Los Angeles
NO. 127 CASA DE GOVERNOR PÍO PICO - Following the Mexican War, Pío Pico, last Mexican governor, acquired 9,000-acre Rancho Paso de Bartolo and built here an adobe home that was destroyed by the floods of 1883-1884. His second adobe casa, now known as Pío Pico Mansion, represents a compromise between Mexican and American cultures. While living here the ex-Governor was active in the development of American California.
Location: Pio Pico State Historic Park, 6003 Pioneer Blvd, Whittier
NO. 144 NUESTRA SEÑORA LA REINA DE LOS ANGELES - La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles-the Church of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels-was dedicated on December 8, 1822 during California's Mexican era. Originally known as La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, the church was the only Catholic church for the pueblo. Today it primarily serves the Hispanic population of Los Angeles.
Location: 535 N Main St near Macy St, Los Angeles
NO. 145 AVILA ADOBE - This adobe house was built ca. 1818 by Don Francisco Avila, alcalde (mayor) of Los Angeles in 1810. Used as Commodore Robert Stockton's headquarters in 1847, it was repaired by private subscription in 1929-30 when Olvera Street was opened as a Mexican marketplace. It is the oldest existing house in Los Angeles.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, Olvera St, Los Angeles
NO. 147 BANNING PARK - General Phineas Banning, State Senator and pioneer in the development of transportation in Southern California, built this house in the 1850s, soon after founding the town of Wilmington. He and his family lived here until his death in 1885. In 1927 the property was deeded to the city.
Location: 401 East M St at Banning Place, Wilmington
NO. 150 BRAND PARK (MEMORY GARDEN) - Brand Park, also called Memory Garden, was given to the city for a park November 4, 1920. It is a part of the original land grant of Mission San Fernando de Rey de España, and the colorful and picturesque atmosphere of the early California missions is preserved in Memory Garden.
Location: 15174 San Fernando Mission Blvd, Los Angeles
NO. 151 CAMPO DE CAHUENGA - 'Here was made the Treaty of Cahuenga by General Andrés Pico, commanding forces for Mexico, and Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Frémont, U.S. Army, for the United States. By this treaty, agreed upon January 13th, 1847, the United States acquired California - finally secured to us by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, made February 2nd, 1848.' This legend was written February 9, 1898 by Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont.
Location: 3919 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood
NO. 152 DOMÍNGUEZ RANCHHOUSE - The central portion of the ranchhouse was built in 1826 by Manuel Domínguez. Rancho San Pedro, ten square leagues granted provisionally by Governor Fages to Juan José Domínguez in 1784, was regranted by Governor Solá to Cristobal Domínguez in 1822. In the battle of Domínguez Ranch, fought here October 8 and 9, 1846, Californians led by José Antonio Carrillo repelled United States forces under Captain William Mervine, U.S. Navy, in an attempt to recapture the Pueblo of Los Angeles.
Location: 18127 S Alameda, Compton
NO. 156 LOS ANGELES PLAZA - A part of the original pueblo lands of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula founded in 1781 under the Spanish Laws of the Indies during the reign of King Carlos III, the plaza is located close to the site of the original plaza. It was the center of the settlement founded by Governor Felipe de Neve. When the Plaza Church was completed in 1822, this site was reserved as a public plaza. It was landscaped in 1871 and has served since that date as a public park.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, 500 block of N Main St, Los Angeles
NO. 157 MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY DE ESPAÑA - Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded by Father Lasuén in September 8, 1797. A house belonging to Francisco Reyes, on Encino Rancho, furnished temporary shelter for the missionary in charge. An adobe chapel, built and blessed in December 1806, was damaged by the destructive earthquake of 1812 - a new church was completed in 1818.
Location: 15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd, Mission Hills Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-88002147
NO. 158 MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL - The mission was founded September 8, 1771 by Padres Pedro Benito Cambon and Angel Fernández de la Somera. The present church building was begun during the latter part of the 18th century and completed in the year 1800.
Location: 537 W Mission Dr at Junipero St, San Gabriel USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: EL MONTE
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-71000158
NO. 159 PICO HOUSE (HOTEL) - Pío Pico constructed the Pico House in 1869-70. The first three-story hotel built in Los Angeles, it had about eighty rooms, large windows, a small interior court, and a grand staircase.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, 400 block of Main St, Los Angeles
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-72000231
NO. 160 PLUMMER PARK AND OLDEST HOUSE IN HOLLYWOOD - Known as the 'Oldest House in Hollywood,' this house was built in the 1870s by Eugene Raphael Plummer.
Location: Old location: 7377 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood (Los Angeles) New location: 23537 Calabasas Rd, Calabasas
NO. 161 SITE OF MISSION VIEJA - 'Mission Vieja,' Old Mission, was the name given to the first buildings erected, and later abandoned, by the fathers for Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. The permanent buildings for the mission were located about five miles distant.
Location: SW corner N San Gabriel Blvd and N Lincoln Ave, Montebello
NO. 167 LA MESA BATTLEFIELD - La Mesa Battlefield served as a campsite for the California forces under General Castro in the summer of 1846, during the United States' occupation of California in the Mexican War. The battle of La Mesa, last military encounter of the war on the California front, was fought here January 9, 1847.
Location: 4490 Exchange Ave at Downey Rd, Vernon
NO. 168 OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAM - Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to the roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years.
Location: Site: Placerita Canyon State and County Park, Placerita Canyon Rd, 4.6 mi NE of Newhall (Los Angeles)
Plaque: SE corner I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall
NO. 169 DRUM BARRACKS - Established in 1862, Drum Barracks became the United States military headquarters for Southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. It was a garrison and base for supplies, and a terminus for camel pack trains operated by the Army until 1863. Abandoned in 1866, the site remains a landmark of the Civil War in California.
