The unique physical landscape of Santa Monica and its beach is the
result of millions of years of tectonic plate movement that formed
natural wonders such as the coastal mountain ranges, the Los Angeles
Basin, and the Sierra Nevada. Santa Monica State Beach lies along
the edge of these massive geological formations. Early inhabitants
of Santa Monica were a nonaggressive people who had an intimate
connection with the natural world. The Tongva, or Gabrielino, people
were among the densely populated cultures of California that first
greeted the Europeans. The Californios, Mexican rancheros who
received land grants from the Mexican government, followed the
Tongva as the first private landowners of Santa Monica. Descendants
of the Californios Francisco Sepulveda, Ysidro Reyes, and Francisco
Marquez remain in the Santa Monica area.
Californios
Californio Ysidro Reyes, shown here in this portait, lived in Santa Monica Canyon. His father worked a large tract of land extending to what is now Hollywood. Ysidro Reyes was sent by his father to the La Brea pits to sell tar to the residents of Los Angeles, who used it for their roofs.
Californios
A portait of Californio Francis Sepulveda, who owned the 33,000-acre Rancho San Vincente. He settled in Los Angeles in 1815 and was granted title to his ranchos in 1839.
Californios
Henri Penelon painted this portrait of Californio Don Jose Sepulveda, owner of Rancho San Juaquin, on his horse, Black Swan.
Tongva Native Americans
These Native American artifacts were found in Topanga Canyon in the early 1900s.The Tongva, or Gabrielino, people were the first inhabitants of the Santa Monica area.
Tongva Native Americans
Mrs. James V. Rosemeyre of the Tongva, or Gabrielino people, who are indiginous to the Santa Monica area.
Topanga Canyon
Looking south down Topanga Canyon. The Santa Monica Mountains and beach were formed millions of years ago from the eastward-moving Pacific Plate and the westward-moving North American Plate.
Topanga Canyon
Seventeen miles north of Santa Monica, Frederick Hastings Rindge bought all the property in Malibu and north of Malibu for $0.25 an acre. Rindge hauled his lemons to the pier to ships and claimed they were the “best lemons in the world.”
