Old Landing, Site of El Desembarcadero

Romance was added to the site, the bronze says, which is a soft way to put it. Josefa Carrillo's marriage to Henry Fitch was blocked by Governor Echeandia, who by her own later account wanted her himself. Her cousin brought her down to this landing in April 1829 and Fitch rowed her out to a ship bound for Valparaiso. They came back married with a son. A church court ruled the marriage good and fined him a fifty-pound bell for the Los Angeles church, which nobody can show he ever delivered.

What the plaque says

El Desembarcadero A landing near this point was used on May 1, 1769, by men from the San Antonio and San Carlos to bring fresh water from the San Diego River close by to the anchorage in the bay. For almost a century the landing and the channel were used by freight and passenger boats between Old Town and points on the bay. Romance was added to the site when Josepha Carrillo and Henry Delano Fitch eloped for Chile from the landing on April 16, 1829. Silt from river overflows limited use of the old landing later in the century, though high tides went to Rosecrans Street until 1923. During construction of the Naval Training Station (“Center” after 1944) the site and channel were buried by nine feet of fill. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 64 First registered Dec. 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, January 20, 1996.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• USS Recruit — 0.5 mi
• Spanish Landing — 0.8 mi
• Casa de Lopez — 1.8 mi
• Casa de Machado y Stewart — 1.9 mi