Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas was a 4,539-acre (18.37 km²) land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in Maria Rita Valdez de Villa the wife of a Spanish colonial soldier, Vicente Fernando Villa. Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas (Ranch of the Gathering Waters), is named for the streams that emptied into the area from out of the canyons above it, Cañada de las Aguas Frias (Glen of the Cold Waters, now Coldwater Canyon) and Cañada de los Encinos (Glen of the Green Oaks, now Benedict Canyon).^[1][2][3]

[edit] History

Maria Rita Valdez was a granddaughter of Luis Quintero one of the original settlers of Los Angeles. After her husband’s death in 1841, Maria received the title to his rancho. The grant was patented to Maria Rita Valdez at 4,449 acres (18 km²) in 1871.^[4][5]

The rancho was sold in 1854 to Benjamin D. Wilson and Major Henry Hancock. Hancock later sold his share to William Workman. ^[6]

In 1868 Edward Preuss, purchased over 3,600 acres (15 km²) for the development of a city to be known as the "Town of Santa Maria". Lots were platted of about five acres each, but dry weather came and the land reverted to the sheep.^[7]

The land next passed into the hands of Henry Hammel and Charles Denker,^[8] owners of the United States Hotel at Main and Market Streets in Los Angeles, and became "one vast field of lima beans", supplying the culinary needs of the owners' Hotel. The bean fields survived until 1900 when the land was sold to Burton Green of the Amalgamated Oil Company for oil development. After drilling many unproductive wells, they reorganized as the Rodeo Land and Water Company in 1906.^[9][10]

[edit] See also

• Rodeo Drive

[edit] References

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Coordinates: 34°04′12″N 118°23′24″W / 34.070°N 118.390°W / 34.070; -118.390