House and Garden 
description show plain¬ 
ly why a habitation 
built on these lines is 
most desirable here. 
Among the glossy, 
dark green foliage of 
orange trees and great, 
feathery fronds of sago 
palm, the pale yellow 
of the plastered walls, 
the cream white color¬ 
ing of the balustrades 
and arches, together 
with the dull, red tiling 
of the roof, make a 
gratifying color-picture, 
and the suggestion of¬ 
fered by the patio with 
its tropical plants com¬ 
pletes the charm. Some¬ 
times the Abyssinian 
banana waves its gigan¬ 
tic leaves in here above 
beds of fern and flowering plants, and some¬ 
times the play of a central fountain sends con¬ 
stant spray on lotus flowers, the lily-of-the- 
Nile and other aquatic plants. This portion 
of the United States offers several apparent 
contradictions, in that it is new, and it is old, 
A COVERED PATIO 
AN INSIDE PATIO 
it is semi-tropical in its growth and temperate 
in its climate; for though the thermometer 
stand at one hundred and ten degrees in the 
sun one may walk abroad without danger of 
sun stroke or exhaustion. It unites with the 
zest and virility of a newly settled and grow¬ 
ing country the pictur¬ 
esque ruins of a former 
period of prosperity, 
and the relics of a peo¬ 
ple about whom lingers 
all the romance sug¬ 
gested by a mixed 
Spanish, Mexican and 
Indian nationality. 
In Sonora-Town (a 
portion of the city of 
Los Angeles) may still 
be seen the squat adobe 
houses which were at 
one time the main 
architectural feature 
of this “ City-of-the- 
Queen-of-the-Angels,” 
El Pueblo de la Reina 
de Los Angeles. 
Here the Mexican 
population have their 
homes, their wine-shops 
and their gay little 
209 
