Obed Macy
A later account noted that the Macys "suffered innumerable hardships and privations en route by the lack of water and feed for the teams, which nearly all perished thereby."[5] They arrived in San Francisco,[5] but in 1851 they went to the site of El Monte, California, where they were the first American settlers; a year later they moved to Los Angeles.[7] Obed Macy was the first physician in the Los Angeles area.,[3] but he also opened a bathhouse called The Alameda[7] and bought the Bella Union Hotel,[9] which, according to an account written more than a century later: was a magnet for the town's young blades and affluent business leaders.The hotel was one of the few places in Los Angeles with shade trees in front, where idlers would gather on warm afternoons to wait for the Banning stage from San Pedro with passengers and newspapers from the East.perilous trip to the land of gold [in 1850] he faced the dangers of an unknown future, and when we think of him undertaking this journey and assuming the care and protection of a wife and nine children, we must concede that he was a hardy and brave pioneer, indeed.