Location: 1053 Cary St (corner Cary and Opp), Wilmington
NO. 170 HANCOCK PARK LA BREA - The bones of thousands of prehistoric animals that had been entrapped during the Ice Age in pools of tar that bubbled from beneath the ground were exhumed from this site. First historic reference to the pools, part of the 1840 Rancho La Brea land grant, was recorded by Gaspar de Portolá in 1769 - first scientific excavations were made by the University of California in 1906. The site was presented to the County of Los Angeles in 1916 by Captain G. Allan Hancock to be developed as a scientific monument.
Location: Hancock Park, 5801 Wilshire Blvd between Ogden and Curson Sts, Los Angeles
NO. 171 MERCED THEATRE - The Merced Theatre, erected in 1870 on North Main Street next to the Pico House, was the first building built expressly for theatrical purposes in Los Angeles. It was built by William Abbot, a cabinetmaker, and named in honor of his wife Merced Garcia.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, 420 Main St, Los Angeles
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-72000231
NO. 172 PIONEER OIL REFINERY - In 1875 the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of the Standard Oil Company of California, drilled its first Pico Canyon well, which yielded about one hundred barrels per day. The discovery resulted in the erection of the first commercial oil refinery in California the following year.
Location: Site and private plaque at 23864 Pine St, Newhall - state plaque at Lyons Ave exit off I-5
NO. 235 CASA ADOBE DE SAN RAFAEL - In October 1784, José María Verdugo petitioned Pedro Fages, Governor of Alta California, for a grant of land. This grant was the first and one of the largest made. When parts of Rancho San Rafael were sold, Tomás Sánchez, Sheriff of Los Angeles County, purchased a tract of 100 acres and in 1865 built this artistic adobe of the hacienda type, restored in 1932.
Location:1330 Dorothy Dr, Glendale
NO. 289 FIRST HOME OF POMONA COLLEGE - Pomona College, incorporated October 14, 1887, held its first class in this small frame cottage on September 12, 1888. Those in attendance consisted of a mere handful of eager students, five faculty members, and the president, Professor Edwin C. Norton. Five months later, in January 1889, the college moved to an unfinished boom hotel on a plot of land in the town of Claremont.
Location: SW corner Mission Blvd and S White St, Pomona
NO. 301 LUGO ADOBE (SITE OF) - The Lugo Adobe, said to have been built in the 1840s by Don Vicente Lugo, was one of the very few two-story houses in the pueblo of Los Angeles. In 1867, Lugo donated this house on the Plaza to St. Vincent's School (forerunner of Loyola University). From the 1880s until it was razed in 1951, the building was occupied by the Chinese.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, SE corner Los Angeles and Alameda Sts, Los Angeles
NO. 302 OLD MILL - The Old Mill, El Molino Viejo, was designed by Father José María Zalvidea and built of fired bricks and adobe about 1816 to serve Mission San Gabriel. Another grist mill was built in 1823 near the mission and the old mill was gradually abandoned - it passed from mission control in 1846. The property remained in private hands until 1903, when Henry E. Huntington bought the building and used it for a golf clubhouse. Later owners, Mr. and Mrs. James Brehm, had the mill restored in 1928 by Frederick Rupple.
Location: 1120 Old Mill Rd, San Marino
NO. 362 RÓMULO PICO ADOBE (RANCHITO RÓMULO) - The oldest portion of the adobe was built about 1834 by ex-mission Indians. It was enlarged by Eulogio de Celís in 1846, and an upper story added by Rómulo Pico in 1874. The house was restored by Mr. and Mrs. M. R. Harrington in 1930.
Location: 10940 N Sepulveda Blvd, Mission Hills
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-66000211
NO. 363 CENTINELA SPRINGS - Bubbling springs once flowed here from their source in a deep water basin that has existed continuously since the Pleistocene Era. Prehistoric animals, Indians, and early Inglewood settlers were attracted here by the pure artesian water. The springs and valley were named after sentinels guarding cattle in the area.
Location: Centinela Park, 700 Warren Ln, Inglewood
NO. 367 E. J. BALDWIN'S QUEEN ANNE COTTAGE - Designed by A. A. Bennett for entertaining, the cottage was constructed by Elias Jackson ('Lucky') Baldwin in 1881. Since there was no kitchen, meals were served from the nearby adobe (built by Hugo Reid in 1839) where Baldwin actually lived. The building was restored and dedicated May 18,1954 as part of Los Angeles State and County Arboretum.
Location: Los Angeles State and County Arboretum, 301 N Baldwin, Arcadia
NO. 368 REID-BALDWIN ADOBE - Hugo Reid, a Scotsman, petitioned the government of Mexico to grant him Rancho Santa Anita. His claim strengthened by his marriage to Victoria, a native Indian of the San Gabriel Mission, he received the grant on April 16, 1841. Immediately upon filing his petition, Reid took possession of the land, started to farm and plant vineyards, and built the first house-the Hugo Reid Adobe. In 1875, Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin purchased the rancho, increasing his total ownership of California lands to 40,000 acres, and in 1879 added a wooden wing to the Reid adobe. Both Reid and Baldwin were actively involved in the early development and growth of southern California.
Location: Los Angeles State and County Arboretum, 301 N Baldwin Ave, Arcadia
NO. 372 ADOBE DE PALOMARES - Completed about 1854 and restored in 1939, this was the family home of Don Ygnacio Palomares. Governor Juan B. Alvarado granted Rancho San Jose to Don Ygnacio and Don Ricardo Vejar in 1837.
Location: 491 E Arrow Hwy, Pomona
NO. 373 OLD SALT LAKE - The Indians of this area obtained salt from this lake. Sometime in the 1850s, Johnson and Allanson erected the necessary works to manufacture salt by artificial as well as solar evaporation. The salt yield for 1879 was 450 tons.
