More than 100 members of the USC Trojan Family came out Saturday to meet their neighbors and take a tour of their community.

The majority were new USC students eager to learn about the neighborhood where they will be spending the next few years, and perhaps the rest of their lives.

But there also was the owner of Chano's, everyone's favorite Mexican food place, and USC's Sergio Gascon, who helps small and minority-owned businesses learn how to thrive in a tough climate.





And there were about a dozen neighborhood residents and historians, who led the tour and shared their loves and insights of University Park and Exposition Park.

But before the tour, everyone mingled inside the USC Community at Hoover and 28th.

USC is opening the space to student and community groups for meeting spaces for the first time!

The handsome home/office is widely believed to be the sixth-oldest home in Los Angeles, and it was designated Historic-Cultural Monument No. 103 in 1972.

The house was designed and built by Burgess J. Reeve in 1889 as a residence for John A. Forthmann, a German immigrant who founded Los Angeles Soap Company, most famous for its "White
King" brand.

The USC Community House originally stood at 629 West 18th Street near the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was donated to USC by Nicholas Shammas in 1987 and was soon moved to its current location, just north of the
University Park campus.