Harry Carr Los Angeles City of Dreams (Illustrated by E.H. Suydam), D. Appleton-Century Co.: NY, 1935, 402 pp., 1935, 1902, pre-1769, 1542
Chapter VI Ranches That Are Now Los Angeles
"[p. 64] The movie summer colony at Malibu lives on the beach front of Rancho Malibu Sequet. With its 13, 315 acres it was traded by José Bartolome to Leon Victor Prudhomme for four hundred dollars, of which two hundred dollars were [p. 65] to be taken out in groceries.
". . . Its value now run into hundreds of millions. From the summer colony, running back through the hills and canyons-along the north slopes of Antelope Valley to Nevada and so on all the way to the Dakotas, is a prehistoric trail along which moccasioned feet padded for centuries; they came to the Indians of Santa Catalina for cosmetics. The movie girls at Malibu were not the first girls there who used lip-sticks and manufactured the complexions you love to touch.
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Chapter XXIII Los Angeles Is Somewhere Else
"[p. 307] On up the beach in the Malibu, the summer cottages of the movie stars . . . although in latter years they have been moving out to other places, discouraged by disastrous fires. The Malibu movie colony lies near the mouth of Topanga Canyon through which ran a prehistoric trail, cut deep into the rocks by the scuff of bare feet and moccasins through the ages. From the pipe-stone relics it is judged that it finally ran all the way to the Dakotas; it has been traced to Newhall-along the north hills of Antelope Valley-out through the Nevada desert to the "lost city" -evidently at that time a salt trading-post. They came to the Malibu to trade with the Santa Catalina Indians for cosmetics, fruits of two solid mountains of iron oxide from which they made rouge. [p. 3081
"[p. 308] Off Los Angeles are San Nicolas, San Clemente and Santa Catalina. In times past all have supported large populations of Indians. Only Santa Catalina is a summer resort.
"When Cabrillo discovered the island in 1542 it swarmed with natives; they had fine canoes and were expert watermen . . . intelligent and friendly. Cabrillo named it Victoria after his flag-ship but Vizcaino changed the name to Santa Catalina on account of the holy day upon which he dropped anchor.
"Relics dug up indicate that there must have been a people earlier than the natives Cabrillo found. Some of these relics are so strange that archaeologists made no attempt at interpretation. . . .
"[p. 309] . . .
"It is doubtful if so many prehistoric relics were ever dug up from an area of similar size. Car-loads, train-loads of ancient mortars, shell necklaces, skulls, weapons, harpoons have been shipped to the ends of the earth. They are still being dug. At one place on the isthmus it is still possible to unearth relics with one's foot. "
" . . .