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THE AWAKENING OF PAREDON BLANCO
UNDER A CALIFORNIA SUN
— By —
FRANCISCA LOPEZ DE BELDERRAIN*
Standing as a great sentinel, overlooking the already
established City of Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, the great
Paredon Blanco thrived, flourished and produced manifold
1
crops for its earliest inhabitants. Now Los Angeles was in
its infancy, but life was there and around it. It was an in-
dustrious, home-loving life with its purposeful, manifold,
wholesome and co-operative activities.
In 1826 there sat in the Council Chamber, officiating as
Alcalde (Mayor) of the town of Nuestra Senora de Los
Angeles, the illustrious Claudio Lopez who came to Alta
California with Fr. Palou in 1773. His son, Esteban, acted
as a councilman. Don Claudio not only served his com-
munity well officially, but gave more than forty years of
his life assisting the missionaries to Christianize the ab-
origines of Alta California and to open up the country. In
this way he helped to prepare a way for the prosperous de-
velopment and growth of this fair land.
Being a good judge of land values, Don Esteban Lopez
established his home on Paredon Blanco (White Bluff) ten
years later. The land was granted to him by the Los An-
geles Ayuntamiento on Sept. 28, 1835. 2
Don Esteban’s possessions on the east side of the river
embraced many acres, some of which he divided among his
children, reserving for himself and his second wife 3 that
* The author is the great-granddaughter of the famous Claudio Lopez y de
Mora, who when a very young man assisted the missionaries in instructing
the Indians in arts, crafts and agriculture, and who for over forty years was
manager of San Gabriel Mission. His family was connected with the dis-
tinguished Lancaster family, known as Alencaster in Spain and Mexico. The paper
Is a distinct contribution to the history of Los Angeles. It proves that industry
and agriculture were not confined to the great ranchos. Several facts are significant,
the successful attempt at horticulture, on the outskirts of the Pueblo, the first
successful attempt of raising cotton in the state, the making of filigree jewelry, an
old art of Spain, and an ancient art of Mexico, the purchase of Indians as slaves at
a very late date, and the active commercial intercourse with San Francisco during
the fifties.—Note of Publication Committee.
1. Paredon Blanco (White Bluff) so called by the early Californians be-
cause it was covered with a fine white sand. The section is now known as
Hollenbeck Heights.
2. Recorder’s office, Book 4, p. 39, 411.
3. Children of Esteban Lopez and his first wife Maria del Sacramento
Valdez: Four sons; Francisco, Julio, Jos4, Antonio, Geronimo; four daughters;
Concepcidn, Catalina, Josefa, Manuela. There were no children by the second
marriage.