How differently the Spanish and the Americans viewed their ranches is
quite apparent from the names they gave them. The Americans dubbed their
ranches the “Diamond Bar,” the “3 X,” the “109,” or some other rather
picturesque but meaningless title.
The Spaniards blessed their ranchos by dedicating them to Santa Anita,
San Rafael, Santa Gertrudes, or San Geronimo. They saw the many little
streams of water flowing from the springs on what is now Beverly Hills
and named that Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas—the gathering of the waters.
They loved the big oaks of the district along Ventura Boulevard between
North Hollywood and Girard and named it Rancho El Encino—the oaks. What
the Americans call the Baldwin Hills—they saw naturally formed a pass
resembling scissors and thus was named Rancho Cienega o’Paso de La
Tijera.
In 1843 Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted Rancho Cienega o’Paso de La
Tijera to Vicente Sanchez, friend of the Mexican government, valiant
soldier and good citizen. But he did not live long to enjoy his rancho
and at about the time California became a state his heirs partitioned
his land holdings. Tomas A. Sanchez acquired the rancho—his sisters
taking property on Nigger Alley in the Pueblo of Los Angeles as their
share.
Tomas Sanchez also had a well deserved reputation for extraordinary
bravery and was Sheriff of Los Angeles County from 1860 to 1867, a
period in which crime waves were permanent and the accepted order of the
day.
Gradually the Rancho increased in value. In 1875 Sanchez sold a half
interest for $60,000, later he sold a fourth and finally another Sheriff
sold the remainder. E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin became the owner. Baldwin
found this rancho something of a white elephant. Sheep ranching became
unprofitable and the land was not adapted to orange groves and he knew
nothing of the oil beneath it. But he held the property and when he died
in 1909 his estate listed Rancho Cienega o’Paso de La Tijera as one of
its most valuable possessions. The Baldwin heirs sold large parts of the
rancho, and the Los Angeles Investment Company subdivided tract after
tract within its bounds.
Seemingly no matter how fast this old rancho has been subdivided (and
the growth of Angelus Mesa has been phenomenal) the remaining
unsubdivided part grows in value by leaps and bounds directly contrary
to its diminishing size. Like the estate of “Lucky” Baldwin the estate
of his daughter, Clara Baldwin Stocker, recently deceased, lists as its
most valued possession the remainder of the Rancho Cienega o’Paso de La
Tijera.
[Illustration: _Hacienda of the Rancho Cienega o’Paso de La
Tijera—now a Golf Club_]