Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp., 1851, 1839, 1828, 1827
"In 1822, California became Mexican territory. Santa Monica, at this time, was still an unoccupied and unclaimed mesa covered with wild grass. There were visitors, however, to the Malibu Rancho, lying northwesterly of Topanga Canyon, which had been granted in 1804 to Jose Bartolome Tapia. Smugglers, too, had discovered the isolated coves and canyons along the coastline.
"In 1827, Xavier Alvarado and Antonio Machado were given a provisional grant to 'a place called Santa Monica,' referring to Santa Monica Canyon and the land that lay between it and Topanga Canyon, extending to the hills in the rear. Machado gave up his interest to Alvarado in 1831 and when Alvarado died, his sons remained in possession until 1838 when they abandoned 'Santa Monica' to Ysidro Reyes and Francisco Marquez.
"The year following the Alvarado-Machado grant to 'a place called Santa Monica' (1828), Don Francisco Sepulveda, soldier and citizen of that growing inland town, Los Angeles, was given possession of and provisional title to 'the place called San Vicente,' which included all of the original town of Santa Monica. It faced the ocean, extending from Santa Monica Canyon to what is now Pico Boulevard. Inland, it reached almost to the Westwood region and took in the mountains that overlooked the San Fernando Valley.
" . . .
"The grant to Francisco Sepulveda was confirmed by California Governor Alvarado in December, 1839 . . . " p. 2
"The dispute was settled when the Board of Land Commissioners, created in 1851 to investigate and pass upon land titles in California, ruled that Sepulveda would receive 'Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica' with 30,000 acres. To Reyes and Marquez went 'Boca de Santa Monica' with 6,600 acres." p. 5