USA > California > Los Angeles County > Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908 > Part 14
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The settlers built homes and started a school, in 1874, in a private house. The first church, the Presbyterian, was built in 1875-6 at a cost of $4200. In March, 1880, Pasadena held a citrus fair which attracted many visitors and showed the quality of fruit that could be produced. At this time the town had a tri-weekly stage and mail service. In 1882 the Pasadena Land and Water Company was formed and took over the rights and properties of the Orange Grove Association. The Lake Vineyard Company had been formed in 1874 and had purchased land adjoining that of the Orange Grove Company, secur- ing their water rights from the heirs of B. D. Wilson. They had sold a con- siderable area which was under irrigation and was known as the " east side ", while the settlement of the Indiana Colony was the " west side." A conflict grew out of the adjustment of the water rights of these two associations which, after a number of years of uncertainty, was settled by a compromise satisfactory to all.
In 1884 the Los Angeles and San Gabriel road was built to Pasadena: in 1887 this became a part of the Santa Fé system. The Cross " dummy " road reached the town in 1887, and the first street car line was built this year. The old Raymond hotel was built in 1886 and first drew the attention of the tourist
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world to the attractions offered by Pasadena and its environs. The burning of this hotel in 1895 was a severe blow.
The town was incorporated in 1886. In 1901 it adopted a freeholder's charter. It is known as one of the best governed and most orderly towns of the country; while its municipal improvements are unexcelled. In Throop College, established in 1894, it has the only strictly technical school in Southern California. Pasadena is a city of beautiful homes and magnificent hotels. It is now a mecca for the wealthy easterner who wishes to escape winter severities. The perfection of the trolley lines enables its people to do business in Los Angeles and has practically given the smaller city all the advantages of the larger place while still maintaining her own restful distinctiveness.
LONG BEACH.
The town of Long Beach was started about 1882 and had, at first, a very gradual growth. It was first known as a summer resort for those wishing a quiet, orderly place. Its fine beach gave it a strong attraction. For many years the Methodists held their annual campmeeting here. The Chautauqua Associa- tion adopted it as their center, also, and a large pavilion to accommodate their summer assemblies was erected about 1890. The town has always been a " no license " place and still remains so. It was incorporated in 1888 and disincor- porated in 1896. The following year it was reincorporated and in 1907 adopted a freeholder's charter. In 1900 it had a population of 2252; in 1906 when the census was taken for the charter election, the population was 12,591, and 15,000 is now claimed. The town has taken on new life since the completion of the trolley line and has made a record for building and improvements of every character.
An inland harbor is being constructed here and a large shipping plant is in course of construction. With the completion of these improvements Long Beach will become an important shipping center.
POMONA.
In 1874 the Los Angeles Land and Water Company, of which Thomas A. Garey, C. E. White, L. M. Holt, Milton Thomas, R. M. Town and H. G. Crow were members, purchased from J. S. Philips, a tract of land which had been a part of the San José grant, made to José Palomares. The company secured water rights from the Palomares heirs and also put down four artesian wells from which a considerable flow was obtained. A town site was laid out and the land surrounding it was divided into tracts. In February, 1876, an auction sale of these lots was held which resulted in disposing of $19,000 worth of land-a surprising feat for that time. A number of houses were built and orchards set out and a little town grew up. In 1877 a fire almost destroyed the settlement and for some time the place did not recover itself.
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The Southern Pacific reached the town in 1876. In 1882 the Pomona Land and Water Company was formed and by vigorous action placed the irrigation system upon a sounder basis and secured an increased supply of water. Like all Southern California towns, Pomona experienced rapid growth during the years of 1886-1887, and many new buildings were put up at that time. A handsome hotel, the Palomares, was built; banks, school houses and street improvements added. The town was incorporated in 1888. Claremont was started in 1887, its chief inducement for the prospective buyer being a very handsome "boom " hotel. This was later made the seat of Claremont College, one of the largest preparatory schools in this part of the state. The town is practically a part of Pomona.
