Ballona is the name of three landforms and a bicycle path in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Geographic place names: *

Ballona Creek Ballona Creek (pronunciation: “Bah-yo-nuh” or “Buy-yo-nah” ) is an channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a “year-round river lined with sycamores and willows.” Ballona Creek ...

** Ballona Creek Bike Path * Ballona Wetlands * Ballona Lagoon Historic places: *

Rancho La Ballona Rancho La Ballona was a Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California. The rancho was confirmed by Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839, to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felipe ...

Port Ballona Port Ballona is an archaic place name for an area near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where Playa Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon are located today. Port Ballona was a planned harbor and town site from circa 1859 to 19 ...

School: * La Ballona Elementary School, Culver City

Place name origin

The origin of the unique toponym Ballona is much disputed and possibly unknowable. Various theories have been exchanged for more than 150 years. * 1875: Misspelling of Ballena, Spanish word for whale (various dead whales did wash up near Ballona during the 19th century), or misspelling of Spanish “valle” meaning valley * 1893: An introduction to Southern California in the ''Los Angeles Herald'' noted “Ballona, meaning and derivation unknown; not Spanish.” * 1939: “The origin of the word Ballona is in doubt.” Discounts whale theory; Cristobal Machado, an heir of the rancho family, suggests it’s somehow derivative of “bay”

Reference

{{reflist Los Angeles County, California