Peter McNulty's History of Mt. Washington
Peter McNulty, engineer and history enthusiast put together a history of Mt. Washington for a presentation hosted by Friends of Moon Canyon. Below is a summary. Read more about that night here.
The earliest humans to live in this region are believed to be the Tongva, who trace their history
back at least 7,000 years. There were approximately 5,000 people living in the Los Angeles area
when the Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived in 1769. They subjugated the local Tongva
population.
Spain claimed all of California as part of its empire in 1542, but didn’t establish a permanent
presence in Southern California until 1771 when they built the Catholic Mission San Gabriel a
few kilometers east of here. The City of Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by a group of 44
people of indigenous, European, and African heritage traveling north from Mexico. It was
located near the L.A. River at the site of the Tongva village of Yaanga. Remnants of this
community’s dwellings are still there - along a walkway called Olvera Street.
In 1784, a few kilometers north of that site, the hill we live on was part of a formal grant of land
from the King of Spain (through the local governor) to a low-ranking Spanish soldier named
Corporal Jose Maria Verdugo. The grant was 150 km2 of land extending from the Arroyo Seco to
what is now the City of Burbank, and South from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Angeles
River. It was called Rancho San Rafael.
For over 100 years Rancho San Rafael was primarily a cattle ranch. Reportedly, there were also
hundreds of wild horses. In the early years they cultivated a vineyard that produced wine and
brandy. This particular hill, being too steep for cattle, was used to graze sheep. Over time, for a
variety of reasons, the huge ranch was divided up and sold off.
In 1821, California became part of Mexico following their war of independence from Spain. In
1844, the Mexican government claimed that the Verdugos were not using all of their grazing
land. The corrupt regional governor granted 4.9 km2
near the southeast corner of Rancho San
Rafael (which includes Mount Washington) to a local politician named Jose Maria Aguilar. Aguilar named it Rancho Cañada de los Nogales, which is Spanish for ‘canyon of the walnut
trees’. There is a walnut tree in our back yard.
In 1848, after the Mexican-American War, California became part of the United States, and its
residents became U.S. citizens. The 1852 census counted 8,000 residents in all of Los Angeles
County. Half of them were Tongva people.
In 1853, Jose Maria Aguilar sold Rancho Cañada de los Nogales to a member of the newly
formed Los Angeles City Council named Lewis C. Granger, who was from Ohio (where Peter is
from). The title to the land changed hands several times over the next 50 years.
By 1890, the population of the sleepy little town of Los Angeles was about 50,000. In 1892,
Edward Doheny drilled an oil well in Echo Park. Almost immediately, the Los Angeles Oil Field
became a forest of oil production platforms. By 1900 there were over 1,000 oil wells in the area
just south and west of Dodger Stadium. It could not have smelled good, but oil production has
been a significant economic engine for the region ever since.
The hill that became known as Mount Washington remained undeveloped until the Los Angeles
railway was extended to the area in 1904. In 1908, a real estate developer named Robert Marsh
bought much of the land in Mount Washington with the hope of developing it into a place where
locals could go to escape the bad air of the City. Marsh built a funicular railway (along what is now Canyon Vista Drive) and the Mount
Washington Hotel at the top of the hill. Some of the new movie studios were located nearby. Electric lights at that time were not yet powerful enough to enable filming movies indoors, and
the hills on both sides of the Arroyo enabled filming of ‘indoor’ scenes on their outdoor film
sets. Several celebrities, including Charlie Chaplin, stayed at the hotel.
Light bulb technology soon made indoor filming possible, and the industry moved to Hollywood.
The Mount Washington Hotel went bankrupt in 1918 and the railway stopped operating in 1919.
In 1925, the hotel was purchased by a Hindu Yogi named Paramahansa Yogananda. He made it
the world headquarters of his Self-Realization Fellowship Institute, where it remains today. Over the following decades many plots of land in Mount Washington were sold, and many
houses were built. Our house, originally a one-bedroom cabin, was built in 1921. In 1995, it was
expanded into the house that stands here now. Cyndy and Peter have lived here since 2009. We
have no sheep.
back at least 7,000 years. There were approximately 5,000 people living in the Los Angeles area
when the Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived in 1769. They subjugated the local Tongva
population.