In 1889 the beautiful statue of Pomona was presented to the city by one of her pioneer residents, Rev. C. F. Loop. Pomona is the center of a very rich farming section and of the finest citrus orchards in the country. Its shipments of fruit, both fresh and canned or dried, is very large.
WHITTIER.
About 1887 a colony of Friends from Indiana located on a tract of the Paso de Bartolo rancho, near Ranchita, as the ranch house of Pio Pico was known. The settlers at first devoted themselves almost exclusively to citrus culture and the little village prospered as its orchards came into bearing. About 1890 it was chosen as the site of the State Industrial Home, for the accommodation of which buildings to the value of nearly a million dollars have been erected. About 1895 the Whittier oil fields were developed and since that date a very large amount of high-grade oil has been annually pro- duced by this section. It is estimated that the product for the last year brought $1,000,000 into the community. In 1898 the town was incorporated. In 1900 the census gave it a population of 1.590, but it has grown very rapidly. especially since the completion of the electric line and there are now between five and six thousand inhabitants. A Friends' college, with an endowment of $150,000, is maintained.
MONROVIA.
In 1886 W. N. Monroe laid out the townsite of Monrovia. Its beautiful location in the foothills of the Santa Anita rancho, attracted a number of wealthy families who built handsome homes. A large number of orange groves were set out ; water was procured from Sawpit Canyon, and the town grew rapidly during the boom years. It was incorporated December 12th, 1887. Like all Los Angeles county towns it has taken on a new lease of life within the past few years. The completion of the electric line to the place in 1906 gave an added impetus to its growth. It now claims 4,000 inhabitants.
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SAN PEDRO.
In 1849 but a single building stood upon the bluff, known as Timm's landing. About this point a little settlement grew up in the early fifties; a wharf was built and a warehouse and some stores and residences followed. But in 1858 General Phineas Banning, who handled most of the stage and freight-
TIMM'S LANDING.
ing business from the port, started a new town some six miles to the north and for a time the first town languished. However, after the building of the railroad in 1869, the old settlement revived. In 1888 the town was incorporated. The completion of the Terminal road and the extension of the Southern Pacific service gave improved facilities. The vast sums of money expended by the government in improving the harbor have also been of great benefit in building up the town of San Pedro. It is now the most important port in California, after San Francisco, and the volume of business carried on through the place is constantly increasing. Since the building of an electric line in 1905, a large addition to the business has been made and many public improvements have been undertaken.
WILMINGTON.
In 1858 Phineas Banning, J. G. Downey and B. D. Wilson purchased a tract of land and laid out the town of " New San Pedro." A wharf and ware- house was built here and all the business of the Banning Company was trans- ferred to this point. A reservation was donated to the government for barracks. Here Drum Barracks was built, and from the beginning of the civil war until 1865 or later, large numbers of troops passed through this port and were garrisoned here. It was the miltary headquarters, at that time, for this section and Arizona.
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In 1863 the name was changed by act of the legislature to Wilmington and in 1874 the government changed the name of the port to Wilmington, which is still the official title of the harbor. In 1864 General Banning established the Wilmington Journal, the first paper in the county outside of Los Angeles. It was a well put up and newsy sheet. As the starting point for stages for Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Arizona points, Wilmington was a lively place during the later sixties.
In 1873 Wilson College, endowed by B. D. Wilson, was opened and for a number of years prospered, under the Rev. Dr. Campbell. The building was a large two-story house, which accommodated a number of boarding pupils. The rebuilding of " Old San Pedro" took away the prestige of Wilmington. The town which had been incorporated in 1872, repealed its incorporation in 1887 and remained a village until 1905, when it was reincorporated as a city of the sixth class.
The improvement of the harbor has greatly benefited Wilmington and a large amount of shipping business is now done at its wharves.
REDONDO.
The town of Redondo was started in 1887, by a company which built a very large and handsome hotel and also supplied a wharf. The Santa Fe, after making an attempt to secure suitable terminal facilities at Ballona Port. determined upon Redondo as a harbor and entered the town with its railroad in 1888. The town was incorporated in 1892. It was reached by an electric line in 1904 and now has two electric lines connecting it with the city. The Pacific Light and Power plant, one of the largest in the United States, is located here. A large amount of freight is handled, especially lumber from the coastwise steamers.
