valleylife places

Map showing the Spanish and Mexican period The Encino Commons gateway references the ranchos in the area. Map courtesy of Title Insurance and Trust lobed of the Valley , once the strongest Company and the History Digital Library, CSUN. element in the local visual environment.

and Francisco Papabubaba and arrived, Louise Avenue was routed Tiburcio Cayo—petitioned for and around it. The Lang Oak fell after a were granted, a ranch one square series of storms in 1998. league (4460.73 acres or seven Today, a bustling throng of peo- square miles) that encompassed ple and vehicles crisscross Ventura the and was called Rancho El Boulevard, moving among trendy Encino. The fact that this was the restaurants, parking lots and office Encino’s first rancho granted in what would buildings, on lands used for genera- become the San Fernando Valley tions by scores of native peoples who historic oakS speaks to Encino’s lasting impor- gathered food and water, prepared tance in Valley history. El Encino’s meals, told stories, played games, boundaries signaled, as the oaks and raised children here. With the always had that this is an important momentum of time and with a land- The oak trees for which Encino is named have been a place called ”The Oak.” Even today, scape still filled with abundant oak part of this town’s history since before it was a town. the Thomas Guide for trees and human beings, the area County shows a dashed line demar- we call Encino continues to generate by CRAIG O’CONNOR cating the old Rancho El Encino. a unique intrinsic energy, and gives Today, the rancho’s western bound- us a connection to the centuries-old t the intersection of of terrestrial and aquatic animals. ary is White Oak Avenue and its history of this special place. u Ventura Boulevard In fact, the pond at Los Encinos eastern boundary is Sherman Oaks. and Paso Robles Ave- State Historic Park is still fed by a Based on old photographs and Mush nue lies Encino Park, natural spring. other evidence, it seems the valley from both the coast home to a grove of The oak trees of Encino provided oak () was the pre- (Quercus agrifolia) and valley oak huge and magnifi- food, shade and enjoyment for gen- dominant variety of oak in Encino. (Quercus lobata) were a staple in pre- Acent oak trees. These trees played erations of Native Americans. Pro- Today, valley oaks are still found in European life. Acorns were gathered a major role in Encino’s history. In fessional excavations as well as Encino’s neighborhoods, although once a year; upon collection they were fact, encino is Spanish for the ever- backyard discoveries have revealed they are somewhat hidden amongst shelled and dried, then stored in a green Holm Oak, and roble means thousands of artifacts that prove the variety of non-native trees now granary basket. Later, when wanted oak. Oak trees were such a domi- human use of these lands extends at stretching across the Valley. There for a meal, the semi-processed nant part of the landscape that least 5,000 years into the past. are several valley oaks in Encino Park, acorns would be ground, leached when the first Europeans—the Twenty-eight years after the Por- and also in the vicinity, a particularly with water to remove bitter tannins, Spaniards of the Portolá expedi- tolá party completed its reconnais- impressive specimen can be found then cooked. The cooking process tion—set foot there on August 5, sance of what they called Alta Cal- in the center median on Magnolia took place in baskets within which 1769, they named it El Valle de Santa ifornia, Mission San Fernando Rey Boulevard west of Balboa. However, the ground acorn meal was mixed Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos, de España was founded, eight miles many of the oaks in Encino Park, all with water, then boiled through the or “The Valley of St. Catherine of northeast of Encino. It was the sev- of the oaks along the streets adja- introduction of small stones that had Bononia of the Oaks.” enteenth of twenty-one missions cent to the park, and the small grove been heated in a fire. The mush was Indeed, following local native established by the Franciscan order. of oaks at the entrance to nearby Los then stirred with a wooden paddle trails in 1769, these Europeans were By that time the famous El Camino Encinos State Historic Park are coast and served. led directly to a sizable Indian vil- Reál, the “Royal Road” connecting all live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). The According to researcher William lage that was called Syútkanga, the missions and major Spanish set- most celebrated local coast live oak, McCawley, whose 1996 book pres- or ”Place of Oak” in the village’s tlements—passed straight through Lang Oak, known as the 1,000-year- ents a comprehensive view of the dialect. the oaks. During this period, the old oak, had grown through centu- Tongva people, acorns contain almost In this Indian place of oak which lives of the native Tongva of Syút- ries of sun, wind and rain, attain- as much carbohydrate as corn and is today’s Encino, the acorns that kanga became entwined with those ing such a grand size—a 150-foot wheat, providing less protein but more rained from the trees were a food of local Spanish settlers and with the crown—that when urbanization fat and fiber. staple. The area also had water— work of Mission San Fernando. from springs, acres of watered In 1843, after México had gained Craig O’Connor is an independent writer living in West Los Angeles. marshlands and the nearby Los independence from Spain and Mis- References for this article include: The Indians of Mission San Fernando by John R. Johnson; Mission Angeles river. With the water came sion San Fernando was secularized, San Fernando Rey de España 1797-1997, edited by Doyce B. Nunis Jr., 1997. reeds, fowl and numerous species three American Indians—Román First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, by William McCawley, 1996

24 VALLEYLIFE I february / march 2010