{{Short description|American preservationist (1881–1963)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} [[File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Photographed by Henry F. Withey, March 21st, 1934 VIEW OF WEST FRONT - Casa Avila, 14 Olvera Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA HABS CAL,19-LOSAN,2-1.tif|thumb|1934 HABS documentation of the Avila Adobe, soon after the opening of Olvera Street.]] '''Chastina Rix''' (1881–1963), later known as '''Christine Sterling''', was born in Oakland, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://photofriendslapl.blogspot.com/2012/09/visions-of-romance-christine-sterlings.html|title=Visions of Romance: Christine Sterling's Quest for Change|first=Zoey |last=Smith |date=2012-09-18|website=Photo Friends LAPL Blog|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref> Her most notable works were as a preservationist who helped save the Avila Adobe and created Olvera Street in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://elpueblo.lacity.org/history|title=History {{!}} El Pueblo de Los Angeles|website=elpueblo.lacity.org|access-date=2019-03-22|archive-date=2019-07-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704014207/https://www.elpueblo.lacity.org/history|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/history-society/olvera-street-the-fabrication-of-las-mexican-heritage|title=Olvera Street: The Fabrication of L.A.'s Mexican Heritage|last=Parra|first=Alvaro|date=2013-09-13|website=KCET|language=en|access-date=2019-03-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Los Angeles' Old Plaza and Olvera Street: Imagined and Contested Space|author=Estrada, William D.|year=1999|journal=Western Folklore|volume=58|issue=2|pages=107–129|doi=10.2307/1500162|jstor=1500162|doi-access=free}}</ref> She also helped create China City.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lachinatown.chssc.org/neighborhoods/christine-sterling-and-the-residents-of-china-city/|title=Christine Sterling and the Residents of China City – LA Chinatown Remembered|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-22}}</ref>
<blockquote>"The booklets and folders I read about Los Angeles were painted in colors of Spanish-Mexican romance,...They were appealing with old missions, palm trees, sunshine and the ‘click of the castanets.’"— Christine Sterling, journal<ref name="Meares" /></blockquote>
==Early life==
[[File:Avila Adobe, Olvera Street, Los Angeles.JPG|thumb|Avila Adobe, 2008]]
Christine Sterling was born Chastina Rix<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fG8tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA160|title=History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America: Containing Biographical Sketches and Genealogies of Both Males and Females|date=1906-06-09|publisher=Grafton Press|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref> in Oakland, Alameda County, California<ref name="Estrada">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzlO8C5-Q88C&pg=PA27|title=Los Angeles's Olvera Street|first=William D.|last=Estrada|date=2006-06-09|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738531052|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref> on 5 November 1881, one of four children of Edward Austin Rix<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8sxgV8qAa4C&pg=PA722|title=Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America: Founded June 1 ... 1847. Semi-centennial Biographical Catalogue, with Data to December 31, 1899|first=Zeta Psi|last=Fraternity|date=1900-06-09|publisher=The Fraternity|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ResSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA78|title=Constitution and List of Members|first=American Society of Civil|last=Engineers|date=1896-06-09|publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref> and Kate Elizabeth Kiteridge.<ref name="Grafton Press">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fG8tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA159|title=History and Genealogy of the Rix Family of America: Containing Biographical Sketches and Genealogies of Both Males and Females|date=1906-06-09|publisher=Grafton Press|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1093/?name=_Rix&count=50&bsk=MDsyMjAxOzUw&fh=2150|title=Rix - Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents - Ancestry.com|website=www.ancestry.com|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> Her father was a mining engineer<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCFKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA187|title=A Practical Treatise on Compressed Air and Pneumatic Machinery|first1=Edward A.|last1=Rix|first2=A. E.|last2=Chodzko|date=1896-06-09|publisher=Press of the Hicks-Judd Company|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/practicaltreatis00rixe|title=A practical treatise on compressed air and pneumatic machinery;|first1=Edward A.|last1=Rix|first2=A. E.|last2=Chodzko|date=1896-06-09|publisher=San Francisco [Press of the Hicks-Judd co.]|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> via UC Berkeley (Zeta Psi) and inventor of the "Rix Rock Drill",<ref name="Grafton Press"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=UC+Berkeley::Bancroft+Library;titlesAZ=R;idT=UCb106951361|title=Rix, Edward A. (Edward Austin) Photographs from the Edward A. Rix papers [graphic]|website=oac.cdlib.org|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/historygenealogy02rixg|title=History and genealogy of the Rix family of America, containing biographical sketches and genealogies of both males and females|first=Guy S. (Guy Scoby)|last=Rix|date=1906-06-09|publisher=New York, The Grafton press|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/genealogy/s99_266.htm|title=MERCHANT'S CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, CA.|website=freepages.rootsweb.com|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> later a vineyard planter.<ref>[http://www.waywardtendrils.com/pdfs/san_francisco.pdf A History of the San Francisco Viticultural District]</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzlO8C5-Q88C&pg=PA30|title=Los Angeles's Olvera Street|first=William D.