The ranchos of Los Angeles County were large-scale land grants made by the governments of Spain and Mexico between 1784 and July 7, 1846, to private individuals within the current boundary lines (last adjusted in 1919) of Los Angeles County in California, United States.

The earliest colonial land grants called ranchos were established by the Commandancy and General Captaincy of the Internal Provinces of the Spanish Empire's Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spanish colonial authorities of Alta California also established four presidios, three pueblos, and 20 Catholic missions.^{[lower-alpha 1]} Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first claimed California for Spain in 1542 but until 1784 there were no land grants to Spanish subjects, except for small plots within pueblos, the balance of land in Spain's possession "being held for the benefit of the king."^[1] The rancho period of California—land grants specifically to individuals outside of misiones and presidios—began in 1784, in what would become L.A. County, with vast grants to three Spanish military veterans.^[2][3] All three were grants of traditional Tongva lands.^[4] The greater portion of the rancho grants were created under Mexican dominion, which began with independence from Spain on September 27, 1821, and—according to the U.S. Land Commission—ended amidst the Mexican–American War on July 7, 1846. (Grants made after that date were deemed invalid.)^[5] As the first Spanish land grants were made in Los Angeles County, the last Mexican land grant ever made was also in Los Angeles County: the Santa Catalina Island grant was made on July 4, 1846.^[6]

Mission San Fernando Rey de España, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, and El Pueblo de Los Ángeles lay within the current boundaries of Los Angeles County. Mission San Gabriel was founded in 1771 under Charles III of Spain; its lands were confiscated in 1833 under the Mexican secularization act, which was passed to protect nascent nation-state of Mexico from the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which was perceived to be an ally of Spain. A land patent application made by Archbishop of San Francisco Joseph Sadoc Alemany on behalf of the church was confirmed for 191 acres (77 ha; 0.298 sq mi; 0.77 km²) in 1859. Mission San Fernando was established 1797 under Charles IV of Spain and similarly had its lands confiscated in 1833. A land claim of 77 acres (31 ha; 0.120 sq mi; 0.31 km²) for Mission San Fernando was approved and patented in 1865.^[5] In 1875, the City of Los Angeles patented a little more than 17,000 acres of land that had been granted to the pobladores. There were a handful of other, smaller land grants^{[lower-alpha 2]} made by Mexican authorities that were patented under the U.S. land law but that are not traditionally identified as ranchos. For example, "tract of land 1000 varas square near Mission San Gabriel" (patented to Mr. Sexton in 1871) was one of 10 such small grants near that mission, ranging in size from 19–180 acres (7.7–72.8 ha).^[5]

In the decades following the initial grants, many of the ranches listed were further subdivided. Rancho Los Nietos, for example, was partitioned and re-granted as Rancho Los Alamitos, Rancho Los Cerritos, Rancho Los Coyotes, Rancho Las Bolsas, and Rancho Santa Gertrudes. A couple of the ranches that were patented under the U.S. system were conglomerates of originally smaller ranches—notably, Rancho Guaspita and Rancho Salinas became Sausal Redondo.^[7][8] (Additionally, at least two sets of patented rancho land grants in Los Angeles County had overlapping areas; these disputes were eventually resolved in federal court.)^[3]

Diseños are hand-drawn maps submitted to the U.S. government indicating the extent of a land grant as understood by the grantees.^[9] Diseños and expedientes (written descriptions of the grants) were used during the U.S. land-patent process that began when Mexican Alta California became the U.S. state of California in 1850.^[9] Diseños are distinct from later maps produced by U.S. surveyors within the extant American rectangular survey system.^[9] Several of the earliest surveys, or plats, of Los Angeles-area ranchos were done by Henry Hancock, who himself owned Rancho La Brea and through his son is a namesake of the Hancock Park neighborhood. As for the cattle brands, many of the large ranchos had multiple brands for various herds or during various eras; the single one included here is the earliest known example.^[10] Land patents were ultimately granted to over 60 Mexican, Anglo and indigenous Angelenos; the indigenous contingent was represented by Doña Victoria Reid of Rancho Huerta de Cuati, who was Gabrieleño Tongva, and Odón Chihuya, Urbano Chari, and Manuel (later Espíritu Chijulla) of Rancho El Escorpión, who were from a leading family of Fernandeño Tongva.^[3] The largest confirmed grant was Ex-Mission San Fernando, the smallest was San Gabriel Mission.^[6]

