Ysidro Reyes (1813–1863) was a Los Angeles–based business man and grandson of

Juan Francisco Reyes Juan Francisco Reyes López (10 July 1938 – 10 January 2019) was a Guatemalan politician who served as Vice President of Guatemala Vice president of Guatemala () is a political position in Guatemala which is since 1966 elected concurrently ...

, the first ''alcalde'' (mayor) of the Los Angeles pueblo.

Life

Reyes acquired half of a

Mexican Land Grant In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an indu ...

called the

Rancho Boca de Santa Monica Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

, splitting with Francisco Marquez many acres of land located in present-day Santa Monica Canyon, the Pacific Palisades, and parts of Topanga Canyon. Ysidro's father,

, was a settler from modern day Mexico (then New Spain) who arrived in Los Angeles shortly after the original settlers of 1781. Juan Francisco Reyes was a soldier and businessman, receiving and selling land-grants from the Spanish Crown including

Rancho Los Encinos Rancho Los Encinos (also Rancho El Encino and Rancho Encino) was a Spanish grazing concession, and later Mexican land granted cattle and sheep rancho and travelers way-station on the El Camino Real in the San Fernando Valley, in present-day E ...

and

Lompoc Lompoc ( ; Chumashan ) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast, its population was 43,834 as of July 2021. Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who called t ...

. Ysidro Reyes lived on the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, in the

Santa Monica Canyon The western border of Santa Monica, California, is the 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of Santa Monica Bay. On its other sides, the city is bordered by various districts of Los Angeles: the northwestern border is Pacific Palisades, the eastern bord ...

, working a large tract of land with his father that extended to what is now Hollywood. Additionally, Ysidro Reyes had a business selling tar from the

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...

to the people of Los Angeles, who used it for their roofs.

Ysidro Reyes Adobe

The Ysidro Reyes Adobe was the first adobe home ever built in Santa Monica Canyon, erected in the year 1838 on land now known as Pampas Ricas Blvd, located in

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affected and destroyed by ...

. Sketches of adobe dwelling exist in the collection of the

UCLA Library The UCLA Library (University of California, Los Angeles) system is one of the largest academic research libraries in North America, with a collection of over twelve million books and 100,000 serials. The system is spread over 12 libraries, 12 ot ...

. A memorial plaque sits in a boulder on Pampas Ricas Blvd. commemorating the adobe house, dedicated in the 1950s.

Death

Ysidro Reyes died in 1863. Reyes left his portion of Rancho Boca de Santa Monica to his widow, Maria Antonia Villa, who sold it to developer and railroad magnate

Robert Symington Baker Colonel Robert Symington Baker (1826–1894) was a businessman and landowner from Rhode Island. He came to California in 1849 and engaged in mining supplies business, also as Cook and Baker in San Francisco, California. Later he became associa ...

in 1875. Baker developed his portion of

into the City of Santa Monica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Ysidro Californios 18th century in Los Angeles History of Santa Monica, California History of Los Angeles Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California