Christine Sterling

Chastina Rix (1881–1963), later known as Christine Sterling, was born in Oakland, California. Her most notable works were as a preservationist who helped save the Avila Adobe and created Olvera Street in Los Angeles. She also helped create China City.

"'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"

Early life


Christine Sterling was born Chastina Rix in Oakland, Alameda County, California on 5 November 1881, one of four children of Edward Austin Rix and Kate Elizabeth Kiteridge. Her father was a mining engineer via UC Berkeley (Zeta Psi) and inventor of the "Rix Rock Drill",   later a vineyard planter. He was born to Chastina Walbridge Rix and Alfred Stevens Rix (1822-1904), a San Francisco Committee of Vigilance leading member and San Francisco justice of the peace from New Hampshire. He left for the gold fields of California in 1852 and married Chastina Walbridge in 1849 in Vermont. Later in 1858 he married Margaret Arabella Tuite in California.

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. By 1920 the family was living on Bonnie Brae Street near downtown Los Angeles. Hough abandoned the family and soon died from a stroke leaving Christine a widow without means.

"'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"

By 1928 she had changed her last name to Sterling.



Work
"'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"

Her explorations of the city led to her discovery of the decrepit Avila Adobe, which she later went on to preserve. Olvera Street opened to the public on Easter Sunday 1930.

"'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"

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.