OTHER TOWNS.
Other incorporated towns not mentioned are Alhambra, Arcadia, Azusa, Claremont, Compton, Covina, Glendale, Hermosa Beach, Hollywood, Hunt- ington Park, Sierra Madre, Vernon and Watts. Many of these have grown up within the past four or five years, a number of them, as Claremont, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, Sierra Madre and Watts have been incorporated within the past year.
HON. JOHN P. JONES.
History of Santa Monica Bay Cities.
CHAPTER I.
SANTA MONICA BAY REGION.
T HE BAY OF SANTA MONICA extends along the coast from Point Vicente, latitude 33° 40' to Point Dumé, latitude 34° a distance of seven- teen miles, north by west. The coast line of the bay makes an inward sweep which is some ten miles deep at its extreme point, in the neighborhood of Port Los Angeles, and includes an area of 25,000 miles. The waters of this bay are, ordinarily, quiet since the force of the waves is broken by the seaward islands and the deep, recessed position of the shore line. The depth of the water increases from the beach outward with an easy and gradual slope for several miles.
The shore line is most varied. At its northern extremity, Point Dumé rises, domelike, to a height of 200 feet, and back of it the Santa Monica range rises abruptly almost from the waters of the shore to a height of 2,000 feet and forms the northern border of the bay. Gradually the slope falls into the palisades and sinks to the sand dunes and the Ballona lagoon, then rises again into low hills along the southern rim. Back from the palisades sweep the gently rising plateaus of the San Vicente and San José de Buenos Ayres ranchos. Southward extend the cienegas and pastures of the Ballona creek district and the low, rolling ranges of the Sausal Redondo and San Pedro region.
The Santa Monica Bay territory thus includes a large variety of scenery, a most varied topography and a wide range of resources. Its mountains fur- nish an invaluable water supply: the greater part of its lower lands are readily supplied with water from wells, while a considerable portion of the region needs no irrigation and includes some of the most valuable farming land in Los An- geles county. The distinctive topography of this district accounts for a climate which is incomparable, since it has all the advantages of both coast and inland -the freshness of the ocean air, with the freedom from harsh winds, of the interior.
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DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.
The first explorer of the California coast, Cabrillo, after spending six days in San Diego Harbor, which he named San Miguel, sailed along "a mountainous coast, overhung with smoke," landed at Catalina to which he gave the name of Victoria, then anchored in a bay which he called "Bahia de Fumos" (Bay of smoke), San Pedro Bay and, on October 9, 1542 he dropped anchor in an "ensanada" or bighit which is generally granted to have been Santa Monica Bay. At just what point he anchored is not known, but undoubtedly Cabrillo was the first European to observe the palisades, the fair fields and gentle rolling hills that mark this coast. After this brief visit there is no record of vessel or visitor to this region for more than two hundred years.
ARCH-ROCK. DISINTEGRATED AND FELL 1906.
The waters of the bay were sometimes disturbed by the rude boats of the Santa Barbara Channel and Island Indians: the valleys adjacent to the coast and the Santa Monica mountains were the homes of a people who have long since disappeared and of whose existence we know only by the occasional un- covering of skeletons and relics. Several caves and mounds containing cur- ious collections of implements, weapons and bones have been found on the Malibu ranch at various times. These Indians roamed over the plains and through the cienegas, killing rabbits and small game and gathering acorns and grasses, roots and berries. They also fished along the shore, mostly with nets, and gathered shells-their most prized possession. It is said that these shells were particularly abundant along the shore where Ocean Park and Venice 110w
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stand and that the Indians from the interior and from Catalina used to visit this spot to secure shells which took the place of money with them.
