some more interesting information on the location of the original plaza
Plaza, Church of Our Lady of the Angels, and Sonora Town in 1869
Source:
Photo Collection
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The caption beneath the photo says;
Father Adam says, "Where Buena Vista Street is now open, north on the hill stood a chapel from 1784 to 1812; where a Franciscan friar from San Gabriel said mass every Sunday and holidays." At the extreme right of the picture is a fence about the Plaza it was built by the owners of the reservoir. Later they planted trees and otherwise improved it.
additional commentary included on the photo site:
There is no trace of the buildings erected by the original colonists or of their lot stakes, so noting remains today to show exactly were the homes stood. However, it is generally believed that one corner of the plaza was anchored across Sunset Boulevard from the Church of Our Lady of the Angeles, that is boundary continued along the east side of North Main Street to the line of Bellevue, thence across to New High, south to Sunset, and thence back to the point of anchorage. When North Main was cut through it is said to have gone directly through the old guard-house of the Pueblo site. The old and new plazas thus touch only at one point, the northwest corner of the present Plaza.
According to De Neve’s “Instruction para la Fundacion de los Angeles,” the old plaza lay square with the compass, with streets all running square with the plaza; so that “no street would be swept by the wind,” as the matter was put. House-lots faced the plaza on the north, west and south, the east side being given over to public buildings – a town hall, granary and a guard-house.
A cattle-proof adobe wall was built about the whole pueblo, and the lands outside the house-lots were cut up into planting fields. Then came pasture lands, beyond which were commons, leased lands and royal lands; revenue from the last two going into the pueblo treasury.