Location: SE corner Harbor Dr and Yacht Club Way, Redondo Beach
NO. 380 SITE OF HOME OF DIEGO SEPÚLVEDA - This adobe home, built by Diego Sepúlveda in the 1850s, was the first two-story Monterey-type adobe built in Southern California.
Location: 700 block of Channel St, San Pedro
NO. 381 SITE OF OLD WHALING STATION - The whaling industry is said to have been started by Captain Clark in 1864. Captain Frank Anderson, a Portuguese, tried 2,166 barrels of whale oil at this station from 1874 to 1877. The station was abandoned because of a lack of fuel rather than vessels.
Location: Portuguese Bend Club, Palos Verdes Dr. and Maritime Rd, Rancho Palos Verdes
NO. 383 SITE OF ADOBE HOME OF JOSÉ DOLORES SEPULVEDA - This adobe was built in 1818. Dolores had trouble getting his land title cleared, so he took a trip to Monterey to get the matter definitely settled and, on his return trip, he was shot with an arrow by a hostile Indian at Mission La Purísima Concepción.
Location: Approx intersection of Madison St and Courtney Way, Torrance
NO. 384 TIMMS' POINT AND LANDING - In 1852 German immigrant Augustus W. Timms obtained Sepúlveda's Landing on the mudflats near here. He built a wharf, added a warehouse, corral and other facilities to service shipping and the running of stages to Los Angeles. Timms was a pioneer in the development of the harbor and for over fifty years this area was known as Timms Point.
Location: Sampson Way at Southern Pacific Slip, San Pedro
NO. 385 RIO SAN GABRIEL BATTLEFIELD - Near this site on January 8, 1847, American forces commanded by Captain Robert F. Stockton, U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, and Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearney, U.S. Army, fought Californians commanded by General José María Flores in the Battle of the Río San Gabriel.
Location: NE corner of Washington Blvd and Bluff Rd, Montebello
NO. 386 LA CASA DE CARRIÓN - This house, built in 1868 by Saturnino Carrión, was restored in 1951 by Paul E. Traweek.
Location: 919 Puddingstone Dr, La Verne
NO. 451 THE ORTEGA-VIGARE ADOBE - Erected during mission days, 1792-1805, this is the second oldest adobe in this region. Originally 'L'-shaped, it is now only half its original size. In 1859, the adobe became the property of Don Jean Vigare and in the early 1860s, as San Gabriel's first bakery, it was separated from the mission's lime orchard by a high cactus wall.
Location: 616 S Ramona St, San Gabriel
NO. 514 POMONA WATER POWERPLANT - The first hydroelectric installation in California for long-distance transmission of alternating current at high voltage was built in 1892 on San Antonio Creek below this spot by the San Antonio Light and Power Company organized by Dr. Cyrus Grandison Baldwin, President of Pomona College. The first high-voltage transformers built by George Westinghouse for this installation provided for transmission of 10,000 volts from the plant to Pomona.
Location: Camp Baldy Rd (P.M. 2.0), San Antonio Canyon, 8.1 mi N of State Hwy 166, Claremont
NO. 516 WELL, CSO 4 (PICO 4) - On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico No. 4), California's first commercially productive well. It was spudded in early 1876 under direction of Demetrious G. Scofield who later became the first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day. Later that year, after the well was deepened to 600 feet with what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day - it is still producing after 77 years (1953). The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California, and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby. It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California petroleum industry.
Location: On W Pico Canyon Rd, 3.3 mi W of I-5, Newhall
NO. 516-2 MENTRYVILLE - Named after pioneer oil developer Charles Alexander Mentry, who in 1876 drilled the first successful oil well in California. His restored home and barn and Felton School remain here where the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of Standard Oil of California, was born.
Location: 27201 W Pico Canyon Rd, 2.8 mi W of I-5, Newhall
NO. 522 SERRA SPRINGS - The Portolá Expedition of 1769 encamped at this spring, and it is reported that in 1770 Father Serra said Mass here to the Indians of this area. This spring was also the former water supply of the town of Santa Monica. The site is now the campus of the University High School.
Location: University High School Horticulture Area, 11800 Texas Ave, Los Angeles
NO. 531 LUMMIS HOME - This building was constructed by Charles F. Lummis (1859-1928), author, editor, poet, athlete, librarian, historian, archeologist, etc. He selected this site in 1895 chiefly because of a mammoth, ancient sycamore (El Alisal) which has since died and been replaced by four saplings.
Location: 200 E Ave 43 at Pasadena Freeway No. 11, Los Angeles
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-71000148
NO. 536 ORIGINAL BUILDING OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - Dedicated on September 4, 1880, this original building of the University of Southern California has been continuously in use for educational purposes since October 6, 1880, when its doors were first opened to students by the university's first president, Marion McKinley Bovard. The building was constructed under the guiding hand of Judge Robert M. Widney, the university's leading founder, on land donated by Ozro W. Childs, John G. Downey, and Isaias W. Hellman.
Location: Widney Hall Alumni House, University of Southern CA, Childs Way, between Hoover Blvd and University Ave, Los Angeles
NO. 554 CECIL B. DeMILLE STUDIO BARN - Cecil B. DeMille rented half of this structure, then used as a barn, as the studio in which was made the first feature-length motion picture in Hollywood-The Squaw Man-in 1913. Associated with Mr. DeMille in making The Squaw Man were Samuel Goldwyn and Jesse Lasky, Sr. Originally located at the corner of Selma and Vine Streets, in 1927 the barn was transferred to Paramount Studios.
Location: 2100 N Highland Ave, Hollywood
NO. 556 RANCHO SAN FRANCISCO - Approximately one-half mile south of the point was the adobe headquarters of Rancho San Francisco, originally built about 1804 as a granary of Mission San Fernando. The rancho was granted to Antonio de Valle in 1839. Here, in January 1850, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers obtained supplies and animals to rescue their comrades in a California-bound gold-seeking emigrant party that was stranded and starving in Death Valley, some 250 miles to the northeast.
