Beneath a busy intersection and quiet parkland lies a historical treasure. This is Campo de Cahuenga. It is said to be the birthplace of California. Here, secrets of an adobe building await.
Campo de Cahuenga Memorial Park stands on Lankershim Boulevard. It is across from Universal City Studios in North Hollywood. This park showcases five key periods of California history. These include the Spanish Mission era and the Mexican Rancho period. The American Acquisition period also features here. You can explore the Butterfield-Overland Stage Coach stop and a Civil War encampment.
The original adobe vanished in 1900. But in 1923, Los Angeles bought the land. Later, Irene T. Lindsay led an effort to rebuild it. She was president of the San Fernando Valley Historical Society. In 1950, a replica ranch house opened. It features Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. Now, the City of Los Angeles manages it as a park and center. They work with the Campo de Cahuenga Historical Memorial Association.
Construction of the Metro Red Line Subway unearthed the adobe’s foundations. These foundations lay under Lankershim Boulevard. Within the park, parts are preserved as an exhibit. The “footprint” of the foundations is marked by pavement under the street.
January 1847 saw the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga at this site. This treaty ended a conflict between the United States and Mexico. Each January, the Campo de Cahuenga Historical Memorial Association reenacts this event.
Campo de Cahuenga is on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003. Some consider this site the birth of California. Here, California’s Mexican past met its American future. On January 13, 1847, General Andrés Pico and Lt. Col. John C. Frémont signed the Treaty of Cahuenga here. This ended the fighting in California during the Mexican-American War.
The adobe where Pico and Frémont met is now a reconstruction. The original was demolished a long time ago. The current building was built in 1950. It aims to replicate the original. But it is not completely accurate. The original was larger and may have had a second story.
The Treaty of Cahuenga was one event in a larger war. Fighting continued in Mexico for months. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the war in 1848. America gained control of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and parts of other states.
The terms of surrender were generous to the Californios. They received equal rights as Americans. They also had the freedom to leave the country. Doña Bernarda Ruiz influenced the peaceful nature of the treaty. She convinced Frémont to be magnanimous.
The Campo de Cahuenga has a long history. The Gabrielino-Tongva/Kizh people lived here for thousands of years. They had a village nearby named “Kaweenga”. Around 1795, Mariano de la Luz Verdugo was granted grazing rights here. The original adobe may have been built during this time.
An 1842 document described the Campo adobe as “somewhat dilapidated”. John C. Frémont called it “abandoned” five years later. The Campo de Cahuenga became a Butterfield Overland Mail stop in the 1850s. During the Civil War, it was a Union troop encampment.
Today, the Campo de Cahuenga stands as a reminder of California’s complex past. It is a place where different cultures met. Here, a treaty shaped the future of the American West.