Much of California was already claimed by Mexican citizens before the state joined the US—Los Angeles included and Rancho La Brea of particular note. Rancho La Brea was named after the natural asphalt that occurred that bubbled to the surface on the land. The 4,439-acres of land was granted by the Mexican government to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemisio Dominguez…
Category: Homesteads
Rancho Santa Anita
Rancho Santa Anita was a 13,319 acre land grant covering modern day Arcadia, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Marino, and Sierra Madre held by Perfecto Hugo Reid in 1845. While Reid sold this land to Henry Dalton in 1847, the secession of California put the ownership of this land in flux until the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo agreed to honor preexisting…
The Innocente Homestead
Immanuel (Manuel) Innocente was of the Chumash tribe and head cattle wrangler at El Sur Rancho in San Buenaventura. In 1868, Manuel moved with his wife, Francisca – who was likely Yokut – and two children to Big Sur and purchased a homestead in what would later become Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. This homestead included dry, scrub covered hillsides, as well as a…
The Pfeiffer Homesteads
The Pfeiffer name is scattered across Big Sur, California. Be it Pfeiffer Falls, Pfeiffer Ridge, Pfeiffer Road, Pfeiffer Gulch, or Pfeiffer-Redwood Creek all these landmarks are homage to a family that settled and thrived in Big Sur since 1869. Michael and Barbara Pfeiffer were European immigrants who settled in Sycamore Canyon, Big Sur in 1869 [visit Michael’s owner page] with their four children Charles, John,…