After taking last week off, we hit the road again on Sunday. Our journey today took us south to the Long Beach/San Pedro area.
Our first site was a bit disappointing...
We arrived at the site of the La Mesa Battlefield (CHL No. 167) only to find the plaque had been stolen!
You can see the glue where it had been and you can see a photo of the plaque here, but today it was nowhere to be found.
This highly industrial area was the site of the last military encounter in the Mexican American War. We tried to get Libi to imagine what it was like back then, but the wholesale toy factory next to the plinth made it hard for her to focus :)
Our second battlefield site of the day was a wonderful find!
We headed further southeast to find the Rio San Gabriel Battle Site (CHL No. 385).
This site next to an apartment complex had two cannons, the plaque, and some cool views of what used to be the river.
Near
this site in 1847, American forces commanded by Captain Robert F.
Stockton, U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, and Brigadier General Stephen W.
Kearney, U.S. Army, fought Californians commanded by General José María Flores. Between the cannons and all the open space it was much easier for all of us to envision a battle happening here.
This next site is hidden inside a mobile home park... someone in zoning made a mistake to hide this gem in a neighborhood.
Casa de Rancho San Antonio also known as the Henry Gage Mansion (CHL No. 984) is sadly not open to the public anymore. While we weren't able to explore inside we walked around the outside and we were still able to see a great deal!
This building actually has two historic sites in one-- it was originally an adobe house built by Francisco Salvador Lugo and his son in 1810. Francisco served as the Alcalde of Los Angeles or the mayor.
Later the building was acquired by Henry Tifft Gage in 1880. Gage
served as the Governor of California from 1899-1903 and he lived on the
property from 1883-1924. On the side of the house they had little windows where you can see the original adobe and the plaster they covered over the adobe when Gage moved in, so make sure you walk around the right side of the house.
We drove further south to Paramount and stopped at the Hay Tree (CHL No. 1038).
It's hard to believe now, but the area around Paramount used to be thriving dairy and hay farms. The town of Paramount was previously two towns, Hynes and Clearwater-- these two areas were dubbed the "Hay Capital" of the world from 1930-1960.
This 50
foot high camphor tree in the center of town was where hay prices were set and deals were made.
Our next site was closed when we stopped by, so we are hoping to return to the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site (CHL No. 978) another time to better explore.
Signal Hill is the site of one of the most famous wells in California, Well at Alamitos 1 (CHL No. 580).
This well was begun on March 23, 1921 and was completed on June 25th. It is 3,114 feet deep and flowed 590 barrels of oil a day.
According to the CHL website this discovery well led to the development
of one of the most productive oil fields in the world and helped to establish
California as a major oil producing state.
After a few wrong turns, we made our way to the next site, the Long Beach Marine Stadium (CHL No. 1014).
This is the first man-made rowing stadium in the US which was created for the rowing events of the Xth Olympiad in 1932.
It is so wide that four teams can race at the same time! It is a beautiful stop-- the perfect place for a family portrait.
Our next stop didn't work out exactly as planned. The site of the Casa de San Pedro (CHL No. 920) is on the grounds of Fort MacArthur. The adobe that was on this site was the first structure in San Pedro and is considered to be the beginning of the Port of Los Angeles.
We were hoping that we could slip onto the grounds for a moment to snap a
photo, but the military police had other ideas. If anyone has a
military ID and would like to get us on the Fort grounds to see this
plaque, we would appreciate it.
There is a plaque about the Fort right next to the public sidewalk outside the fort, so we took photos here and moved on.
Next was Timms' Point and Landing (CHL No. 384). Augusts Timms was a German immigrant who was a pioneer in the development of the Harbor.
Near this spot Timms built a wharf, corral, and warehouse to facilitate business in the harbor.
It was also a cool spot to look at fishing boats and sea lions basking in the sun across the harbor.
Our next stop was to the Liberty Hill Site (CHL No. 1021).
This is a very important site for organized labor-- it was here that the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) called a strike that immobilized 90 ships in San Pedro.
They were fighting for better working conditions and wages. Upton Sinclair, the famous writer, was arrested during the rally for reading from the Bill of Rights to the gathering.
The strike may have failed, but Libi was successful in her fun-fall-leaf-throwing photo!
We were hoping to see the S.S. Catalina (CHL No. 894), but on the historical sites website it noted that it had been moved to Ensenada, Mexico. After a bit more research we found that sadly this ship has been completely scrapped, so we won't be able to see it at all.
A short car ride later we arrived at a location without a plaque or a site. This photo was taken near the former home of Diego Supulveda. He built the first two-story Monterey-type adobe in Southern California.
A gorgeous car ride along the coast brought us to the Old Whaling Station (CHL No. 381).
This site is on a wall outside of a sea-side, gated mobile home park. The security man wouldn't let us in to look for it, but luckily it was next to the guard shack outside of the gate. Near this site Captain Frank Anderson, a Portuguese captain, barreled 2,166 barrels of whale oil.
On the way to our next site, our tired Libi took a nap.
She was quite groggy when we got to the next site, so she stayed in the car while Ron and I snapped a few photos. This site is a two-fer as well-- the end of the Mojave Road (CHL No. 963) and the Drum Barracks (CHL No. 169).
In 1862 this site became the US military headquarters for Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Camel pack trains brought supplies here-- can you imagine seeing camels in Wilmington?
This is one of the rare Civil War sites in California.
This is also one end of the Mojave Road. This road ended in San Bernadino County and was a major thoroughfare for Los Angeles and points east until a railway crossed the dessert.
While we didn't see any camels in Wilmington we did spy a strange thing on the way to our final stop for the day...
a group of peahens walking through the neighborhood. It was odd to watch them cross the street, eat bugs in front yards, and call to one another.
Our final destination we the Banning Park (CHL No. 147).
General Phineas Banning was a state senator who built his home here in the 1850's.
He founded the city of Wilmington, was an entrepreneur, and a visionary. He is called the Father of the Los Angeles Harbor because of his grand ideas and businesses focused around the harbor.
He lived in this house until his death in 1885. Years later his home and land were given to the city.
Libi was feeling far more frisky after her nap, but it was the first day of standard time so we were losing daylight. We decided to stop here for today, bringing our grand total to 44 thus far.
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