|
|
|
|
|
|
The world famous La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles can be found in Hancock Park at Wilshire Boulevard and Curson Avenue. Many people know about the discovery of a multitude of remains of prehistoric life forms found in the thick, black, bubbling pools of sticky bitumen. The name, "Tar Pits", is an inaccurate designation of these geological wonders. They are actually springs of molten asphaltum, or asphalt, which is a residual form of petroleum. Since the Pleistocene Epoch, commonly known as the "Ice Age", various mammals, birds, reptiles and organic matter became trapped in the deep, viscous, swamps of asphalt, ultimately submerging and dying. In the early twentieth century, ancient fossils started to be recovered by paleontologists, and through the years over 500,000 specimens were yielded by the La Brea Pits.
The archeological significance of La Brea Pits are fairly well known. What is virtually unknown, is the rancho and an obscure adobe bearing the same name. Rancho La Brea, which is Spanish for "Tar Ranch", was a Mexican land grant named for the pitch filled depressions which were located within the grant boundaries. An adobe dwelling associated with the rancho still stands well hidden by trees near the intersection of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. Known as La Casa de Rancho La Brea, or the Gilmore Adobe, it was built between 1828 and 1830. The stories of Rancho La Brea and the pits are entwined and will both be discussed in this chapter.
La Brea Pits were created when gas and oil beneath the ground were expelled upward through fissures, or vents, forming deposits in natural depressions. The pressure was so intense in some areas that the thrust of oil and gas burst through the surface causing small volcano-like craters to appear above ground. There were over twenty pools of the tar-like substance formed in a concentrated area. Combined with water from underground springs or flooding from rain, these pools had the appearance of freshwater lakes. Prehistoric animals would come to drink or bath in the springs and would become mired in the asphaltum, eventually being sucked down the subterranean vents. Now, only four tar pits remain in Hancock Park and they still trap small rodents and birds. La Brea Pits are sort of a portal to the prehistoric past as they revealed perfectly preserved fossils of ancient creatures lost in their depths.
At times even humans were trapped in the sticky tar. Excavations in 1913 revealed a human skull. It was originally thought to have belonged to a long since deceased Native American Indian of the recent past. But, it was later determined through carbon dating that the skull belonged to a woman in her twenties who lived over 9,000 years ago. This period was long before the existence of local Gabrielino Indians in the area. She is known as "La Brea Woman" and her head is displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. When the skull was found it had a small hole, indicating that the young woman possibly died of some type of head trauma. La Brea Woman, in addition to being the oldest known remains of a female human being in the world, may also have the distinction of being the first known homicide or accident victim in Los Angeles.
The first known account of La Brea Pits was first recorded in the summer of 1769, when scouts from the Portola Expedition passed this way. Gaspar de Portola led an overland expedition from Sonora, Mexico to Monterey for the purpose of colonizing Alta California. After leaving an area, which became the Civic Center of Los Angeles, they headed west through the plains and on the evening of August 3, 1769, Portola's party camped in the vicinity of today's Venice Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. Father Juan Crespi, one of diarist of the expedition, wrote the following;
"While crossing the basin the scouts reported having seen some geysers of tar issuing from the ground like springs; it boils up molten, and the water runs to one side and the tar to the other. The scouts reported that they had come across many of these springs and had seen large swamps of them, enough, they said to caulk many vessels. We were not so lucky ourselves as to see these tar geysers, much though we wished it; as it was some distance out of the way we were to take, the Governor (Portola) did not want us to go past them. We christened them Los Bolcanes de Brea (the Geysers of Tar)."
The tar pits were first mapped in 1849 by Lieutenant E.O.C. Ord, the United States government surveyor who was first to officially chart Los Angeles that year. Ord included the springs on a topographical map of the plains about Los Angeles. He indicated the point of the pits as being several miles west of the pueblo, just south of Cahuenga Pass.
