Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles Asistencia was founded in early 1784 in the burgeoning Pueblo de Los Ángeles adjacent to the village of Yaanga as an asistencia or "sub-mission" to the nearby Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.

Father Presidente Junípero Serra had the opportunity to visit the asistencia on March 18, 1784, just five months before his death.

Perhaps more important than its duty to provide religious instruction to the local natives was the settlement's role in growing crops and grazing livestock to feed the inhabitants of Mission San Gabriel, whose padres divided their time between that outpost and the new site.

On August 18, 1814 Fray Luis Gíl y Taboada placed the cornerstone of a new church amidst the ruins of the former asistencia to serve the local pobladores (settlers); the completed structure was dedicated on December 8, 1822.

[6] A replacement chapel, named for Mary, Mother of Jesus (La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, or "The Church of Our Lady of the Angels") was rebuilt utilizing materials of the original church in 1861; Reina, meaning "Queen," was added later.