You know their names: Palos Verdes, La Brea, Sepulveda. But what were the ranchos?

Not even in Los Angeles was the land just a blank slate waiting for the arrival of swimming pools and movie stars.

You know this, yet you may not even realize that you do.

You recognize the names of some of the vast, vanished ranchos that have marked the maps of Southern California for a couple of centuries. The word “rancho” got snipped off along the way, but you know them as Palos Verdes, San Pedro, La Brea and Centinela, San Vicente and Santa Anita. The men who were granted these lands you know, too — names like Verdugo, Sepulveda, Dominguez.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.