Indians used the asphalt from the petroleum pools to seal the seams of their canoes. When the pueblo of Los Angeles was founded in 1781, the inhabitants made the trek out to the tar pits and brought back pitch to caulk the flat roofs of their crude adobe dwellings. The heavy tar was spread over "tules" (reeds of swamp grass) or wood planks to seal crevices in roofs. During the hot summers the melting tar would ooze over the sides of the adobe walls making a smelly, sticky, mess. The surrounding rancheros also used La Brea pitch to weatherproof the roofs of their haciendas as well. Women of the pueblo would utilize the brea for making baskets and containers watertight to store and carry fresh water. Early ship builders in San Pedro, including Phineas Banning of Wilmington, would use the tar to caulk the hulls of their vessels. Throughout history La Brea Pits served mankind well.
On January 6, 1828 Rancho La Brea was granted to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemisio Dominguez by Jose Antonio Carrillo, the Alcalde of Los Angeles. The grant included a stipulation that the tar pits within the rancho would be open and available to all the citizens of the pueblo for their use. The title was confirmed by Jose Echeandia, who was the Governor of Alta California at the time. Later in 1840, it was reconfirmed by Governor Juan B. Alvarado. Rancho La Brea consisted of one square league of land (4,439 acres) of what is now Wilshire's Miracle Mile, Hollywood, and parts of West Hollywood.
Using current streets as landmarks, the boundary lines of the rancho are described as such:
The southern boundary started on Wilshire Boulevard at Plymouth Avenue. It headed west on Wilshire to the La Brea Pits in Hancock Park. From the tar pits, a southerly line followed along Alandele Avenue nearly all the way to Olympic Boulevard. The line continued in a northwest direction and followed the course of San Vicente Boulevard to Cynthia Street in the City of West Hollywood. From here, a short line cut back eastward to Palm Street, where it turned north paralleling Palm Street to Sunset Boulevard. From here, a easterly line followed along Sunset Boulevard all the way to La Brea Avenue in Hollywood. At La Brea the boundary turned north until it reached Hillside Avenue. From Hillside and La Brea a line angled northeasterly to the Hollywood Bowl. The boundary continued in a southwest direction along the north side of the Hollywood Freeway until Gower Avenue, where it headed south, down the middle of Gower until the straight line, which formed the eastern boundary, eventually ran into Plymouth Avenue and back to the starting point at Wilshire Boulevard.
Not much is known about La Brea grantee Nemesio Dominguez. He may have been a relative to the Dominguez family of Rancho San Pedro. There was a Demesio Dominguez who may have lived in the Los Angeles vicinity about 1828. Records indicate that in 1839, Demesio Dominguez was forty-eight years old and living on Rancho Las Virgenes in the western part of Los Angeles County. However, it is unknown if they are the same person.
Antonio Jose Rocha was a native son of Portugal. He was a sailor aboard the American schooner Columbia, when he jumped ship in Monterey in the summer of 1815. He was among eleven deserters from the vessel, all of which, except for Rocha, were arrested by Spanish authorities and returned to their ship. Rocha fled south to Los Angeles where he was accepted by the citizens and became the first foreigner to reside there. He started a blacksmith business and soon built a fine adobe house in town. His spacious home was situated on west side of Spring Street between Temple and 1st Streets. This site is now the parking lot of the Criminal Courts Building. It was at this house that he entertained explorer James Ohio Pattie in 1828. In 1855, the City and County of Los Angeles acquired this adobe for use as a meeting place for the city council and the county board of supervisors. It also served as a courthouse, sheriff's office and a jail, which was added to the rear of the structure. Furthermore, the former Rocha town house had the distinction of being Los Angeles' first city hall.
Rocha became one of the most respected residents of the pueblo and was naturalized as a Mexican citizen in 1831. In 1836, a forty-five year old Rocha moved to Santa Barbara where he lived with his wife, Josefa Alvarado, and their five children. Between 1828 and 1831, Rocha built a single story "L" shaped adobe hacienda at the southwest quadrant of Rancho La Brea. The original roof of this adobe was flat and there is little doubt that pitch from the tar geysers located less than a mile to the south was used to cover it. Although Rocha built this beautiful home on his rancho, he may have never lived there. He preferred his larger house in town, as did many other rancheros. Adobes were built on ranchos to comply with the Mexican law to have a structure built upon a given property within a year of its granting. These rancho adobes were usually occupied by the mayordomos (ranch managers).