Location: SW corner of 'The Old Road' and Henry Mayo Drive, 0.2 mi S of I-5 and State Hwy 126 interchange, Valencia
NO. 567 ST. VINCENT'S PLACE
- This was the site of Saint Vincent's College from 1868 to 1887. The college, now Loyola University, was founded by the Vincentian Fathers in 1865 and was the first institution of higher learning in Southern California.
Location: St. Vincent Court, in alley between Broadway and Hill, and 6th and 7th Sts, Los Angeles NO. 580 WELL, ALAMITOS 1 - One of the world's most famous wells. Started on March 23,1921, it flowed 590 barrels of oil a day when it was completed June 25, 1921, at a depth of 3,114 feet. This discovery well led to the development of one of the most productive oil fields in the world and helped to establish California as a major oil producing state.
Location: NE corner of Temple Ave and Hill St, Signal Hill
NO. 590 LANG - On September 5, 1876, Charles Crocker, President of the Southern Pacific Company, drove a gold spike here to complete his company's San Joaquin Valley line, the first rail connection of Los Angeles with San Francisco and transcontinental lines.
Location: Soledad Canyon, Lang Station Rd, 0.4 mi S of State Hwy 14 (P.M. 35.6), Shadow Pines Blvd, 4. 7 mi E of Canyon Country
NO. 632 OLD SHORT CUT - This is California's first ranger station, built in 1900 by Louie Newcomb and Phillip Begue, early Forest Service men. The cabin took its name from the 'Short Cut Canyon Trail,' as the cabin was one of the main stopping points on this trail.
Location: Angeles National Forest, Chilao Visitor's Center, Angeles Crest Hwy (State Hwy 2), 27 mi E of La Canada
NO. 637 CATALINA ADOBE - San Rafael was granted to José María Verdugo on October 20, 1784. Don José died April 12, 1831, leaving his estate to his son Julio and his blind daughter Catalina. This adobe was built for Dona Catalina in the 1830s; she lived here until her death in 1861. Still in excellent condition, the Catalina, or Original Mud Block, Adobe is now in private ownership.
Location: 2211 Bonita Dr, Glendale
NO. 646 GRAVE OF GEORGE CARALAMBO, (GREEK GEORGE) - This is the grave of 'Greek George,' a camel driver from Asia Minor who came to the United States with the second load of camels purchased by the War Department as an experiment to open a wagon road to Fort Tejón from Fort Defiance, New Mexico. Because of the Civil War, the experiment was abandoned. 'Greek George' became a naturalized citizen in 1867 under the name of George Allen. He built an adobe home on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Location: Founders' Memorial Park, Broadway at Gregory Ave, Whittier (gravestone in storage, 1993)
NO. 653 THE CASCADES - This is the terminus of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct, which brings water 338 miles from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the City of Los Angeles. Begun in 1905, the great aqueduct was completed November 5, 1913. The Mono Craters Tunnel project, completed in 1940, extended the system 27 miles to its present northernmost intake near Tioga Pass.
Location: 0.1 mi N of intersection of Foothill Blvd and Balboa Blvd, 4 mi NW of San Fernando
NO. 655 PORTOLÁ TRAIL CAMPSITE (I) - Spanish colonization of California began in 1769 with the expedition of Don Gaspar de Portolá from Mexico. With Captain Don Fernando Rivera v Moncada, Lieutenant Don Pedro Fages, Sgt. José Francisco Ortega, and Fathers Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez, he and his party camped near this spot on August 2, 1769, en route to Monterey.
Location: Elysian Park entrance, NW corner of N Broadway and Elysian Park Dr, Los Angeles
NO. 656 BELLA UNION HOTEL SITE - Near this spot stood the Bella Union Hotel, long a social and political center. Here, on October 7, 1858, the first Butterfield Overland Mail stage from the east arrived 21 days after leaving St. Louis. Warren Hall was the driver, and Waterman Ormsby, a reporter, the only through passenger.
Location: Fletcher Bowron Square, 300 block of N Main, between Temple and Aliso Sts, Los Angeles
N0. 658 WESTERN HOTEL - Erected by the Gilroy family in 1876, this building was purchased in 1902 by George T. Webber, who operated it as the Western Hotel. The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce was organized in its dining room. Between 1905 and 1913, construction crews of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct were housed here, and it became a center of commercial and social activity in the early life of the community.
Location: 557 W Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster
NO. 664 HERITAGE HOUSE - As originally built in 1869 by A. R. Loomis, the house had only two rooms, but other rooms were added by subsequent occupants. It was marked as the 'Oldest House in Compton' in 1955 - in 1957, it was purchased by the city and moved from 209 South Acacia Street to its present site. It has been restored, refurnished, and renamed by the citizens of Compton as a tribute to early settlers of the community.
Location: NW corner of Willowbrook Ave and Myrrh St, Compton
NO. 665 PORTOLÁ TRAIL CAMPSITE, 2 - The expedition of Don Gaspar de Portolá from Mexico passed this way en route to Monterey to begin the Spanish colonization of California. With Captain Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, Lieutenant Don Pedro Fages, Sergeant José Francisco Ortega, and Fathers Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez, Portolá and his party camped near this spot on August 3, 1769.
Location: 325 South La Cienega Blvd between Olympic and Gregory, Beverly Hills
NO. 669 GOVERNOR STONEMAN ADOBE, LOS ROBLES - This was the site of 'Los Robles,' the 400-acre estate of Governor George Stoneman. President Rutherford B. Hayes was entertained here in 1880. The first schoolhouse in the San Gabriel Valley, California's first tennis club, and the first municipal Christmas tree of San Marino were located here.
