Quote:
Originally Posted by sopas ej
Because in California, early in the 1900s, the look of the Spanish Missions began to be embraced even by the non-Hispanic settlers who moved to California, and that's how the whole Mission/Mediterranean style became a thing in California.
|
Spanish Colonial/Mexican Colonial became a thing in Southern California beginning in the 1880s for two primary reasons: one, a massively popular book that became something of a foundational myth called
Ramona, and two, the railroads connected the nation to Southern California at that same time, and promoted the Ramona myth--along with real estate developers--as a way to make some money off of a naive America that bought the faux mystique hook, line, and sinker.
Tucson's Barrio Viejo looks much more authentically Spanish/Mexican colonial than any large district that I can think of here in California, but I'm always open to learning about such places.