Vizcaino describes the Indians seen along the coast of California during his explorations early in the seventeenth century as of good form and of active character, the men wearing a short cloak made of rabbit or deer skins, heavily fringed, the more industrious having their garments embroidered with shells. He describes a rancheria seen along the shore in this vicinity as composed of about twenty houses made of rushes over a frame of poles driven into the ground. These were very like the brush ramadas still constructed by the Indians of California. Bancroft states that the Indians of Los Angeles county ate coyotes. skunks, wildcats and all sorts of small animals. They would not eat bear meat or the flesh of large game for superstitious reasons. They were poor hunters having no effective weapons, and hunted deer by hiding themselves under a skin with the head and horns intact, until they were within bowshot. They made fishhooks, needles and other small articles of bone and shell, ground their acorns and seeds in a metate, or stone mill, and constructed wooden boats or tule rafts for their fishing expeditions. using seines made of tough bark.
THE NAME.
The Indians were the only occupants of the coast for some time after the beginnings of settlement had been made at San Gabriel and Los Angeles. It is claimed that the party of Captain de Portalá, which made the first overland expedition through California in 1769 in search of the Bay of Monterey, passed through a cañada near the present location of the Soldier's Home and paused under a group of sycamores while Fathers Crespi and Gomez, the priests ac- companying the expedition, said mass. A very old sycamore tree is pointed out as the one where the service was performed and is still looked upon with veneration.
We have no authentic account of how the name Santa Monica came to be applied ; but the old Spanish settlers have a legend of its origin which may be true. The story is that a couple of Spanish soldiers were given a furlough to explore the region about the new "pueblo de Los Angeles." They came one day to a couple of clear bubbling springs near the ocean. After drinking, they threw themselves upon the ground between the springs to rest. As they lay there on the gently sloping hillside, overlooking the wide, green plains and the ocean, one of them asked, "And what shall we call this spot, brother ?"
And the other, turning from one glistening pool to the other, answered : "We will call it Santa Monica, for the springs resemble the tears of the good Santa Monica shed for her erring son."
The legend of Santa Monica is one of the most beautiful connected with the saints. According to tradition the holy woman was born in Africa about 332 A. D. She was brought up so strictly that she was not allowed even a
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drink of water between meals and was early married to Patricius, a gentleman of hot and hasty temper. She had two sons and one of them Augustine, to the great grief of his mother, would not yield to her teachings and be baptized into the church. Instead, he was carried away by heresy and entered upon an immoral life. The mother spent much of her time in praying for and weeping over the wayward son. For many years she sorrowed and once, in her despair, she went to a good bishop and related her woes. "Wait," the bishop told her, "and keep on praying. The child of so many tears cannot perish."
At last the son fell ill and came near death. He recovered, however, in answer to his mother's prayers and this so softened his heart that at last he saw the error of his ways and became a devout believer, finally becoming the great Saint Augustine.
Whether we accept this legend or not, the bay and the region were certainly named for the good Santa Monica, whose day in the calendar was May 4th. The name does not seem to appear upon record until the petition for the grant known as San Vincente y Santa Monica was made by Don Francisco Sepulveda and Augustin Machado in 1827. The springs mentioned in the legend, later known as San Vincente springs were included in this grant.
SETTLEMENT.
What is commonly known as the Santa Monica Bay region includes por- tions of four land grants, Malibu-extending twenty-two miles along the coast to the north: Boca de Santa Monica, including the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon ; San Vicente y Santa Monica, which had an ocean frontage of a mile and a half and extended baek four miles from the coast, covering an area of about 40,000 acres: and La Ballona rancho, with an ocean frontage of four miles.
For nearly three quarters of a century after the first settlement was made on the Malibu tract in 1804, or possibly earlier, this entire region was given over to grazing herds of cattle and sheep and to grain raising, on a small scale. The haciendas of the grant owners were each a little community in itself and the simple, pastoral life of the Spanish occupation lingered, to an unusual degree until the final breaking up of these ranchos, during the past twenty-five years.
But life in those slow-moving days, while not as strenuous as in our day of perpetual rush and change, had its occupations, its interests and its amuse- ments. Most of these rancheros were also residents of Los Angeles and took an active part in municipal and territorial affairs. At their country homes they were surrounded by a large retinue of relations, retainers and servants, the latter mostly Indians. All of these were under the protection and command of the head of the house and all were fed, clothed, and provided for. The number of people about his place was a matter of pride with the ranchero.
