August 20, 2025
California Heights, where we live, was once part of a massive ranch. In 1784, the King of Spain granted 300,000 acres to a former soldier named Manuel Nieto as a reward for his military service and to encourage Spanish settlement in California. On his death, his children inherited the property and his daughter Manuela Cota received the 27,000 acres known as Rancho Los Cerritos (Ranch of the little hills). In 1842, Manuela’s heirs sold the property to Massachusetts-born John Temple. Temple built a two-story Monterey-style adobe house that still exists and is now a museum. We decided to pay the nearby Rancho a visit.
The inside has been furnished like it was back when the house was first built. On a very hot day it was surprisingly cool inside even with no air conditioning.
We were surprised to see in the library a copy of Peter McIntyre’s West. McIntyre was perhaps New Zealand’s most popular artist of the twentieth century. In the 1960s he produced a number of books of his paintings that were popular in New Zealand including one covering New Zealand and one the Pacific Islands. In 1970, an American publisher produced Peter McIntyre’s West which contained scenes that McIntyre had painted across the western states.
Mal and Lauren 