In 1852, James Thompson received a five-year lease for half of Rancho La Brea. Thompson used the Rocha adobe as his home and became the first full-time resident of the rancho. He built corrals near the adobe. Thompson, known to the Californio's as "Don Santiago", served as the Sheriff of Los Angeles County in the late 1850s. He later purchased another rancho in the San Fernando Valley in 1867. He kept Rancho Los Encinos for a short time and sold it two years later to the Garnier brothers, who were a family of Basque sheepherders.
On November 16, 1860 Jose Jorge Rocha, the son of Don Antonio Jose Rocha, deeded Rancho La Brea to Major Henry Hancock and his brother John Hancock. The Hancocks were from New Hampshire. Henry Hancock was a lawyer and government surveyor who came to Los Angeles in 1852. He was a Deputy United States Surveyor under Surveyor General John C. Hayes. By 1853, he completed the second official survey of the city of Los Angeles and added numerous, thirty-five acre lots increasing its size. By 1859, he acquired 110 acres south of the city between Washington Avenue and Pico Boulevard. After purchasing a large circular saw, Hancock built a sawmill in the vicinity of 1st and Spring Streets in Los Angeles. It was powered by horse and treadmill.
In the early 1850s, the rancheros who received their land grants during the Mexican and Spanish occupation of California were required to prove their claims to the new American government. They filed claims with the United States Land Commission and had to have their property surveyed and mapped by government surveyors. Henry Hancock assumed this task as a deputy surveyor and charted several ranchos in Southern California. In March 1855, he surveyed Rancho San Pedro for the Dominguez family. In October 1858 he mapped out Rancho San Francisco for the Del Valles. Some of the other ranchos surveyed by Hancock, included San Jose owned by the Palomares and Vejar families; and Henry Dalton's Azusa de Dalton.
As a lawyer, Henry Hancock worked for the Rocha family to aid them with their efforts to prove their claim to Rancho La Brea. The Rocha family had a difficult undertaking of this because the old description of the grant was too vague. The boundaries were merely described as:
"Rancho Los Feliz on the north, lands of the city of Los Angeles on the east, Rancho Las Cienegas on the south and Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas on the west."
Although the Rochas made improvements to the land and lived on Rancho La Brea for over twenty years, the Land Commission ruled against them due to the unacceptable proof of boundary lines. Hancock appealed to a higher court on behalf of the Rocha heirs. He presented the crudely drawn "diseno", which was a rough sketch of a rancho that usually was not to scale. Disenos were acceptable to the previous Mexican government, but they fell far short of acceptance in the American system. The diseno included identifiable landmarks along the boundaries of La Brea, and Hancock called in many of the old rancheros to corroborate the validity of those important markers. The court decided to accept the diseno as the legal description of the rancho and reversed the Land Commission's ruling. The Rochas won their claim, but like so many other rancheros, their legal expenses left them broke. They owed Hancock so much money that they offered some of their La Brea interests to the attorney and his brother at no cost. The Hancocks later purchased the rest of the rancho.
In the 1860s Major Henry Hancock served in the California militia. When the Civil War broke out, the state remained loyal to the Union but had large numbers of Confederate sympathizers, especially in Los Angles. Camp Drumm was established in Wilmington to help strengthen the Union hold in Southern California. Major Hancock was the commanding officer of this Union outpost in March 1863. On April 4, 1863, he was transferred to the Benicia Barracks, which was a Union supply installation in Northern California. While there he married Ida Haraszthy in 1863. Miss Haraszthy was the daughter of San Francisco pioneer Colonel Augustin Haraszthy. Hancock was transferred back to Wilmington and placed in charge of troops from Company "C". In August 1865, Hancock led twenty of his troops to El Monte where they stopped a minor uprising of the Knights of the Golden Circle, an outlaw secessionist group.