Spain claimed all of California as part of its empire in 1542, but didn’t establish a permanent
presence in Southern California until 1771 when they built the Catholic Mission San Gabriel a
few kilometers east of here. The City of Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by a group of 44
people of indigenous, European, and African heritage traveling north from Mexico. It was
located near the L.A. River at the site of the Tongva village of Yaanga. Remnants of this
community’s dwellings are still there - along a walkway called Olvera Street.
In 1784, a few kilometers north of that site, the hill we live on was part of a formal grant of land
from the King of Spain (through the local governor) to a low-ranking Spanish soldier named
Corporal Jose Maria Verdugo. The grant was 150 km2 of land extending from the Arroyo Seco to
what is now the City of Burbank, and South from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Los Angeles
River. It was called Rancho San Rafael.
For over 100 years Rancho San Rafael was primarily a cattle ranch. Reportedly, there were also
hundreds of wild horses. In the early years they cultivated a vineyard that produced wine and
brandy. This particular hill, being too steep for cattle, was used to graze sheep. Over time, for a
variety of reasons, the huge ranch was divided up and sold off.
In 1821, California became part of Mexico following their war of independence from Spain. In
1844, the Mexican government claimed that the Verdugos were not using all of their grazing
land. The corrupt regional governor granted 4.9 km2
near the southeast corner of Rancho San
Rafael (which includes Mount Washington) to a local politician named Jose Maria Aguilar. Aguilar named it Rancho Cañada de los Nogales, which is Spanish for ‘canyon of the walnut
trees’. There is a walnut tree in our back yard.
In 1848, after the Mexican-American War, California became part of the United States, and its
residents became U.S. citizens. The 1852 census counted 8,000 residents in all of Los Angeles
County. Half of them were Tongva people.
In 1853, Jose Maria Aguilar sold Rancho Cañada de los Nogales to a member of the newly
formed Los Angeles City Council named Lewis C. Granger, who was from Ohio (where Peter is
from). The title to the land changed hands several times over the next 50 years.
By 1890, the population of the sleepy little town of Los Angeles was about 50,000. In 1892,
Edward Doheny drilled an oil well in Echo Park. Almost immediately, the Los Angeles Oil Field
became a forest of oil production platforms. By 1900 there were over 1,000 oil wells in the area
just south and west of Dodger Stadium. It could not have smelled good, but oil production has
been a significant economic engine for the region ever since.
The hill that became known as Mount Washington remained undeveloped until the Los Angeles
railway was extended to the area in 1904. In 1908, a real estate developer named Robert Marsh
bought much of the land in Mount Washington with the hope of developing it into a place where
locals could go to escape the bad air of the City. Marsh built a funicular railway (along what is now Canyon Vista Drive) and the Mount
Washington Hotel at the top of the hill. Some of the new movie studios were located nearby. Electric lights at that time were not yet powerful enough to enable filming movies indoors, and
the hills on both sides of the Arroyo enabled filming of ‘indoor’ scenes on their outdoor film
sets. Several celebrities, including Charlie Chaplin, stayed at the hotel.
Light bulb technology soon made indoor filming possible, and the industry moved to Hollywood.
The Mount Washington Hotel went bankrupt in 1918 and the railway stopped operating in 1919.
In 1925, the hotel was purchased by a Hindu Yogi named Paramahansa Yogananda. He made it
the world headquarters of his Self-Realization Fellowship Institute, where it remains today. Over the following decades many plots of land in Mount Washington were sold, and many
houses were built. Our house, originally a one-bedroom cabin, was built in 1921. In 1995, it was
expanded into the house that stands here now. Cyndy and Peter have lived here since 2009. We
have no sheep.
Thank you Peter, for giving us such a detailed insight into the history of our neighborhood!
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