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And the days on one of these large stock ranges were not all "siesta" by any means. Herds and flocks must be guarded from thieves and the ravages of wild beasts; they must be shifted from plain to valley, from coast to moun- tain-side, as the season demanded. There were rodeos, the annual rounding-up of stock, to attend and sometimes a large cattle owner must be present at several of these affairs in order to secure all of his stock. The matanza, or slaughter- ing, was a busy season requiring careful selection of animals and good judg- ment in bargaining with the traders of the hide droghers; sheep-shearing was another period of arduous labor ; the tanning of hides, the rendering of tallow and the harvesting of grain all demand due attention. There were dry seasons when losses were heavy, and cold, wet years which were disastrous to cattle and especially sheep.
The greater part of the necessary supplies were raised upon the rancho, but yearly the hides and tallow were traded with the sailing vessels that put into San Pedro, for such supplies and luxuries as were brought from the Orient, or from Boston. Certainly the life of those years was not without its interests. The unstability of political affairs the constaint bickering and jealously of Monterey and Santa Barbara on the one hand. and Los Angeles and San Diego, on the other; the frequently changing and very uncertain orders and officials sent from Mexico, all of these afforded pretty steady excitement in Los Angeles. And Los Angeles seems never to have been a really dull place-even in its sleepiest days. There was generally something doing-if it was only a murder before breakfast. For amusements there were balls and weddings, horse races and bull fights and the various fiestas of the church.
The ranchos near the coast were not as exposed to depredations from the dreaded "desert" Indians as were the more interior locations, but there are still traditions of lively scraps with bands of thieving Indians on the Malibu and the San Vicente, and there is at least one "encino del Indias" located on the palisades where an Indian horse thief was hanged without legal preliminaries.
TOPANGA MALIBU.
The first land grant in this vicinity was that known as Topanga Malibu made in 1805 to Don José Bartoleméo Tapia. A deed executed in 1845 and recorded in the county records states that July 12, 1805, the "Governor of Loreto." then Governor of California decreed that certain "pasajes " which are called Malibu, Topango, Sottome, Simi and Sequit, be granted to José Bartoleméo Tapia. This deed further states that April 18, 1824, the property passed into hands of Señor Tapia's heirs, Tomaso, Fernando, Juan Antonio and Tiburcio Tapia. The property is described as bounded on the north by the " Sierra Mayor, on the south, El Mar Oceano Pacifico; the east by Rancho Santa Monica and the west by el Rio de San Buena Ventura." In 1848 it passed into the pos-
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session of Maria Villeboso and Victor Leon Prudhomme for " cuatro cientos pesos "-four hundred dollars.
The Malibu grant, with its almost impassable mountain ranges, extending into the very ocean, its inacessible canyons, its hidden mesas and wildernesses, has always been a land of mystery and many romantic stories of smuggling, of buried treasure, of robbery and murder have been connected with it.
The first grantee, José B. Tapia, must have stocked the place, as he willed it with its "ganado" or cattle, to his heirs. His son Tiburcio occupied the place, probably during the twenties and thirties and it is said buried a couple of chests of his abounding coin somewhere on the ranch. Tiburcio Tapia was one of the most interesting char- acters of earlier Los Angeles history. Born in San Luis Obispo, where his father was then act- ing as Alcalde, in 1789, he became a soldier. In 1824, he was a corporal of the guard at Purisima at the time of an In- dian uprising which threatened the mas- sacre of the entire TOPANGA. Spanish population. With four or five men, Tapia defended the families and the padres during the night and only surrendered when the powder gave out. It is said that the rebels offered to spare Tapia, if he would give up his arms, but he declined the pro- position.
Soon after this he must have removed to Los Angeles, where he was one of the earliest merchants. Alfred Robinson says of him, "We stopped at the house of Don Tiburcio Tapia, the Alcalde Constitutional (Constitutional Judge) of the city, who was once a common soldier but who, by honest and industrious labor has amassed so much of this world's goods as to make him one of the wealthiest inhabitants of the place. His strict integrity gave him credit to any amount with the trading vessels, so that he was the principal merchant and the only native one in "el Pueblo de Los Angeles."
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