Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church — Attraction in Los Angeles

Once a small chapel of approximately 1,400 square feet completed construction in 1784. This was considered the first church building in the city of Los Angeles, which was originally erected somewhere in the vicinity of what is now the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Blvd. (formerly Sunset Blvd.) and North Broadway Avenue. The chapel remained there in use until December 8, 1822 when the church was re-located at its present site and was dedicated in honor of Our Lady Queen of Angels; undergoing extensive remodeling since the 1840's.

Two beautiful murals are located on site: The first titled: "The Annunciation" painted by Isabel Piczek; a replica of the central panel of a six-part mural originally painted by Ilario da Viterbo in 1393 at the sanctuary of Porciuncula Chapel in Italy. This important celebration in the Franciscan calendar remembers the day when St. Francis of Assisi founded his Order in 1208, and honors the village chapel where he was inspired.

The central panel depicts the Archangel Gabriel announcing the divinity of Christ to the Virgin Mary as she receives the Holy Spirit from angels surrounding God in Heaven. That section, replicated by Piczek in Byzantine tesserae was dedicated on September 4, 1981 (on the 200th Anniversary of the City of Los Angeles) by Cardinal Timothy Manning as a reminder of the religious connection to the naming of the city of L.A. The mosaic replaced a plastered-over fresco dating from 1861 that showed Mary with the infant Jesus, along with two angels where Henri Joseph Penelon had originally painted the fresco. Possibly due to the mural being in poor condition from neglect, which was believed to be the earliest outdoor public mural in the city of Los Angeles; it remained visible until 1950 when it was plastered over.

The second mural titled: "Jubilee 2000 Mural" by E.J. Harpham (a.k.a. EJTILESCAPES) The story begins in the early morning hours of December 9, 1531, when a 57-year-old Indian peasant named Juan Diego was walking along the path of Tepeyac Hill on the outskirts of Mexico City. That morning Juan Diego was headed to Mass and as he walked along Tepeyac Hill, he began to hear beautiful strains of music, and he saw a beautiful lady, who called him by his name. She told Juan Diego to go tell Bishop Zumarraga of her desire for a church to be built at the site. Juan Diego proceeded to inform the bishop of his vision of the Virgin Mary. Reluctant at first, Bishop Zumarraga listened patiently to Juan Diego's claims, but was doubtful of the vision and responded by saying he would 'reflect' on the matter. This goes back and forth a few more times with Juan Diego's visions until finally the bishop requests for Juan Diego to come back with some kind of evidence.

As for the sign for the bishop, Mary told Juan Diego to go to the top of the mountain and pick some flowers. He went up to the hill which was dry and barren, and found roses only grown in Spain, but foreign to Mexico. He gathered them in his tilma, a garment like a poncho, and brought them to Mary who arranged them and instructed Juan Diego to take them back to the bishop.

Upon his return, the bishop saw not only the beautiful flowers but also the beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Bishop Zumarraga wept at the sight of the Blessed Mother and asked forgiveness for doubting Juan Diego's visions. The bishop took the tilma and laid it at the altar in his chapel and by Christmas of that year, an adobe structure was built atop Tepeyac Hill in honor of the Virgin Mary/Guadalupe; it was dedicated on December 26, 1531, the feast of St....

Well I am never going back nor taking any one else there again for a baptism. It's all a business there now! And it's been for a long time now. They charge 100 dollars for every family taking there child there.... And there is over 100 benches each bench is for one family make your math... Only 6 people can go in Total per family, Then before you go in to the service you have to register in the line you'll be pressure​ to buy picture keychains for 20 bucks "to help the church" then again when you take the picture that's included already with the $100 you pay yet the man would not give you 5 seconds to get ready for the picture and look at the camera... And was just plain rude and it's done on purpose so the picture comes out ugly and you just have to buy a retake for another $20... You go in the mass that takes like 40 minutes and they still pass two baskets for more money... and at the end even the priest will try and sale you a water bottle for 5 dollars!!!! All saying it's for the church and to keep up the church.. yet it's been the same way with the walls peeling since I was 10!!!!! They might pay rent or not but I want to know where is all that money going.. if I never hear them offering anything for free to the community like many other churches do! At all!!!!!! And besides the fact that in the out side they also sale religious things... That, im not sure if it goes for the "church" too. I should have known better though, 8 years ago I tryed to take my child there and was turned away because I was a single mom and father was not present.. told me they couldn't!!! I baptized my child in another church where there was no fee just a donation of what ever you could give and a big church only two children getting baptized per service of an hour long.! Gave us a class 2 weeks before the date also. The way it's supposed to be...!!!!!!!!!!!! I also took another child to a different church in Lincoln heights and even there yes I payed 60 for service and had a class 2 weeks before too, one hour long service and there was no salesmen there.! And at least I know that church gives out free food for the families in need so I didn't mind that.! ...

The absolute WORST church I have ever been to! Please stay far away from this scam of a “church”! They take your money easy no problem but when it comes time to try to get ahold of someone, anyone! No one ever answers the phone! I’ve called 3 weeks straight, left numerous vm with no answer or call back. Not even emails!

I baptized my daughter here but since she was adopted and we didn’t have a new birth certificate (it takes 9 months for a new one) they didn’t give me the certificate of baptism. Keep in mind I called and CONFIRMED THAT THEY WOULD ACCEPT A COURT ORDER BEFORE EVER BAPTIZING HER HERE!!! The day of they told me they wouldn’t give it to me because I don’t have the BC but they still took my money! I was upset but i couldn’t do anything and we continued to wait for the birth certificate. Well I got the new certificate but there was an issue with the last name so we had to send it back for amendment and that another 9 months! But my daughter needs to go to catechism now and guess what I need to enroll her! The baptism certificate! I called the office 5 times they same hour until someone finally answered the call. She was extremely rude and completely unprofessional and wouldn’t understand that I did not have a birth certificate and said that I should not have left that day without the certificate LOL! I was flustered and asked to speak to someone else. Her name I do remember as EDITH and she was just as useless. She said that I have to go IN PERSON and show them the same damn paper work I showed them the day of the baptism! I do not live in Los Angeles and In this economy for me to lose work over something I could literally email her! I was fuming . Then she said something that made me laugh so I wouldn’t scream her ear off. She said that she was “helping me out because they usually charge $100 hold fee for a copy of the paper” LOL!

This place is a scam. Please please take your time and special moment else where. This isn’t about a holy religious sacrament anymore, it’s about them stealing money from us who still believe. It’s...