The ranchos had three main elements: the rancho buildings, including the residential hacienda that was often originally made of adobe brick; the adjacent market gardens and vineyards; and, last but not least, a vast pasturage for cattle, the hides and meat of which were the major economic products of the ranchos.^[11]

Following the conventions of the California Land Commission records, the default alphabetization of this list begins after the Spanish-language articles (el, la, las, los) and prepositions (de, del), so Rancho Los Encinos is sorted by the E in Encinos, Rancho de los Palos Verdes is sorted by the P in Palos, etc. The grants were originally measured in leguas (Spanish leagues) and varas (yards), two Spanish customary units.

Many place names in Los Angeles County draw their names from the ranchos and the rancheros.^[32] Examples of rancho-derived toponyms include: Ballona (Creek, Wetlands), Brea, Centinela Ave., Cerritos (Auto Square, College), Conejo Valley, Dominguez (Hills, Channel, Rancho, CSUDH), Duarte, Encino, La Brea Ave., La Cañada Flintridge, La Cienega Blvd., La Puente, La Tijera Blvd., Las Virgenes USD, Los Feliz, Mount Baldy, Palos Verdes (Peninsula, Estates, blue butterfly), Park La Brea, Pico Blvd., Pico-Union, Pico Rivera, Rancho Park, Redondo Beach, Rose Hills, Rodeo Dr., San Jose Hills, San Pedro (Bay, neighborhood), San Vicente Blvd., other San Vicente Blvd., Santa Anita Race Track, Santa Monica (Bay, City, Blvd., Mountains), Sepulveda (Blvd., Pass, Transit Corridor, Dam), Verdugo (Mountains, Wash), Walnut, West Whittier-Los Nietos, et al. Rancho boundaries define a portion of the county boundary line; approximately 173 mi (278 km) of roads in the county follow rancho borders; and several major arterial thoroughfares run along former rancho property lines, including Pico, Redondo Beach, Sepulveda, Washington, Whittier, and Wilshire boulevards.^[33]

By the 20th century, the popular culture of California often depicted romantic rancheros and idealized missions, but erased the negative consequences for indigenous people of the California mission clash of cultures.^[34] Mission Revival (1890–1915), Spanish Colonial Revival (1915–1935), Monterey Colonial Revival and California Churrigueresque were all popular architectural styles in Los Angeles,^[35][36] and not coincidentally: "Thanks to architects, writers, and city boosters, Southern California's identity became firmly grounded in an obsession with geography."^[37] The appropriation of Spanish colonization by bourgeois whites^[37] is typified by projects like Christine Sterling's preservation of Ávila Adobe and establishment of Olvera Street as a tourist attraction.^[38] The eventual design shift from adobe-style buildings to the "Mediterranean" style was an intentional separation from the rustic and Mexican roots of the place to what was perceived as a more sophisticated cultural iconography,^[37] although "California stucco" was a method for attaching the "Mexican–Indian mode of domestic architecture" to mass production of small family homes.^[39] The "romance of the ranchos" was also used as a pretext for discouraging urban density of Los Angeles and promoting a vast decentralized "rural urban" development style that combines vast tracts of single family homes and practices like faux-rural horse-keeping with dense nodes of finance, law and film production.^[40]

• History of Los Angeles County, California
• History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915
• Ranchos of Orange County
• Zanja – Historical irrigation system used in the American Southwest
• For more on la brea, see bitumen, history of oil in California through 1930, and La Brea Tar Pits
• Ranchería and List of California Rancherías
• Hacienda – Spanish word used to refer to estates with large business enterprises
• Estancia – Large, private plot of land used for farming or cattle-raising
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
  • Spanish missions in the Americas
  • Spanish Texas
  • Spanish period in Arizona
  • Land grants in New Mexico