La Placita Church

Everything came out perfect ! The church was beautiful. We got there earlier around 11:30, we checked in with the receptionist which only took around 15 mins. Our ceremony was not til 1:30 so this gave us plenty of time to walk around, have late breakfast. We even took photos around the church. The $ 100 included two photos, one I front of a screen and a live one of the water being poured over the baby
The ceremony
Well I personally (I think I am good Catholic) loved how the mass was quick, get to the point kind of mass. Call me a bad Christian for all I care but I have a whole party to arrange and do appreciate the urgency of this mass. We were seated in row 12 section B, it was almost in the end, but I didn’t mind since my 1 ½ nephew was getting fuzzy. The priest said an Our father and a few words of what God pâté ts do then each row went up to pour water on their baby, took around 30 mins. There were around 30 kids .they allowv6 ppl per party. You do not need rosary or a Bible. I made the mistake of buying a candle for $ 20 bucks thinking we needed them but u don’t. After that the priest a d a helper walk around lighting the candles, it really can be any $ 1 candle. It’s lit for maybev2 mins. Then the priest speaks and then he walks around the rub oil on each kid. The whole thing took around 1 hr and 30 mins. They don’t really required any paperwork other then the basic ID, birth certificate of baby. Nothing for godparents. Pretty basic and simple. Made my life simpler .
Parking was 8 bucks, Starbucks in corner, its a done deal

this church is a scam please go to another church baptism requirements are dumb like requirement #13 would God ask you For a MINIMUM of 100 $ donation for each kid
13. The minimum Donation for the Ceremony of Baptism is $ 100.00 cash for each child. No personal checks or credit cards will be accepted. The minimum donation is due on the day of the Baptism. No Exception

As a Catholic I never felt so insulted in my life. The God Mother never showed up for our son and the God Father and his wife took over. I tried to get the names changed and they said it was a sin. I felt his was not in the bet I treat for our son. I spoke to the Priest and was integrated by him and his office staff. I was told I could have it changed and they did nothing.
Secondly, the Deacon was in the wrong by scolding all of the God Parents during the ceremony saying «all you do is drink, dance, cook carne Asada, wear short skirts and have Pachangas. This had nothing to do with the celebration of the children’s baptism. My parents a walked out and they made us feel like we were outsiders. We did t even get an apology when I called the next day. Very selfish people. I will never show my face there again. Sad to say the especially it’s such a Historical place. It was to be very special and all it was a nightmare. I’m calling the Archdiocese this morning.

People should know that this is not a «traditional» church for baptism but that is also why it’s a great option. We chose the Placita because my husband and I were not married in the Catholic Church, nor were we confirmed, and my kids godparents live far. All of these things make it extremely difficult to be baptized our children in the church close to our home. With that being said we still wanted our kids to be baptized as we were so we came here.
Positives;
The Placita only requires identification and birth certificates for your child to be baptized. The church is beautiful and has terra cotta tiles and gold frames throughout. The hacienda area serves snacks, water and food. They provide photos before the ceremony and one during which they give to you before the ceremony is over. We attended the Sunday bilingual service and it lasted one hour. After all the children are baptized the priest will come around and bless your items.
The priest was very nice, funny and I liked the service and manner it was conducted in. After the service a man even asked if we wanted to go into the big church and take photos.
Downside;
No ac. You may want to choose a cooler time of year to baptize.
It can feel a bit like a baptism conveyor belt
I chose to focus on the positive and if you choose to baptize here just focus on the positive and the fact that you are baptizing your baby/​child. I really enjoyed it and am very thankful to have both my children baptized.

I haven’t been here yet but unfortunately my nephew is going to get baptized at this stinking «church» and ohh boy I wish it wouldn’t happen. Two days before the baptism they decide to call and say ‘it will be 100 instead of 55″ like wtf okay, let me come up with an extra 45 dollars to feed you. What a shame these people are, how is this considered a church when it’s full of lying money hungry peasants. Is the water even holy? Probably not. Oh yeah and also you can’t share this beautiful experience with your loved ones. Only god parents and parents permitted. What a JOKE you guys are!!!

