Rancho La Ballona

rdf:langString Rancho La Ballona

rdf:langString Rancho La Ballona was a 13,920-acre (56.3 km2) Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California. The rancho was confirmed by Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839, to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes. The Machados and Talamanteses had already been given a Spanish concession to graze their cattle on this land in 1819. Many Machado and Talamantes family members of the late 19th century and early 20th century are buried at the north edge of the former Mexican Rancho La Ballona at a cemetery on Pico Boulevard, which was known as the La Ballona Cemetery, later in 1876 as the Ballona Township Cemetery, and then as the Woodlawn Cemetery of Santa Monica in the early 20th century. The grant stretched from inland (near the present day San Diego Freeway) to Santa Monica Bay, from present day Mar Vista, Westside Village, Palms, and Culver City; northwest to Pico Boulevard and the Ocean Park district of Santa Monica; and south along Ballona Creek through Venice, the Ballona Wetlands, and present day Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, and Playa Del Rey. Neighboring ranches included Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, Rancho Rincón de los Bueyes, Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela, and Rancho Sausal Redondo.