To sum up the history so far, two Spanish families de La Guerra, and Rodriguez, owned the claim to rancho El Conejo and what is now Westlake Village.
I just learned, Don de La Guerra was this really fascinating individual. He was a distinguished Capitán who served in the Spanish Army for 52 years. He was also an extremely successful entrepreneur and business magnate, who had among other ventures, owned a profitable cowhide business that raked in over $100,000 a year ( in the 1840’s), of which the Don stored in gold, in his home, in Santa Barbara. He built a special attic where he stored the cornucopia of bouillon, that could only be reached by a ladder, that the Don kept in his bedroom.
As smart as de La Guerra was, it was his children who became his undoing. They apparently fished the gold out of the attic with long poles covered in something sticky at the end to grab coins. Even Don de La Guerra who owned this incredible empire, had human vulnerabilities like everyone else.
The Don’s empire sprawled from San Luis Obispo, to our Conejo. Don de La Guerra is the reason we have Lindero Canyon, Triunfo Canyon, and Potrero rd. Everyday here in Westlake Village we reach back in time to a place that has history teeming beneath our feet.
Museum of Ventura County. (2022). Retrieved 4 August 2022, from https://venturamuseum.org/research-library-blog/stealing-gold-from-the-old-don-of-rancho-el-conejo/