Location: 1912 Montrobles Place, San Marino
NO. 681 PARADOX HYBRID WALNUT TREE - Planted in 1907 by George Weinshank and assistants under the direction of Professor Ralph Smith as part of an experimental planting for the University of California Experiment Station, this tree stands as a monument to the early cooperation of state educational system with local walnut industry.
Location: 12300 Whittier Blvd at Mar Vista, Whittier USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: VENICE
NO. 688 LYONS STATION STAGECOACH STOP - This site was the location of a combination store, post office, telegraph office, tavern, and stage depot accommodating travelers during the Kern River gold rush in the early 1850s. A regular stop for Butterfield and other early California stage lines, it was purchased by Sanford and Cyrus Lyons in 1855, and by 1868 at least twenty families lived here. Eternal Valley Memorial Park has called their final resting place "The Garden of the Pioneers."
Location: Eternal Valley Memorial Park, 23287 N Sierra Hwy, near State Hwy 14 and San Fernando Rd, Newhall
NO. 689 LOS ENCINOS STATE HISTORIC PARK - The Franciscan padres used Encino as their headquarters while exploring the valley before establishing Mission San Fernando in 1797. In 1849 Vincente de la Osa built an adobe with nine rooms. The next owner of El Encino Rancho was Eugene Garnier, who built the existing two-story limestone house in 1872. In December 1891 Domingo Amestoy acquired the property.
Location: Los Encinos State Historic Park, 16756 Moorpark St, Encino
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-71000142
NO. 716 GRIFFITH RANCH - Originally part of the San Fernando Mission lands, this ranch was purchased by David Wark Griffith, revered pioneer of silent motion pictures, in 1912. It provided the locale for many western thrillers, including Custer's Last Stand, and was the inspiration for the immortal production, Birth of a Nation. In 1948 it was acquired by Fritz B. Burns, who has perpetuated the Griffith name in memory of the great film pioneer.
Location: 12685 Foothill Blvd at Vaughn St, San Fernando
NO. 717 THE ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - The first national forest in the State of California and second in the United States, Angeles National Forest was created by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison on December 20, 1892. The first name given to the forest, "'San Gabriel Timberland Reserve," was changed to "San Gabriel National Forest" March 4, 1907 and then to "Angeles National Forest" on July 1, 1908. The majority of the Forest is within Los Angeles County, with small sections extending into San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
Location: San Gabriel Mtns, Clear Creek vista point, State Hwy 2 (P.M. 32.8), 8.3 mi N of I-210, La Canada Flintridge
NO. 718 SITE OF THE INITIAL UNITED STATES AIR MEET - About a half mile southeast of this spot, on Dominquez Hill in historic Rancho San Pedro, the first air meet in the United States was held during January 10-20, 1910. This area has evolved into one of the world's leading aviation-industrial centers.
Location: 18501 S Wilmington Ave, Carson
NO. 730 OLD PLAZA FIREHOUSE - Dedicated to the firemen of the Los Angeles Fire Department-past, present, and future-who, by their courage and faithful devotion to duty, have protected the lives and property of the citizens of Los Angeles from the ravages of fire since 1871. This was the first building constructed as a fire station in Los Angeles. Built in 1884, it served as a firehouse until 1897. After this it was used for various purposes until restored in 1960 and opened as a museum of fire-fighting equipment of the late 19th century.
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, 501 N Los Angeles St
NO. 744 THE MIRROR BUILDING (SITE OF BUTTERFIELD STAGE STATION) - The Butterfield Overland Mail Company took an option on this piece of property in August 1858 and acquired it on December 7, 1859. A large brick building containing offices and living quarters, with shops and stables in the rear, was completed in 1860. With the exception of the station at El Paso, Texas, this was the largest and best equipped station on the entire route.
Location: 145 S Spring St, Los Angeles
NO. 753 SAN FERNANDO CEMETERY - Earlier known as Morningside Cemetery, this is the oldest nonsectarian cemetery in San Fernando Valley. It was used from the early 1800s until 1939, it was legally abandoned in 1959, when Mrs. Nellis S. Noble donated the site in memory of the pioneers of San Fernando.
Location: SW corner of Bledsoe and Foothill, Sylmar
NO. 789 SITE OF THE LOS ANGELES STAR - Southern California's first newspaper, The Los Angeles Star, was founded in this block on May 17, 1851 and for many years exerted a major influence upon this part of the state. Suspended temporarily from 1864 to 1868, it continued later as an effective voice of the people until its final termination date in 1879.
Location: Fletcher Bowron Square, 300 block of N Main, between Temple and Aliso Sts, Los Angeles
NO. 822 FIRST JEWISH SITE IN LOS ANGELES - The Hebrew Benevolent Society of Los Angeles (1854), first charitable organization in the city, acquired this site from the city council by deed of April 9, 1855. This purchase of a sacred burial ground represented the first organized community effort by the pioneer Jewish settlers.
Location: Chavez Ravine, behind US Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center, 800 W Lilac Terrace near Lookout Dr, Los Angeles
NO. 840 OLD SANTA MONICA FORESTRY STATION - In 1887, the State Board of Forestry established the nation's first experimental forestry station. Located in Rustic Canyon, the station tested exotic trees for planting in California, established plantations for management studies, and produced planting stock for scientific and conservation purposes. The station was operated by the Board of Forestry until 1893 and by the University of California until 1923.
Location: Rustic Canyon Recreation Center, NW corner of Latimer and Hilltree Rds, Los Angeles
NO. 871 THE GAMBLE HOUSE - Built in 1908, the David B. Gamble House is a tribute to the genius of architects Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene. Its design represents a unique California lifestyle and is a masterpiece of American craftsmanship. In 1966 it was made a gift by the Gamble family to the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California.
