|
The Los Angeles river was the primary reason for settling there, but the actual location of the pueblo was relocated
a couple times in the early years due to heavy rains which caused the river to flood over. Eventually small living
structures were erected and land grants were given to the pobladores and soldiers. Larger acres of land later gave way
to emerging ranchos which became the norm as the town spread.
|
| 100 years later, the plaza sometime before 1875 - notice brick reservoir in middle ground |
|
| A few years later a fountain replaced the reservoir and trees were planted encircling the plaza |
Luis Quintero lived out the rest of his life in Santa Barbara, but some family members eventually ended
up in Los Angeles. Daughter Sebastiana Quintero and her then retired soldier husband Eugeino Valdez moved to Los
Angeles. After her husband's death she aquired the 4,500 acre Rancho de las Aguas (Meeting of the Waters) which she later
sold off. The area is now known as Beverly Hills.
A Spanish soldier named Manuel Nieto was given 300,000 acres of land for his military service. Later land disputes with
Mission San Gabriel cost him nearly half the land, but he retained an area stretching from northern Whittier to the Pacific
ocean in the south, and from the LA river to the west and the Santa Ana River to the east. His children would inherit his
land and daughter Manuela Cota (ancestor of Los Pobladores 200 member Alfred Cota) received 27,000 acres of the area known
as Rancho Los Cerritos. Upon her death, the property was sold to Yankee-settler John Temple who built the two-story adobe
structure, the most expensive home in Souther California at the time, which still stands today a couple miles
north-west from where I live in Signal Hill.
|
| The beautiful two-story Spanish-Mexican adobe house at Rancho Los Cerritos |
A little house on Nelson Street in San Pedro has lots of history for my family: my father Albert Leon IV, his mother Pauline
and Felix's sister Bea were all born there! The current owner of the house has been trying to sell it for years as it
now sits in an area that has since been developed commercially. The San Pedro Historical Society wants to preserve the house
for which laws prevent it from being demolished. At one point Felix was offered the house as a gift, but could not find an
affordable empty lot to relocate the house to. A couple years ago the same deal was offered to me where my wife and I
experienced the same problem. Today the house continues to be rental property.
|
| Felix at Nelson House |
|
