Harry Carr Los Angeles City of Dreams (Illustrated by E.H. Suydam), D. Appleton-Century Co.: NY, 1935, 402 pp., 1935
Chapter XVIII The East A-Calling
". . . [p. 221] I can remember San Pedro when it was little more than a mud slough with a few lateen fishing boats, manned by Portuguese fishermen . . .
"The first ship which ever came to anchor here was one of the ships of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. He came over on a long track from Santa Catalina Island and probably came to anchor off San Pedro, to wait for the night breeze from the mountains to take him northeast on his way to the coast. It is not absolutely certain whether he stopped at San Pedro or Santa Monica. Whichever it was, he called the place Los Humos y Fuegos (Smokes and Fires)."
". . .
Chapter XXIII Los Angeles Is Somewhere Else
"[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 . . ."