress, the Corona grandmother joined about 1,000 people on a nearly nine-mile journey from San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo Historical Monument -- birthplace of the city -- in downtown Los Angeles.

An 8.6-by descendants of Los Angeles' settlers will form the centerpiece of historic reenactments, music and celebrations to mark the 225th anniversary of the city's founding on Sept. 4, 1781. In this final installment of a yearlong series of graphics leading up to the anniversary, here is a look at the festivities planned through Monday: Spain claims land: Explorer Juan Cabrillo sails into the Bay of San Pedro and claims the area for the Spanish crown. Founding of pueblo: Gov.

Buoyed by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's acceptance of the honorary chairmanship of the fund-raising drive for restoration of the San Gabriel Mission, parishioners will hold an open house today at the historic, earthquake-damaged structure. Docents will lead free tours from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the 221-year-old mission, fourth-oldest of California's original 21. Groups of 10 will be taken into the mission's first sanctuary, which has been closed since the Whittier Narrows earthquake of 1987.

Once upon a time, Lucky Baldwin, a strapping young fellow with an ox as his companion, set out to work in his vineyard. The ox, hitched to a wooden cart, was minding its own business, and so was Lucky. Then a gust of wind blew. A really strong gust, so strong it blew the largest bell from the San Gabriel Mission tower right onto his oxcart. Some tale.

Forget Tom Cruise and that new movie. Rosemead homemaker Elizabeth Gonzales starred in her own version of "Mission: Impossible III" when her 9-year-old triplets came home from school with their separate fourth-grade California history class assignments. Marin Gonzales was supposed to build a scale model of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Christopher Gonzalez was given Mission San Luis Rey. Joseph Gonzales got Mission San Juan Bautista.

Toypurina, a Gabrielino-Tongva Indian shaman, was baptized with a group of others at San Gabriel Mission. At the time of her baptism, she was imprisoned at the mission, awaiting punishment for helping organize a revolt there in 1785. Father Miguel Sanchez,who baptized her, was one of the people she tried to kill in the uprising. He gave her the name Regina, meaning queen.