Misión Vieja Plaque

Junipero Serra led the founding of the Spanish Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.  The San Gabriel location was the third choice.  The expedition actually arrived somewhere along the Santa Ana River in 1771, but soon moved to present day Montebello, close by the Rio Hondo.  The precarious location made it susceptible to floods and prompted the move closer to the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in 1776.

A plaque to remember Misión Vieja, the "old mission," sits on a landscaped corner receding from the busy San Gabriel Boulevard by Lincoln Avenue, at the base of the Montebello Hills.  There is only one spot on unpaved dirt at Lincoln Avenue in which to stop the car and get out to sight-see.

A shady corner, a manicured anomaly along a busy thoroughfare.  (Click on images to zoom in)

A bell of the Spanish El Camino Real, the King's Road.

Installed in 1921.

A contemplative spot on the side of the road.

Misión Vieja was nestled close to the hills.  Today there is an oil pump within view.