u/Throwaway_09298

This isnt an extensive break down nor am I a real historian. Im just a guy on lunch with Wikipedia and unlimited data. I also can't spell (i did use a spell checker at one point). i am also not a writer nor trying to sound like a scholar.

So lets start from the beginning

• In 1781 Spain sent out 44 pobladores to travel 1,000 miles for 7 months to San Gabriel Valley to form El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula. You can read about them here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/1p9nbhp/el_pueblo_de_nuestra_se%C3%B1ora_la_reina_de_los/ (im sorry for redacted comments. I try and clean up stuff every new year but never posts)

• Mexico gains independence in 1821 (this is not Cinco de Mayo btw)

• Mexico deposes of its "Emperor" Agustín de Iturbide (Agustin I) 1823. He is also killed when he tries to come back.

• Mexico elects Guadalupe Victoria as president and he ended the participation of the international slave trade in 1824 (the rich and Spain did not like this!)

• Vicente Guerrero becomes president and eliminates slavery altogether in 1829. And is murdered in 1831 after a conservative coup in a kangaroo court setup by his Vice President Anastasio Bustamante (this whole arc could be a Judas and the Black Messiah: Mexico movie)

• Bustamante takes over to restore power to the conservative elite and for the next 30 years there is constant civil war and power grabs. Famously Antonio López de Santa Anna is president of Mexico 11 different times during this period.

• This period is when the US used the instability of Mexico to fuel a rebellion and then eventually annex Texas (which was the real "Great Replacement Theory"). This is also President Polk "negotiated" (he straight up went and took the land for pennies) the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which gave the US what is now Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico Colorado, Wyoming, and you guessed it: California

This is where we leave Mexican history and swap more to American History.

After the US took the land from Mexico, the US government had a land owning policy called The Land Act of 1851 which was basically "you gotta prove it belongs to you in English." Because of this, many of the Californios, Rancheros and Pobladores that owned millions of acres of land had trouble keeping their land. The courts would grant them expensive lawyers who wouldnt always in good faith negotiate borders and would also charge so much money that the land owners would have to sell or forfeit their land to pay debts.

Coupled with this act, the gold rush, squatters rights laws (which were laws created for white people to operate and live on land in legal dispute with the Land Act) many of the original families were reduced to nothing. The land value tax also hurt the rancheros more because not only could they not occupy their own land, many of their farms crops and cattle died out (due to the Great Drought) which means they could not sell goods at all to pay the tax. For example Pio Pico, an Afro-Indigenous man, was one of the wealthiest men in Los Angeles was evicted from his own home and died penniless in 1894.

Also to become a state several of the ranches and plantations had to give up being slave territories to become a state (yes California territories had African, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian slaves/coolies...some even continued after the civil war thru loopholes). This led to a whole lot of "free" civilians that were a different class from the white population.

As the mexican revolution happens in 1917-20 (which some original families supported) America is experiencing a growth period up until 1929 at the start of the great depression. During this time while most of America tries to just "tough it out" California and neighbors turned to racism and blames "Mexicans" for taking real Americans jobs and elects to deport the "illegal ones" but ended up deporting mostly mexican-american citizens (which is crazy because most of everyone was descended from the 150kish or so Mexicans present when the Guadalupe treaty was signed).

In california alone about 400,000 people were deported under Governors James Rolph and Frank Merriam. This was done largely at the direction of President Herbert Hoover (who learned not to be racist only shortly before he died) from 1931-1939. Charles P. Visel was the specifc architect in Los Angeles that contributed to the crisis.

Eventually the US government realized "maybe it wasn't the mexicans...it was the Japanese! [This was wrong too btw]" after a huge labor shortage.

So the government signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement that created the bracero program bringing back about 4.5-5million Mexicans over 20 years (while 1 million or so went back due to media pressures and Operation Wetback - yes thats the real name. Dont ban me mods)

Unfortunately from 1917 to 1960s during this program is when border patrol would wash daily workers with terrible pesticides, including for about 10 years Zyklon B (the chemical used by Nazis to do a genocide) on their clothes and luggage. From 1942 to 1964 they were stripped naked and sprayed w DDT instead (using the genocide pesticide is bad for branding)

Eventually due to the civil rights movement in the south (leaders like MLK Jr) and the west (lead by he who shall not be named) there were more exposures of housing discrimination, unpaid labor, union busting tactics, and flat out racist killings the program was ended. This meant that the old routes that were once legal for entering the US were now "illegal." But of course capitalism does not care and requires a desperate workforce and continued importing farm laborers daily.

In 1965 the US government passed immigration caps of 20k people per country in the Western Hemisphere. This resulted in a very very very large influx of Asian and Middle East refugees. Korean War, Viet Nam War, Secret War, and Cold War (WHICH WAS NOT COLD) added to an ever growing immigrant population.

Fast forward to 1986's Immigration Reform and Control Act that granted amnesty to millions of "undocumented" workers, Los Angeles is now a completely different place with the only real references to the original founders as street and park names.

Ending and Tl;dr: Today the only family still standing in stature is the Dominguez family that were blessed to strike oil and own land thru Del Amo Estate Company Watson Land Company and the Carson Estate Company (Manuel Dominguez had all daughters and a few married Anglos to retain legal and social status of the time. Two were named James Watson and George Carson) which is mordern day Compton, Carson, Torrance, and Redondo Beach.

Many descendants have found their way back to California over time and many others have married into other families. Lots of these descendants today are active in local restoration projects, museums, and community outreach programs.

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Earlier I mentioned that the Mexican Independence war was not "Cinco De Mayo" but obviously Cindo de Mayo is an important date for Mexican-Americans. In 1862 France used a distracted US (civil war was going on) to invade Mexico and establish its puppet Emperor Maximilian I.

France specifically attacked over President Benito Juárez canceling all international debt payments. Britain+Spain but they backed out bc Napoleon III was gonna fight them to take mexico for himself and not just get payments in 1876. Mexico ended up beating Napoleon III and there is the famous Cinco de Mayo Battle of Puebla. (A true underdog story w infinite morale boosts).

Eventually Mexico was able to defeat france with the aid of the US guns and money. After the US crushed the confederacy and was able to enforce Monroe Doctrine by sending 50,000 troops to Mexico. Its celebrated similar to how we also celebrate Juneteenth even though that wasnt the end of the civil war (or slavery for that matter. Just a symbolic milestone of what was to come). Its also important to note that France was going to support the Confederacy had they won that battle in 1862. So depending on how conservative you think you are, Cinco de Mayo is more than just a California holiday

i tried to fix some typos. I'm sure there's more.

I'm rocking a 2026 ioniq5 and the only thing I don't like is that the tail lights for the turning signals aren't amber/yellow like every other car I have driven. I found out that the Korean taillights have amber lights. Is it an easy part swap? I've seen something about needing to "reprogram" the lights but unsure if this is if you need to replace both taillights and garnish. Has anyone successfully done this?