For those who have asked the origin of La Ballona, I can only point to legend. When Agustín Machado took his legendary dawn to dusk ride from the Playa del Rey foothills to claim the 14,000-acre Rancho La Ballona, the creek cut through it, which became known as La Ballona Creek. It had been a natural resource from the time of the native Americans.

We know that Ballona’s owners, Agustín Machado, his brother Ygnacio, and father and son, Felipe and Tomas Talamantes, named their rancho “La Ballona”--Paso de las Carretas. The origin and meaning of “Ballona” remains uncertain. Prevalent theories suggest that it was a misspelling. One school thinks the intended name was Ballena, which means whale in Spanish, since one might have been able to watch the migration of the whales from the area where the waters of Ballona emptied into the Pacific Ocean. Others differ, and hold the opinion that the Talamantes ancestors came from Bayona, Spain, so they named it for their early heritage. Either way, it does not speak well for the early settlers’ spelling!

Photo Caption: This is an 1868 partition map of Ballona, which must have been adjusted later to reflect Venice. Members of the Machado family donated the original linen map to Loyola Marymount University, where it can be seen today. Note the land was partitioned to give each owner oceanfront and inland property.