HUNTINGTON COLLECTION United States survey plat of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica with creeks marked

Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica was a

Mexican land grant In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an indu ...

in present-day

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1839 to

Francisco Sepúlveda II Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

, a soldier and citizen of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The rancho included what are now

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, Brentwood,

Mandeville Canyon Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. History General Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the ...

, and parts of Bel-Air and

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped ...

History

In 1839, Governor Alvarado gave possession to Francisco Sepulveda II of the lands known as San Vicente, with a piece of pasture (potrero) named Santa Mónica. But the boundaries of the lands were not well defined and there was soon a dispute as to the territory included. In 1839 Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes had received the grant to

Rancho Boca de Santa Monica Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

which also included the "potrero" of Santa Mónica. In 1840 Francisco Sepulveda petitioned governor Alvarado to place him in "pacific possession of the property, as Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes have given a bad example of disobedience and that under the strength of discordant documents they remain in possession of the place called Santa Mónica". With the

cession The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdicti ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica was filed with the

Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established the California State Lands Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican l ...

in 1852. Francisco Sepulveda died in 1853. The dispute over the boundaries continued and was not settled until the question came into the United States courts. After long litigation, the Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica grant was

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

to the Sepulveda heirs at in 1881. The Sepulveda Adobe was the home of Jose Dolores Sepulveda, one of the sons of Francisco Sepulveda. It was probably located in the Sawtelle area, near the intersection of Bundy Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, close to springs discovered by Portola. The building no longer exists. In 1872, the Sepulvedas sold their Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica property to

Robert S. Baker Robert Sidney Baker (1916 – 30 September 2009) was a British film and television producer. At times, he was also a cinematographer and director. Born in London and serving as an artillery man in the British Army, he was posted to North Africa ...

. Baker sold a three quarter interest in the land to the Comstock millionaire

John Percival Jones John Percival Jones (January 27, 1829November 27, 1912) was an American politician who served for 30 years as a United States Republican Party, Republican United States Senate, United States Senator from Nevada. He made a fortune in silver mini ...

in 1874. Later owners include Dr. Wilson Jones, Mr. Sanford, Benito Wilson, and John Wolfskill.

References

External links

Map of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles CountyDiseño del Rancho San Vicente
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

otro Diseño del Rancho San Vicente
at

{{coord , 34.030, -118.500, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Santa Monica Mountains History of Los Angeles History of Santa Monica, California Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California

History

See also

References

External links