Henry Hancock and his wife Ida lived in a wood frame house they built near the tar pits on their section of Rancho La Brea. Hancock began to take commercial advantage of the beds of petroleum deposits. He built a refinery that prepared the tar for sale to both Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. Five tons of La Brea asphalt was produced daily and continued until 1887. This was the beginning of the Hancock Oil Company. During the 1870s Hancock's employees began finding prehistoric animal bones in the asphalt beds, but their archeological importance were not considered until thirty years later.
In the early 1860s, Major Hancock got an idea to deliver cross-country mail to Southern California via camel trains. The Union Army was already using camels to transport supplies between Fort Tejon near the Grapevine Pass and Fort Defiance, New Mexico. In 1858 the United States Congress set aside $30,000 to purchase camels and bring them to California for military use. Jefferson Davis, who at the time was Secretary of War, was the main impetus of the Camel Corps. The premise was that camels would be useful hauling supplies across the desert because they could travel great distances without water and could carry large loads through sandy terrain better than horses or mules. Bactrain camels from Turkey and dromedaries from Egypt were shipped to Texas and driven to California by Lieutenant Edward F. Beale. The government recruited several camel drivers from Asia Minor to handle and care for the animals. One of these camel experts was "Greek George" Caralambo.
George Caralambo was of Greek decent, but lived in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) when he was selected for the Camel Corps. He came to America with the Camel Corps in March 1855. He led a pack of camels that hauled supplies to build the Butterfield Overland Stage Route from St. Louis, Missouri to Los Angeles. The route was completed by September 1858. Hancock, who met Greek George through his service in the Union Army, wanted to privately employ him to drive camels carrying mail along the Butterfield Route. Hancock allowed Greek George to build a farmhouse with stables to house the dromedaries in the northwest part of Rancho La Brea. The plan fell through when the Union Army decided to disband the Camel Corps in 1862. Greek George was forced to liberate the camels that roamed the area for nearly thirty years afterward.
After the Civil War and well into the 1870s, Greek George remained at Rancho La Brea and took care of Major Hancock's cattle and horses. He became naturalized as a United States citizen in 1867 and changed his name to George Allen. Later, he moved to Whittier and died near Mission Vieja San Gabriel on September 2, 1913. He is buried in Founders Memorial Park in Whittier.
Today, the area of Santa Monica Boulevard and Kings Road was the site of Greek George's adobe house, which had disappeared long ago. It was at this house that the infamous bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez, was finally captured by a sheriff's posse on May 5, 1874. Vasquez, who terrorized Southern California for over twenty-three years, frequently used Greek George's farmhouse as one of his numerous hideouts. Enticed by the $15,000 reward for the capture of Vasquez, Greek George was the one responsible for alerting the sheriff to the bandit's whereabouts.
In the late 1870s the Hancock brothers had to prove their title of Rancho La Brea in order to acquire a U.S. patent for the property. They solicited legal assistance from United States Senator Cornelius Cole, who fought for the Hancocks in Washington D.C. The Hancocks received official title to La Brea, but lacked sufficient funds to pay the distinguished statesman. In lieu of legal fees they gave Senator Cole nearly 500 acres of their ranch. In 1881, Cole came to Los Angeles and took possession of his portion of Rancho La Brea. On this land he platted the town of Colegrove. For nearly three decades Colegrove survived on its own until annexed to Los Angeles on October 27, 1909. The adjacent community of Hollywood was consolidated to the city as well just a few months later.
The 1880s brought oil men as well as subdivision to Rancho La Brea. Major Hancock, who had died in 1883, left his widow in charge of ranch operations. In October 1885, Mrs. Ida Hancock leased part of the rancho to Lyman Stewart, Wallace Hardison and Dan Mc Farland. They formed the Hardison and Stewart Company and began oil exploration under the lease of Pacific Coast Oil Company. These oil men from Pennsylvania wanted to drill wildcat wells on Hancock property near the tar pits. Mrs. Hancock agreed to lease the land providing she received one-eighth of the oil profits and that she could still access the asphalt pools, which she used as her primary source of income.
