To remind everyone what Los Angeles was...

To remind everyone what Los Angeles was like in its earliest days, the Historical Society of Centinela Valley will hold a Centinela Adobe Fiesta from 2 to 4 p.m. today.

It will take place at the Centinela Adobe Complex at 7634 Midfield Ave., Westchester. The complex is made up of three buildings. The oldest is the adobe building itself, erected by Mexican and Indian settlers in the 1830s. The structure was nearly torn down in the 1940s to make room for development but was saved when the property was deeded to the City of Inglewood. Now, Inglewood rents the site to the historical society for $1 a year.

The land office building was built in 1887, when the railroad came to town, and the relatively new Heritage Center houses a photo library of about 11,000 prints and negatives illustrating Inglewood’s history. All three buildings will be open for the fiesta.

Other attractions will include strolling mariachis, Mexican dancers and displays of Mexican and Indian folklore, such as pinatas brought in from Olvera Street in Los Angeles by one of that street’s original merchants.

There will also be plenty of booths offering foods such as pan dulce, or sweet bread, provided by local Mexican bakeries, and hand-made tortillas prepared by Mexican women from East Los Angeles. Fiesta organizers say that the women are among a small number who still make tortillas from scratch and that their booth draws one of the longest lines at the fiesta.

Free parking will be available at the lot on the corner of 83rd Street and Isis Avenue, with free tram service to the fiesta site. Admission to the fiesta is free too.