Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, 1542.
[p. 122] Discovery and Exploration
The first explorer of the California coast, Cabrillo, after spending six days in San Diego Harbor, which he named San Miguel, sailed along "a mountainous coast, overhung with smoke," landed at Catalina to which he gave the name of Victoria, then anchored in a bay which he called "Bahia de Fumos" (Bay of smoke), San Pedro Bay and, on October 9, 1542 he dropped anchor in an "ensanada" or bight which is generally granted to have been Santa Monica Bay. At just what point he anchored is not known, but undoubtedly Cabrillo was the first European to observe the palisades, the fair fields and gentle rolling hills that mark this coast. After this brief visit there is no record of vessel or visitor to this region for more than two hundred years.