Location: 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena
NO. 874 WORKMAN HOME AND FAMILY CEMETERY - William Workman and John Rowland organized the first wagon train of permanent eastern settlers, which arrived in Southern California on November 5, 1841. Together they owned and developed the 48,790-acre La Puente Rancho. Workman began this adobe home in 1842 and remodeled it in 1872 to resemble a manor house in his native England. He also established 'El Campo Santo,' this region's earliest known private family cemetery, in 1850, the miniature Classic Grecian mausoleum was built in 1919 by grandson Walter P. Temple.
Location: 15415 E Don Julian Rd, City of Industry
NO. 881 SITE OF PORT LOS ANGELES LONG WHARF - In 1893 the Southern Pacific Railroad Company completed its 4,720-foot wharf, which served as a deep water port for the Los Angeles area. But after San Pedro became Los Angeles's official harbor in 1897, shipping activity at Port Los Angeles declined and the wharf was finally dismantled. Today, no trace remains of what was once the longest wooden pier in the world.
Location: Will Rogers State Beach lifeguard hdqtrs, 15100 W Pacific Coast Hwy 1 (P.M. 375), Pacific Palisades
NO. 887 PASADENA PLAYHOUSE - Founded in 1917 by Gilmor Brown, the Pasadena Playhouse was designed by architect Elmer Grey and the cornerstone laid May 31, 1924. In 1928 the College of Theatre Arts was incorporated with the Pasadena Playhouse Association as a non-profit institution. In 1937, the Playhouse received the honorary title 'State Theatre of California' from the California Legislature.
Location: 39 El Molino Ave, Pasadena
NO. 894 S.S. CATALINA - Commonly referred to as the Great White Steamer, the ship was specially built by William Wrigley to serve his Catalina Island as a passenger ferry. She was christened on May 23, 1924. During World War II, she was requisitioned for use as a troop carrier, but in 1946 she resumed her voyages to Avalon.
Location: For forty-two years, from 1924 to 1966, the S.S. Catalina's home was in Wilmington, Catalina Terminal, Berth 184-85, Port of Los Angeles.
NO. 911 CHATSWORTH CALERA SITE - The Chatsworth Calera is one of the few surviving representative structures of the early 19th century lime industry. This kiln marked the introduction to California of the European industrial process for vitrifying limestone building blocks which were used in the construction of the missions.
Location: From State Hwy 27 and Plummer, go W 2.7 mi to the intersection of Woolsey Canyon Rd and Valley Circle Blvd, site is 500 feet NE of intersection, Chatsworth
NO. 912 GLENDORA BOUGAINVILLEA - Planted in 1901 by the R. H. Hamlins, early citrus growers, the Glendora bougainvillea is the largest growth of this exotic plant in the United States. The parent stock was brought to California by a whaling ship about 1870. The vines are one of the best remaining illustrations of the image of California as a paradise that was spread by early 20th-century promoters.
Location: 400 block of E Bennet Ave at Minnesota Ave, Glendora
NO. 919 ST. FRANCIS DAM DISASTER SITE - The 185-foot concrete St. Francis Dam, part of the Los Angeles aqueduct system, stood a mile and a half north of this spot. On March 12, 1928, just before midnight, it collapsed and sent over twelve billion gallons of water roaring down the valley of the Santa Clara River. Over 450 lives were lost in this, one of California's greatest disasters.
Location: San Francisquito Power Plant No. 2, 32300 N San Francisquito Canyon Rd, 9.2 mi N of Saugus
NO. 920 CASA DE SAN PEDRO - The first known commercial structure on the shore of San Pedro Bay was built here in 1823 by the trading firm of McCulloch and Hartnell to store cattle hides from the San Gabriel and San Fernando missions. Richard Henry Dana described this adobe hide house in Two Years Before the Mast. Thus began the development of the Port of Los Angeles.
Location: Middle Reservation, Fort MacArthur, 2400 block of Pacific Ave, E side of parade field, 300 feet S of intersection of Meyler and Quartermaster Rds, San Pedro
NO. 933 SITE OF LLANO DEL RIO COOPERATIVE COLONY - This was the site of the most important non-religious Utopian experiment in western American history. Its founder, Job Harriman, was Eugene Debs' running mate in the presidential election of 1900. In subsequent years, Harriman became an influential socialist leader and in 1911 was almost elected mayor of Los Angeles. At its height in 1916, the colony contained a thousand members and was a flourishing communitarian experiment dedicated to the principal of cooperation rather than competition.
Location: On State Hwy 138 (P.M. 64.1), Llano
NO. 934 TEMPORARY DETENTION CAMPS FOR JAPANESE AMERICANS-SANTA ANITA ASSEMBLY CENTER AND POMONA ASSEMBLY CENTER - The temporary detention camps (also known as 'assembly centers') represent the first phase of the mass incarceration of 97,785 Californians of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Pursuant to Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, thirteen makeshift detention facilities were constructed at various California racetracks, fairgrounds, and labor camps. These facilities were intended to confine Japanese Americans until more permanent concentration camps, such as those at Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, could be built in isolated areas of the country. Beginning on March 30, 1942, all native-born Americans and long-time legal residents of Japanese ancestry living in California were ordered to surrender themselves for detention.
Location: Arcadia and Pomona
NO. 939 Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments (Thematic)-OLD TRAPPER'S LODGE - Old Trapper's Lodge is one of California's remarkable Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments. It represents the life work of John Ehn (1897-1981), a self-taught artist who wished to pass on a sense of the Old West, derived from personal experiences, myths, and tall tales. From 1951 to 1981, using his family as models, and incorporating memorabilia, the 'Old Trapper' followed his dreams and visions to create the Lodge and its 'Boot Hill.'