The first well drilled was a bust. Out of three additional wells drilled, only one yielded oil, but it only produced a small quantity. By 1888, the venture proved to be a failure and eventually the Hardison and Stewart Company went bankrupt. Later, Stewart and Hardison moved to Ventura County where they reorganized and joined forces with Thomas Bard of the Sespe Oil Company. After a series of successful strikes the three men merged their companies and formed the Union Oil Company of California on October 17, 1890 at Santa Paula, California. Now known as Unocal 76, it is the one of the major oil companies in the world.
In 1901, William W. Orcutt, a respected geologist and Union Oil executive, went to La Brea Pits to investigate why Hardison and Stewart were unable find oil in the area while geological indicators proved otherwise. The tar pits were the strongest evidence of all, because they consisted of large amounts of petroleum deposits. While exploring the bogs of the black sticky stuff, Orcutt discovered unusual, dark colored bones stained by the asphaltum. The geologist brought his find to Doctor John C. Merriam of the University of California. Doctor Merriam, a paleontologist, determined that the bones were of a saber tooth tiger, which had long been extinct. This find sparked the archeological importance of these springs of pitch.
By the turn of the century, oil development on the subdivided portions of the rancho increased. Twenty-five year old George Allan Hancock, the son of Major Henry Hancock, took an interest in oil production and went to work for the Salt Lake Oil Company. While so employed, he learned more about the industry and oil exploration. In 1902, Mrs. Ida Hancock leased a part of her interest in Rancho La Brea to the Salt Lake Company. Soon they struck "black gold" and the Salt Lake Field was born. The area of the Salt Lake Field was bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, La Brea Boulevard, Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. By 1910, the company drilled nearly 250 wells, which produced over 3,800,000 barrels of oil annually.
In 1906, George Allan Hancock wanted to apply his newly acquired oil expertise and decided to make his own go at it. He borrowed $10,000 from his mother to finance the business, known as the La Brea Oil Company, and soon started drilling. His venture paid off, and by February 1907, he had over seventy wells, which produced close to 300 barrels a day. This made the Hancocks one of the wealthiest families in California.
All the while that Hancock produced oil in the vicinity, employees of his La Brea Oil Company frequently found skeletal remains of prehistoric animals. In 1906, Hancock gave permission to Doctor John C. Merriam to conduct archeological digs at the tar pits. Later, Hancock allowed a select few educational institutions to proceed with further excavations for the purpose of study. In 1913, he gave exclusive rights to Los Angeles County to excavate the pits. On December 11, 1916, Hancock donated thirty-five acres surrounding the tar pits to the county, providing that the land would be used as a park dedicated to the memory of his parents. This, along with La Brea Pits became Hancock Park, State Registered Landmark #170.
In later years, the area surrounding the asphalt pools had been left unsupervised. Tall weeds grew wildly along the banks of the pits, and combined with the stench of the oil slumps, the place had become unsightly. When a young boy fell into one the pits and nearly died, chain link fences were placed around the perimeters of each pit. In the early 1950s, the park underwent a major landscaping project, which included tearing down the old Hancock ranch house.
Many of the paleontological finds from La Brea Pits were brought to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History in Exposition Park. More recently, the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries was built at Hancock Park and displays additional prehistoric remains from the pits. To this day, fossils are still being recovered from the thick dark ooze. Although fenced in, La Brea Pits remain uncovered for public viewing, with the largest pool being visible from the north sidewalk of Wilshire Boulevard.
In 1911, two residential subdivisions designed for the Los Angeles elite were established at the southeast section of Rancho La Brea. One was Windsor Square, developed by Robert A. Rowan, which had Victorian style thoroughfares and lofty, spacious mansions. It was the first subdivision in Los Angeles to have underground utilities. The other was Fremont Place, a forty-eight acre plan with sprawling villas. Martin Henry Mosier, owner of Signal Oil Company, and silent screen star, Mary Pickford, were among the first to build mansions there.
