Beverly Hills-tory, Abridged

*****Benedict Canyon, 1902***********************************



Before it was the land of "Fire Crotch" Lohan, Paris Hilton, and dirt-bag lawyers, Beverly Hills was known by another name. The local Tongva Indians were drawn here by the confluence of waters that drained from modern-day Benedict and Coldwater Canyons. The land was then a large swamp where various native animals would come to drink and cool down. They called it "The gathering of the waters."
This swamp was located where today's Beverly Dr. and Sunset come together. Hard to believe that was ever an Eden-esque paradise at one time, eh? The Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola called it "El Rodeo de las Aguas" when he discovered it with his group of missionaries and military men in tow. They camped there, in present day La Cienega Park in 1769. The ancient Indian trail they hiked through is now known as Wilshire Blvd. Portola would become the first Governor of CA. On September 27th, 1821, Mexico took over "New Spain," and the flag would change again with little fanfare.



*****Beverly Hills Hotel, Circa 1921****************************





Maria Rita Villa Valdez (no relation to Exxon) who lived on the swamp in the 1820's, called her rancho San Antonio. Her husband had died in 1828, leaving her a widow on a 14,000 acre ranch with eleven children. The homestead adobe stood on Sunset and Alpine, right near Simon Cowell's current, opulent new American Idol bought home! In 1846 the U.S. sent Navy Commodore Stockton to the port of Los Angeles to "negotiate" the Mexicans out of CA. Maria (and many other Californios) fled in the night out of fear. When she returned, her legal land ownership documents had been stolen. Fed up with politics, Indian raids, and probably that annoying little eleventh child (he was ugly and short), she departed California for good. She sold the rancho to Benjamin Wilson and partner in 1854.
In 1865, the Rancho had traded owners a few times ad landed with Pioneer Oil. They found no luck developing any oil production here, and the land was sold again in smaller chunks to men whose names now adorn the street signs of Beverly Hills.