This morning, we here in the San Gabriel Valley had a bit of a tragedy happen to a very old local landmark; our own little version of what happened to Notre Dame de Paris. San Gabriel Mission, one of the 21 Spanish Missions of California, 4th oldest one---founded in 1771, in fact it predates the founding of the Pueblo of Los Angeles (located 9 miles away) by ten years... had a great fire, which totally destroyed its roof, and seriously damaged its interior. Like Notre Dame de Paris, it had been undergoing restoration, which actually helped saved the artwork inside the church, because the artwork was removed and being stored elsewhere. The altar suffered some smoke damaged, but otherwise came through OK. The church has been closed since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just last week, after dinner, I walked around the Mission and snapped a few pictures.
Pictures taken July 1st, 2020.
I originally went to the San Gabriel Mission because I wanted to see if they had removed the Junipero Serra statue; Junipero Serra statues have become the California equivalent of Confederate monuments in the South. Some of have been vandalized and even pulled down. The people at the San Gabriel Mission decided to move its statue of St. Serra; it was originally in front of the church. They haven't yet filled in the empty space with cement.
Me, in front of the entrance to San Gabriel Grapevine Park, adjacent to the Mission, which contains a grapevine arbor planted in 1861.
Here's local TV news coverage of the fire:
From KTLA:
Early morning fire destroys much of 249-year-old San Gabriel Mission church
Linear Mode