Ida Hancock built an opulent Italian Renaissance-style villa at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in the La Fayette Park section of Los Angeles. The widow of Major Hancock remarried and became the wife of Erskine Mayo Ross, who was the presiding Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Southern California. Ross was an officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and later became one of the founders of the City of Glendale, California. Mrs. Ida Hancock Ross lived in the mansion until her death on March 15, 1913. The villa was razed in 1939.
George Allan Hancock was an exceptional oil man. He also went into banking when he founded the California Bank, predecessor to United California Bank. He tried subdivision of real estate as well. In 1919 Hancock developed Hancock Park on the southeastern portion of his Rancho La Brea. Hancock Park was a lavish suburban community with grand mansion and long curving streets, which were the first concrete roadways in Los Angeles. To the north, Hancock leased some land to a group of businessmen for the development of a golf course. There, the exclusive Wilshire Country club opened in December 1920.
In the 1880s Arthur Gilmore purchased a small piece of Rancho La Brea near the old Rocha Adobe. Gilmore used the old adobe as his home and it was there that his son Earl B. Gilmore was born. Gilmore operated a dairy on his farm. In 1903, while drilling a well for artesian water, the dairy farmer found oil instead. He drilled numerous other wells, all bringing in gushers. Soon, the little dairy farm became an oil field with tall wooden derricks, processing structures, and a shantytown to house oil workers. The dairy was sold and the A.F. Gilmore Oil Company was founded.
Arthur's son, Earl B. Gilmore, enlarged Gilmore Oil into the largest independent oil company in the western United States. Earl Gilmore had ample opportunity to live in a huge mansion on a grand estate, but he chose make his home at the little old adobe house where he was born. In the 1920s, the young oil magnate had major improvements made to the aging dwelling, which by then became known as the Gilmore Adobe. Gilmore hired John Byers to restore and remodel the adobe. The north wing and a low second story were added to the original structure. Pitched gable roofs with terra-cotta tiles were also added. The place was modernized to the 1920s standards of living.
Soon the environment around the old adobe started to lose its quiet rural quality and become more updated. In 1934, the Farmer's Market was established at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, bringing hordes of farmers and consumers together. That same year saw the construction of Gilmore Stadium, an 18,000 capacity sports complex located at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. In 1939, Earl Gilmore opened his newly completed Gilmore Field on the site of his father's first oil field. For several years it served as the home field of the Hollywood Stars, a professional baseball team from the defunct Pacific Coast League. Both Gilmore Stadium and Gilmore Field were torn down to be replaced by the present CBS Television Studios in 1952.
As all this building activity engulfed the area, the Gilmore Adobe had withdrawn into a tiny oasis of trees and grass in the middle of an asphalt covered parking lot. It was kept from almost certain destruction by its owner, Mr. Gilmore. On February 27, 1964, Earl Gilmore died in the same bedroom of the adobe where he was born.
On March 6, 1991 the Rancho La Brea Adobe also known as the Gilmore Adobe was designated Los Angeles Cultural and Historical Landmark #534a.
Today, the adobe stands at the end of Gilmore Lane north of 3rd Street and east of Fairfax Avenues on a privately owned parking lot. The adobe his hidden in an oasis of trees and hedges in an expanse of asphalt. It's no longer a residence and now serves as the corporate offices of Farmer's Market. It's not open to the public for display and trespassing is forbidden, but a glimpse an iron barred gate between the thick spruce trees reveals the front of this resplendent adobe. The courtyard, with its beautifully manicured lawn, is completely surrounded by trees and shrubs, so the front gate is the only view available, although it is partially obstructed. From this vantage point, one can see the front "corredor" (porch) shaded from the afternoon sun from the overhang of the red tile roof. This darkened area adorned with potted plants and flowers seems so inviting on a warm summer day.
There is a hope that one day the beauty of this hidden landmark may be opened for the enjoyment of a citizenry that cherishes its historic past.
Rancho La Brea Adobe
(Gilmore Adobe)
6333 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, Ca.
(Private Office Not Open to the Public)
Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa
Unless otherwise noted, photos © 2001-2004 LAokay.com