Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera

rdf:langString Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera

rdf:langString Rancho La Cienega o Paso de la Tijera was a 4,219-acre (17.07 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Vicente Sánchez. "La Cienega" is derived from the Spanish word ciénega, which means swamp or marshland and refers to the natural springs and wetlands in the area between Beverly Hills and Park La Brea and the Baldwin Hills range. "Paso de la Tijera" appears in c1860 maps where a path crosses a stream, at today's intersection of Crenshaw Blvd. and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Some sources say the term means "Pass of the Scissors" and was used by Spanish settlers to describe a pass through the Baldwin Hills which resembled an open pair of scissors, though another (Marinacci) says that "tijera" almost always means "drainage ditch" in old land descriptions. The Los Angeles River historically changed course occasionally, and flowed to join Ballona Creek in the rancho and into the Santa Monica Bay until 1825, when it returned to its course to San Pedro Bay through Rancho San Pedro. Rancho Las Cienegas was to the north, and Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes to the west also in the Baldwin Hills. The rancho was east of La Cienega Boulevard and south Exposition Boulevard and includes present day Baldwin Hills district, Leimert Park, Ladera Heights, and Windsor Hills.