Westlake Village History #004

Starting in 1860 horrible floods wrecked the state and the Conejo. Following the continued floods, drought and disease parched and desiccated the land in the 1870’s. This was the death blow to the age of Spanish Rancho’s in the area.  Don de La Guerra had passed away before these calamities in 1858 and the affairs … Read more

Westlake Village History #003

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 … Read more

History of Westlake Village #002

Up until 1821,  the land that Westlake Village sits on now had been owned by Spain, and the king had distributed land grants in the area to notable families. The “Rancho Conejo” was originally deeded to two Spanish soldiers who had been stationed at the Santa Barbara presidio.  However, Mexico had been fighting a war … Read more

History of Westlake Village #001

13,000 years ago Chumash people flourished from Malibu to Paso Robles. The Chumash traveled the coast and to the Anacapa islands on plank canoe’s they had invented around 1500 years ago. For 10,000 years the indigenous Chumash lived in this area uninterrupted. That changed when Spanish expeditions began arriving in California. In 1542, Juan Cabrillo, … Read more