Apparently this is the earliest-known photo of Los Angeles. Taken in around 1862, the anonymous photographer was standing on Fort Moore Hill, which is a block or two north of where the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels now stands. The view is looking east over to the Los Angeles Plaza, which is the circular plaza next to Olvera Street. The plaza is still there, as is the church, which was built in 1822, as well as Pico House, LA’s first luxury hotel, which opened in 1875. At the time, LA’s population was around 4400 so as we can see from this photo, everybody had lots of room to roam.
The two story adobe on the plaza is the Lugo Adobe which was built in the 1840’s and lasted until 1951!