|last=Estrada|date=2006-06-09|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738531052|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Meares">{{Cite web|url=https://www.laweekly.com/looking-back-at-christine-sterling-the-maternalistic-problematic-mother-of-olvera-street/|title=Looking Back at Christine Sterling, the Maternalistic, Problematic "Mother of Olvera Street"|last=Meares|first=Hadley|date=2017-07-11|website=LA Weekly|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-11}}</ref> He was born to Chastina Walbridge Rix and Alfred Stevens Rix (1822-1904),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vermonthistory.org/journal/78/VHS780103_43-87.pdf|title=1860 School Diary of a Vermont Farm Girl|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> a San Francisco Committee of Vigilance leading member and San Francisco justice of the peace<ref name="books.google.com"/> from New Hampshire. He left for the gold fields of California in 1852 and married Chastina Walbridge in 1849 in Vermont.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://taylorbakercousins.blogspot.com/2016/10/acousining-in-san-francisco-with-julian.html|title=taylorbakercousins: A'Cousining in San Francisco with Julian Walbridge Rix, Landscape Painter, Part 1, by Susan Kinsella|first=Susan|last=Kinsella|date=2016-10-14|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> Later in 1858 he married Margaret Arabella Tuite in California.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Alfred Rix: Historical records and family trees|url=https://www.myheritage.com/names/alfred_rix|access-date=2020-06-18|website=myheritage.com}}</ref>
Chastina changed her name to Christine as a teenager, and briefly studied art and design at Mills College in Oakland. After a brief first marriage, she married attorney Jerome Hough. They had two children, June (?) and Peter in 1915, later moving to Hollywood for his film industry work.<ref name="Estrada"/> By 1920 the family was living on Bonnie Brae Street near downtown Los Angeles. Hough abandoned the family and soon died from a stroke<ref name="Estrada"/> leaving Christine a widow without means.
<blockquote>"At last Los Angeles was home, The sunshine, mountains, beaches, palm trees were here, but where was the romance of the past?" — Christine Sterling, journal<ref name="Meares" /></blockquote>
By 1928 she had changed her last name to Sterling.
[[File:Avila Adobe,1956.jpg|thumb|Avila Adobe,1956]]
== Work == <blockquote>"I closed my eyes and thought of the Plaza as a Spanish-American social and commercial center, a spot of beauty as a gesture of appreciation to México and Spain for our historical past." — Christine Sterling, 1933 booklet<ref>Christine Sterling. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200609030027/https://www.ebay.com/itm/333550546211 ''Olvera Street, Its history and restoration''] 1933.</ref></blockquote>
Her explorations of the city led to her discovery of the decrepit Avila Adobe, which she later went on to preserve.<ref name="Meares" /> Olvera Street opened to the public on Easter Sunday 1930.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzlO8C5-Q88C&pg=PA36|title=Los Angeles's Olvera Street|first=William D.|last=Estrada|date=2006-06-09|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738531052|accessdate=2020-06-09|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://magazine.lmu.edu/articles/first-person-my-life-on-olvera-street/|title=First Person: My Life on Olvera Street|date=2016-07-06|website=LMU Magazine|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref>
<blockquote>"It might be well to take our Mexican population seriously and allow them to put a little of the romance and picturesque into our city which we so freely advertise ourselves as possessing. The plaza should be converted into a social and commercial Latin American center." — Christine Sterling<ref name="Meares" /></blockquote>
==Death== Sterling lived in Chavez Ravine from 1938 to May 9, 1959, when the city began evicting residents for Dodger Stadium. Sterling moved into the Avila Adobe, where she died, at age 82, in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/citydig-the-colorful-rebirth-of-olvera-street-in-1930-la/|title=The Colorful Rebirth of Olvera Street in 1930 L.A.|first=Glen|last=Creason|date=2013-05-15|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * Christine Sterling. ''Olvera Street, Its history and restoration'' 1933.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/333550546211|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609055505/https://www.ebay.com/itm/333550546211|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-06-09|title=Olvera Street, Its history and restoration by Christine Sterling. 1933. | eBay|date=2020-06-09|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> * Christine Sterling, June Sterling Park ''Olvera Street : El Pueblo De Nuestra Senora La Reina De Los Angeles : Its history and Restoration'' and ''The Life Story of Christine Sterling By Her Daughter'' 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abebooks.com/Olvera-Street-Pueblo-Nuestra-Senora-Reina/4494513595/bd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609035922/https://www.abebooks.com/Olvera-Street-Pueblo-Nuestra-Senora-Reina/4494513595/bd|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-06-09|title=Olvera Street : El Pueblo De Nuestra Senora La Reina De Los Angeles : Its history and Restoration and the Life Story of Christine Sterling By Her Daughter [pictorial Biography / History Los Angeles California] by Christine Sterling / June Sterling Park: Good Clean Cond. Soft Cover / Chapbook | GREAT PACIFIC BOOKS|date=2020-06-09|accessdate=2020-06-09}}</ref> * Lynn A. Bonfield, New England to Gold Rush California: The Journal of Alfred and Chastina W. Rix, 1849-1854. Arthur H. Clark Co., Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2011. * ''Daily Journal of Alfred and Chastina W. Rix'' July 1849-May 1857 * Chastina W. Rix, ''Journal of My Journey to California'', Peacham, Vt. 1853
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Christine}} Category:1881 births Category:1963 deaths Category:People from Oakland, California Category:20th-century American people