Fort Moore Fort Moore was an historic U . S . Military Fort in Los Angeles , California , during the Mexican – American War . Its approximate location was at what is now the Hollywood Freeway near the intersection of North Hill Street and West Cesar Chavez Avenue , downtown . The hill on which it was built became known as Fort Moore Hill , most of which was removed in 1949 for construction of the freeway . The hill was located one block north of Temple Street and a short distance south of present day Cesar Chavez Avenue , between the Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown . A small portion of the hill was not bulldozed and remains on the west side of Hill Street on the north side of the freeway . The fort is now memorialized by the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial . Mexican – American War . On August 13 , 1846 , early in the conflict , U . S . naval forces under Commodore Robert F . Stockton sailed into Los Angeles and raised the American flag without opposition . A small occupying force of 50 Marines , under Captain Archibald H . Gillespie , built a rudimentary barricade on what was then known as Fort Hill overlooking the small town . Siege of Los Angeles . The harsh martial law of Captain Gillespie soon ignited a popular uprising among Californio s and Mexicans led by General José María Flores beginning on September 22 , 1846 . Known as the Siege of Los Angeles , Californios assembled a force to retake Los Angeles . Gillespie ' s 50 marines were able to resist an initial attack on the government house in town and regrouped on Fort Hill , where they strengthened the fortification with sandbag s and mounted their cannon . As time passed , the Californio forces opposing the U . S . takeover grew to just over 600 men , with several Californio citizens voicing opposition . General Flores offered an ultimatum : leave within 24 hours or face attack . Gillespie agreed to withdraw from Los Angeles , under safe passage , on September 30 , 1846 . On October 7 , the U . S . forces regrouped , with Commodore Stockton sending 350 Americans , including 200 U . S . Marines , under U . S . Navy Capt . William Mervine , to retake Los Angeles . The marines were defeated in their attempt at the Battle of Dominguez Rancho , as Stockton ' s fleet fled south to San Diego . In December , U . S . Army forces under Captain Stephen W . Kearny were defeated by the Californio Lancers at the Battle of San Pasqual . After regrouping and resupplying forces in San Diego , on January 10 , 1847 , Los Angeles was recaptured by the combined 700 man forces of John C . Fremont , Stockton and Kearny , after the Battle of Rio San Gabriel and the Battle of La Mesa . With the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13 , 1847 , war in Alta California ended . On January 12 , 1847 , to secure the area from future attack , U . S . forces began erecting a 400 - foot ( 120 m ) long breastwork on the same strategic site as the previous Fort Hill and named it the Post at Los Angeles . The plans were later revised , and on April 23 a larger defensive structure was begun on the same site . Constructed by the Mormon Battalion — the only religious unit in American military history — and the U . S . 1st Dragoons , it was designed for six cannons . It was never completed and was dedicated as Fort Moore on July 4 , 1847 , named after Captain Benjamin D . Moore , 1st Dragoons , one of 22 Americans killed in the Battle of San Pasqual in San Diego County , on December 6 , 1846 . Post - War development . Lieutenant William T . Sherman ordered the garrison withdrawn in 1848 , and the fort was abandoned in 1849 and decommissioned in 1853 . In later years the site was leveled and became a public playground . In August 1882 , Jacob Philippi ( c . 1835 – 1892 ) purchased a tract of land on Fort Moore Hill and built a beer garden . He had started the New York Brewery , the first brewery in Los Angeles , and had owned a saloon in the Temple Block in the center of town . On the summit of the hill he had a rambling structure erected , covering much of the ground with wide galleries , and for many years following , as the story went , local inhabitants of Los Angeles would climb the hill sober and roll down drunk . It was an approximate equivalent of a later road house , an airy place with a view , refreshments and food , with half of its customers a polite crowd and half of them a tough lot . After Philippi closed down his beer garden resort , he sold the place in 1887 to Mary ( Hollister ) Banning ( 1846 – 1919 ) , widow of the " Father of the Port of Los Angeles " Phineas Banning . She converted it into a residence , what locals came to call the " Banning Mansion . " She lived there several years with her daughters , Mary Banning ( 1871 – 1956 ) and Lucy Banning ( 1876 – 1929 ) . The enormous old structure made a charming home , which was cut up into suitable parlors and bedrooms and elegantly furnished , with a fine view . It was the scene of many social events attended by the first families of the city who drove up to it in their carriages . With the growth of the city , however , society moved to newer districts and left the old place to end its days as a rooming house . Cemetery . Part of Fort Moore Hill became home to a cemetery , with the first documented burial tracing back to December 19 , 1853 . Alternately known as Los Angeles City Cemetery , Protestant Cemetery , Fort Moore Hill Cemetery , Fort Hill Cemetery , or simply " the cemetery on the hill " , it was the city ' s first non - Catholic cemetery . The cemetery was overseen by the city starting in 1869 . It was not well taken care of , lacking clearly delineated boundaries , complete records or adequate maintenance . The Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution on August 30 , 1879 , closing the cemetery to any future burials except for those with already reserved plots . By 1884 , the city had sold portions of the cemetery as residential lots and the rest to the Los Angeles Board of Education ( later the Los Angeles Unified School District ( LAUSD ) ) . The city never removed any bodies , and the former cemetery was the site of repeated , grisly findings and much negative press . As a result , the city began moving the bodies , most to Evergreen Cemetery , Rosedale Cemetery and Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery , with the final bodies being transferred in May 1947 . The recent construction of Los Angeles High School # 9 resulted in the discovery of additional human remains . These were excavated by archaeologists in 2006 . High school . In 1891 , the site became home to the second location of Los Angeles High School ( LAHS ) , located on North Hill Street between Sand Street ( later California Street , now part of 101 Freeway ) and Bellevue Avenue ( later Sunset Boulevard , now Cesar Chavez Avenue ) . LAHS was at this location on Fort Moore Hill until 1917 , when the high school was moved again . Part of the site was later replaced by the headquarters of the LAUSD . Because of political and financial hardship caused by the construction of the nearby Belmont Learning Center , the LAUSD moved from the location in 2001 so that a new high school could be built on its location . The new high school , formerly named Central Los Angeles Area New High School # 9 , is now named Ramon C . Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and is a part of the adjacent Los Angeles Cultural Corridor . The 238 , 000 square foot ( 22 , 110 m ) , $ 171 . 9 million facility was designed by the project team of Architect - of - Record HMC Architects and Designer - of - Record Austrian firm Coop Himmelb ( l ) au . Most of Fort Moore Hill was removed in 1949 for the construction of the Hollywood Freeway , which was opened in December 1950 , and in 1957 a memorial for the old fort and its American pioneers was placed on a site north of the freeway . Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial . The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial is a large stone memorial wall built in 1957 on part of the original location of Fort Moore facing North Hill Street , in Los Angeles , California . As the largest bas - relief military monument in the United States , it honors the Mormon Battalion , the U . S . 1st Dragoons , and the New York Volunteers who raised the American flag over the fort on July 4 , 1847 , at the first Independence Day in Los Angeles . Funded by the County of Los Angeles , the City of Los Angeles , the Los Angeles Board of Education and the Department of Water and Power , the memorial was designed by Kazumi Adachi and Dike Nagano and dedicated on July 3 , 1957 . Featuring four different panels , a by terra cotta panel designed by Saltus Award - winner Henry Kreis is the most prominent feature and portrays the July 4 event . Other panels represent the agricultural and spiritual foundation of the region ; transportation that shaped the city at the end of the 19th century ; and the crucial role that water and electricity play in a large modern city . An wide waterfall sits to the right of the panels , however it has been out of service since a 1977 drought . The monument also includes a long brick facade that serves as a backdrop for a high pylon designed by noted American sculptor Albert Stewart . The pylon features a by American eagle as well as an incised relief on the low wall along the sidewalk depicting the march of the Mormon Battalion from Council Bluffs , Iowa , to Los Angeles .