PLEASE DON’T BAPTIZE YOUR CHILD HERE! Here’s how my day went. I scheduled my daughter’s baptism for August 9, 2015, apparently the same day as the Columbian Street Festival. First of all, why would you schedule baptisms for this day knowing parking is going to be hell to get to and more expensive than any normal weekend? I didn’t receive an email warning me of this event and wasn’t told the streets would be closed leading to the church. How very Catholic of them, right? The closest parking we were able to get to was $ 15 which I paid because I just wanted to hurry up and get to the church with the hopes that the rest of the day would go smoothly. Boy was I wrong.
I finally got to the office and was surprised when the gentleman at the door said that the fee was $ 100!!! While waiting for the godfather to get there, I scrambled to find the email I received saying the fee was $ 55 so I can show them in the office. We already had a set budget for the baptism and the money left over after the baptism was to pay for the food. Unfortunately, none of my relatives can multiply loaves of bread and fish and turn water into wine for free, so I had to budget for food. When the gentleman with the glasses told me the fee was $ 100, I proceeded to show him the email AND receipt I received from them saying it was $ 55 (please see picture of email and receipt). He then told me that the fee had changed at the beginning of August. As you can see from the picture of the email I received, I registered my daughter at the beginning of July so why am I being charged $ 100??? I asked him why I hadn’t received an email or a phone call telling me of this change. The money I had was already budgeted thinking the price was $ 55. Sorry I’m not rich. I can’t just drop an extra $ 45 on top of $ 55 to help pay for their golden chalices. He then told me he didn’t know why no one called me, but he’d have me speak to their «manager.» She did not help the situation at all and just further escalated my anger and frustration. She lied to me and told me someone did call informing people of the price change. I offered to show her my recent calls list on my phone to show her that no one from their offices called me of this price change. Of course she didn’t want to see it because she’s a horrible person and just wanted me to pay the $ 100. Unfortunately, I caved because I had family there who went through hell trying to find and pay for parking. So I threw the $ 100 at them. I know that wasn’t very lady like of me, but if you were having the emotional weekend like I was having to then top it with our busy, stressful morning THEN having to deal with LA street closures THEN paying $ 15 for parking that should have been $ 9 THEN top it off with these jerks taking advantage of people for something that should be free in the first place (I don’t remember Jesus ever charging to baptize people), you would have reacted the same way as well. If not, hats off to you for keeping your composure. We should do lunch sometime so you can tell me how I could have dealt with these godless opportunists differently. Oh and they now FORCE you to pay for their pictures even though their email says IT’S OPTIONAL!!! My party and I found it laughable when they asked for MORE donations during the ceremony. Sorry, you’re not getting any gold plated crosses from my family and friends!
I’m mad Unilocal is making me give them one star, but I guess I’ll give it to them. They did let me use my daughter’s Live Birth Certificate instead of the actual Birth Certificate because I haven’t received my daughter’s birth certificate yet. Although now I’m starting to think they only accommodated me in order to get my $ 100.
Side note: I just checked their website right now (8÷10÷2015), and it says the fee is $ 60 (see snap shot of website taken 8÷10÷2015). I would have been willing to pay the $ 60, but $ 100 WITH NO WARNING!!! Come on!!!
Update: Apparently only the Spanish version reflects $ 100. English still says $ 60.
Overall, things wouldn’t have gotten so bad had I been informed of the price change beforehand. Two things I don’t like (and I’m sure people will agree) are opportunists and liars, and this church is both. I wish I would have read Marisol A.‘s review (dated 4÷20÷2015) before registering my daughter. FIND ANOTHER CHURCH TO PERFORM YOUR BAPTISM or become a Buddhist like Marisol and I are going to do after having to deal with these supposed «Catholics.» Maybe Buddhism can help me get back to being the Zen like person I was before dealing with these so called «Catholics.» If one of your godparents isn’t an official Catholic (which is why we did it here in the first place), call different churches. You WILL find one that is accommodating like my friend did and just deal with taking the mandatory classes other churches have you do. Just do whatever you can to avoid being taken advantage of by this supposed «church.»

If you plan on baptizing your child here, better brush up on your Spanish. The people in the registration office will make every attempt to deal with you in Spanish. I wrote an email in English, got a response in Spanish. They even answer the phone in Spanish. If you go to the English ceremony on Sunday, be prepared to sit through a translation of what was just said in Spanish. It drags the ceremony on and on and the church is hot and tiny. I believe the priest spoke entirely in English though, but the ushers barely speak English so be ready. Other than that it’s all cash here.

Yeah, this place is a place of last resort if you don’t have the appropriate documentation to got to a regular church. As long as you have the money they will take you. When we baptized my nephews they hit us with a mandatory amount off raffle tickets to sell which my sister mistakenly thought was optional so we magically had to come up with an $ 100. As far as I remember they have always done this and nobody knows who wins the raffle. Once there we are promptly told off by the church ladies who tell us to not cross our legs, we aren’t at a bar (WTF?). Then we are promptly told off by the priest for the next 1.5 hours ensuring that we never return until the next set of kids turning us into C & E Catholics (sorry, I’m not that dedicated myself). Wonder why I’m flirting with the idea of Buddhism. This place is nothing but a money extortion scheme. The photo guys and vendors in the area however are great and it feels good to contribute back to the community. This church I don’t trust.

Read Clementina’s review… all true.
It seems like it’s all about the money. Get them in, bring no one, get them out. Something like this should be celebrated and witnessed by the whole family.
If you have history here then so be it, but if not, find a better place to have your loved ones baptized.

Come visit this quaint historic church, right in the Olvera street area, walking distance from L.A.‘s Chinatwon (is that still PC to say?)
California is shaped by its history of settlement by indigenous peoples of course and greatly by the work of the «invading» Spanish, so that’s my two cents right there for PC’ness and historical accuracy.
The missions up and down the entire California coast and areas more inland are reminders of the work of many peoples. The artworks housed here must be of great value.
It’s good to see the original function of its use as a church and gathering place ongoing.

they were very flexible and accomidating and understanding yet clear on what i needed one of the only churches that does not require the god parents to have done confirmation. fee was $ 55 for baptism and $ 20 for photos, you are not allowed to record or take pictures in the church and you are warned this when they ask you if you want to pay for photos, you will be escorted out of the church if you try, there is a security guard who does his job and an administrator type guy leading the ceremont andi went to the spanish time, the pastor was funny and it didnt bore me too much.
i kept having the switch the date because there was always something popping up with my godmother or grandmother and they were cool about me rescheduling 4 times. i reccomend this church for those who have unsure dates or need to get baptised asap.