The Crescenta-Cañada Valley

While colonials along the American eastern seaboard struggled to create and defend self-government, the vast Pacific Southwest remained a slumbering frontier. Barely six years before Paul Revere's ride in Massachusetts, General Gaspar de Portola reached the banks of the Los Angeles River, where a great city would later rise. In 1784, Don Jose Maria Verdugo, a soldier of the King of Spain, received title to Rancho San Rafael, the first of California's celebrated land grants, which included part of this valley. Here he raised cattle, sheep, and horses on the valley floor, riding with his vaqueros from the hacienda farther south where Glendale now stands. In the quiet foothills, deer, quail, coyotes, and bear lived almost at peace with the Native Indians, and Franciscan padres crossed these broad acres on their way from Mission San Gabriel to Mission San Fernando. Then, as today, life here was gracious and tranquil in a valley overlooking the coastal plain and the sea.

Glendale, California · United States