New docent training classes for El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument will be held for nine Tuesdays from Feb. 3 through March 31, 2009. Classes are offered by Las Angelitas del Pueblo, the volunteer docent organization that conducts free walking tours of the “birthplace of Los Angeles.”
Classes will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Las Angelitas office, located at 130 Paseo de la Plaza next to the Old Firehouse and directly across from Union Station. The classes feature multi-media presentations of historic photos and lectures from El Pueblo curators and area history experts. Las Angelitas consists of sixty men and women who are history buffs with a passion for the history of Los Angeles, according to the organization’s president Kate Probst. “This is a wonderful group of volunteers who embrace LA history and want to share their knowledge with others,” says Frank Damon, past President, who leads the training classes.
The volunteer commitment is two weekday tours or one Saturday tour per month. The walking tours are fifty minutes long. Some tours are provided in Spanish and German. The historical timeline for the class begins prior to the founding of the city in 1781, when California was under Spanish rule. During the training sessions, everyone learns how to guide visitors around El Pueblo, which includes five museums, numerous historic buildings and the world-famous Olvera Street.
Las Angelitas, founded in 1966, is the oldest walking tour nonprofit organization in Los Angeles. “Our purpose since the beginning has been to provide educational and historically accurate walking tours of El Pueblo,” said Damon. More than ten thousand students, local residents and tourists are given free tours annually. To sign up for Las Angelitas docent training classes, visit www.lasangelitas.org and click “BE A DOCENT”, or call Jeanne Conklin at (310) 398-0269.