Location: Original location: 10340 Keswick Ave at San Fernando Rd, Sun Valley. New location: Los Angeles Pierce College, Cleveland Park, 6201 Winnetka Ave, Woodland Hills
NO. 947 REFORM SCHOOL FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS (FRED C. NELLES SCHOOL) - The March 11, 1889 Act of the California Legislature authorized the establishment of a school for juvenile offenders. Dedication and laying of cornerstone was done by Governor R. W. Waterman on February 12, 1890. Officially opened as 'Whittier State School' for boys and girls on July 1, 1891. Girls were transferred in 1916 and only boys have been in residence since that time. Renamed 'Fred C. Nelles School for Boys' in 1941 ('For Boys' was dropped around 1970). This school has been in continuous operation serving the needs of juvenile offenders since 1891.
Location: Department of the Youth Authority entrance, 11850 E Whittier Blvd, Whittier
NO. 960 LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM - This stadium was originally completed in 1923. It was partially redesigned and enlarged for the 1932 Olympic Games. Both designs were by architects John and Donald B. Parkinson. The coliseum has witnessed many important sports, political, and historical events. When the games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad began here on July 28, 1984, the coliseum became the first stadium in the world to host the Olympic Games twice.
Location: South end of University of Southern California, 3911 S Figueroa, Los Angeles
NO. 961 HAROLD LLOYD ESTATE (GREENACRES) - Greenacres, one of the greatest estates of Hollywood's Golden Era, was built in 1929 for the internationally known silent screen comedian, Harold Lloyd. With its formal gardens, it is one of the finest Mediterranean/Italian Renaissance style residential complexes remaining in the state. The 44-room house was designed by Sumner Spaulding and the gardens planned by A. E. Hansen. The estate is patterned after the Villa Gamberaia near Florence, Italy.
Location: 1740 Green Acres Place, Beverly Hills
NO. 963 THE MOJAVE ROAD - Long ago, Mohave Indians used a network of pathways to cross the Mojave Desert. In 1826, American trapper Jedediah Smith used their paths and became the first non-Indian to reach the California coast overland from mid-America. The paths were worked into a military wagon road in 1859. This "Mojave Road" remained a major link between Los Angeles and points east until a railway crossed the desert in 1885.
Location: Site of road runs from Drum Barracks in Wilmington to where State Route 66 crosses Los Angeles County line into San Bernardino County
NO. 965 POINT DUME - On November 24, 1793, English explorer George Vancouver, commander of an expedition to determine the extent of settlement of the northwest coast of America, named this rocky promontory, Point Dume, after his Franciscan friend, Father Francisco Dumetz, at Mission San Buenaventura. Point Dume is the western terminus of Santa Monica Bay and has been an important landmark for navigators since Vancouver's voyage in 1793.
Location: Point Dume State Beach, corner of Cliffside Dr and Birdview Ave, Malibu
NO. 966 ADAMSON HOUSE AT MALIBU LAGOON STATE BEACH - Designed by Stiles O. Clements in 1929, this Spanish Colonial Revival home contains the best surviving examples of decorative ceramic tile produced by Malibu Potteries. During its short existence from 1926 to 1932, Malibu Potteries made an outstanding contribution to ceramic art in California through its development and production of a wide range of artistic and colorful decorative tile. The home was built for Merritt Huntley Adamson and Rhoda Rindge Adamson, daughter of Frederick Hastings Rindge and May Knight Rindge, last owners of the Rancho Malibu Spanish grant.
Location: 23200 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu
NO. 972 NAVY AND MARINE CORPS RESERVE CENTER - Designed as the largest enclosed structure without walls in the world by noted California architects Robert Clements and Associates, this Art Deco building, constructed between 1938 and 1941 by the WPA, is the largest and second-oldest Navy Reserve Center in the United States. It has served as the induction, separation, and training center for more than 100,000 sailors since World War II well as the filming site for countless motion pictures and television shows.
Location: 1700 Stadium Way, Los Angeles
NO. 975 EL MONTE-FIRST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SETTLEMENT BY IMMIGRANTS FROM UNITED STATES - El Monte, on the bank of the San Gabriel River, played a significant part in California's early pioneer history. It was first an encampment on the Old Spanish Trail, an extension of the trail from Missouri to Santa Fe. By the 1850s, some began to call El Monte the 'End of the Santa Fe Trail.' Early in that decade a permanent settlement was established by immigrants from Texas, the first settlement in Southern California founded by citizens of the United States.
Location: Santa Fe Trail Historical Park, Valley Blvd and Santa Anita Ave, El Monte
NO. 978 RANCHO LOS CERRITOS HISTORIC SITE - The 27,000-acre Rancho was once part of an 18th-century Spanish land grant to soldier Manuel Nieto. The Monterey-style adobe was constructed in 1844 and served the Temple and Bixby families as headquarters for large-scale cattle and sheep ranching operations in the 19th century. In the 1880s, the land was subdivided for farming and city development.
Location: 4600 Virginia Rd, Long Beach
NO. 984 CASA DE RANCHO SAN ANTONIO (HENRY GAGE MANSION) - Contained within this building are the remaining portions of an adobe house built by Francisco Salvador Lugo and his son Antonio María Lugo. Francisco Lugo was a prominent early landholder and Antonio served as the Alcalde of Los Angeles. They completed the building by 1810. Henry Tifft Gage acquired the property in 1880 and lived here from 1883 until 1924. Gage served as the Governor of California from 1899 to 1903.
Location: 7000 E Gage, Bell Gardens
NO. 988 PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM (GRACE NICHOLSON'S TREASURE HOUSE OF ORIENTAL AND WESTERN ART) - Grace Nicholson, a noted collector and authority on American Indian and Asian Art and artifacts, supervised the design of her combination gallery and museum which was completed in 1929. It has been called an outstanding example of 1920s revival architecture and is unique for its use of Chinese ornamentation.
Location: 46 North Los Robles Ave, Pasadena
NO. 990 CHRISTMAS TREE LANE - The 135 Deodar Cedar trees were planted in 1885 by the Woodbury Family, the founders of Altadena. First organized by F.C. Nash in 1920, the 'Mile of Christmas Trees' has been strung with 10,000 lights each holiday season through the efforts of volunteers and the Christmas Tree Lane Association. It is the oldest large-scale Christmas lighting spectacle in Southern California.
