Chapter 1 The Highlands
From the Tongva people to the Spaniards, we explore the shifts of power over land in the areas that became Highland Park.
Between 1667 and 1770 a dramatic process of evangelization began: the Hahamog’na were re-named, re-religioned and re-settled by the Spanish explorers into one of the 21 missions created along the coast. The Hahamog'na’s land changed hands and the Spanish crown dispersed it among its criollo elite, creating—among other things—the Rancho San Rafael.
After the end of the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, California became a territory of the new Republic of Mexico. The newly appointed—but broke and inexperienced—Mexican government could not manage the flood of Anglos being lured west by the gold rush and expansionist fervor. After the two-year Mexican-American War, California was ceded to the U.S.
The Rancho San Rafael was then bought and subdivided by two men named Chapman and Glassell (yes, from Glassell Park), among a few other entrepreneurial transplants, and Highland Park, as we know it, was born.
- A Los Angeles Primer
- Arrival Stories
- Block by Block
- Engaging Spaces
- Green Justice
- I Am Los Angeles