Location: Santa Rosa Ave, both sides of street from Woodbuty Ave to Altadena Dr, Altadena
NO. 993 WATTS TOWERS OF SIMON RODIA - The Watts Towers are perhaps the nation's best known work of folk art sculpture. Using simple hand tools, cast off materials (glass, shell, pottery pieces and broken tile) Italian immigrant Simon Rodia spent 30 years building a tribute to his adopted country and a monument to the spirit of individuals who make their dreams tangible. Rodia's Towers inspired many to rally and preserve his work and protect it for the future.
Location: 1765 East 107th St, Los Angeles
NO. 997 TUNA CLUB OF AVALON - The Tuna Club of Avalon marks the birthplace of modern big game sportfishing in 1898. Led by Dr. Charles Frederick Holder, the club's founding members adopted the rules of conduct stressing conservationist ethics and sporting behavior. Today, their work remains the basis for the sport's internationally accepted principles.
Location: 100 St. Catherine Way, Avalon
NO. 1006 BEALE'S CUT STAGECOACH PASS - Beale's Cut is the only physical and cultural feature of its kind in the entire Los Angeles Basin. At the time of its construction in 1862, the actual creation and maintenance of the Cut was considered a significant technological and physical feat consisting of breaching the former impassable geographic barrier of the San Gabriel and Santa Susana Mountain ranges. General Edward F. Beale is attributed with the construction of a toll road across the mountains. Beale's Cut was also used as a favorite film-making location by pioneer film maker, David Wark Griffith, and others.
Location: Intersection of Sierra Hwy and Clampitt Rd, Santa Clarita
NO. 1011 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TEXTILE BLOCK HOUSES (THEMATIC), ENNIS HOUSE - This house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924 for Charles and Mabel Ennis. It is one of four textile block houses registered as Landmark No. 1011.
Location: 2655 Glendower Ave, Los Angeles
NO. 1011 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TEXTILE BLOCK HOUSE (THEMATIC), FREEMAN HOUSE - The Samuel and Harriet Freeman House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924, is one of four residences that were designed to be affordable and modular constructed using the cheap building material of concrete. These houses were constructed from a textile block system of handmade concrete tiles held in a matrix of steel bars, anchored and protected by a concrete mixture, and stacked without grout.
Location: 1962 Glencoe Way, Los Angeles
NO. 1014 LONG BEACH MARINE STADIUM - Created in 1932 for the rowing events of the Xth Olympiad, the Stadium was the first manmade rowing course in the United States. Its width allowed four teams to race abreast, eliminating additional heats and allowing oarsmen to enter the finals at the peak of their form. Later it served as the venue for the 1968 and 1976 United States men's Olympic rowing trials and the 1984 United States women's Olympic rowing trials. The site remains an important training and competitive center for rowers, including our National and Olympic teams.
Location: Pete Archer Rowing Center, End of Boathouse Lane, Nieto Ave & Appian Way, Long Beach
NO. 1018 MANHATTAN BEACH STATE PIER - Designed by City Engineer A.L. Harris, this pier was constructed by the City of Manhattan Beach during the years 1917-1920. The roundhouse building was added a year later. Harris' innovative design featured a rounded end to the pier, which helped it withstand the pounding of the Pacific. Although the roundhouse was reconstructed in 1989, the pier itself survives as Southern California's oldest remaining example of early reinforced concrete pier construction.
Location: West of Manhattan Beach Blvd, Manhattan Beach
NO. 1021 LIBERTY HILL SITE - In 1923 the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union 510, a branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), called a strike that immobilized 90 ships here in San Pedro. The union protested low wages, bad working conditions, and the imprisonment of union activists under California's Criminal Syndicalism Law. Denied access to public property, strikers and their supporters rallied here at this site they called "Liberty Hill." Writer Upton Sinclair was arrested for reading from the Bill of Rights to a large gathering. The strike failed but laid a foundation for success in the 1930s. The Syndicalism Law was ruled unconstitutional in 1968.
Location: Vicinity of 5th St. & Harbor Blvd., San Pedro
NO. 1038 HAY TREE - The Hay Tree is an old, 50 foot high camphor tree standing in the middle of a grassy area in downtown Paramount. The tree is a rare remnant of the city’s once thriving dairy and hay industry. The towns of Hynes and Clearwater, which later incorporated to become Paramount, were in the middle of Los Angeles County’s extensive region of dairy farms that thrived during the first half of the twentieth century. Hynes-Clearwater was the “Hay Capital” of the world from about 1930 to about 1960. There are no other properties in Paramount that are linked to the hay industry except for this tree.
Location: 16475 Paramount Blvd., Paramount
NO. 1041 SITE OF THE CHILDHOOD HOME OF THE BEACH BOYS - It was here at the childhood home of Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson that the three brothers developed their unique musical skills. During Labor Day weekend 1961, they, their cousin Mike Love, and a friend Al Jardine, gathered here to record a tape of their breakthrough song “Surfin’.” This marked the birth of the rock group known worldwide as the Beach Boys, and the beginning of an historic musical legacy. The music of the Beach Boys broadcast to the world an image of California as a place of sun, surf, and romance.
Location: 3701 W. 119th Street, Hawthorne
NO. 1046 SAVANNAH MEMORIAL PARK - The historic cemetery of the pioneer settlers who founded El Monte, California, in 1851-1853. The cemetery represents the first Euro-American, protestant cemetery established in southern California, and contains the graves of several of the first United States citizens to settle the region. Many of the individuals buried here were instrumental in developing the legal, educational, and social foundations of the region.
Location: 9263 Valley Boulevard, Rosemead