Jaime Escalera — Lopez Ranch Family
Jaime Escalera is the grandson of Cressy Lopez, founder of The Lopez Ranch. The rancho used to be located near the end of Jefferson Blvd. right before where the Home Depot is now. Jefferson Blvd ends in the Ballona Wetlands, followed by Playa Del Rey beach.
Jaime shared some memories of his family and the rancho which supplied local groceries stores with fresh produce year-round and was a seasonal staple in the community with pumpkin patches, haunted houses and Christmas tree sales.
Jaime says his grandfather first immigrated to a community in Culver City nicknamed “Tijuanita,” which from his grandfather’s accounts, was closer to a shanty town than a real neighborhood. Cressy’s goal was to move his family out.
Cressy started working at a Japanese farm in the 30’s. When WWII started and Japanese Americans were being sent to concentration camps, the Japanese farmer trained Cressy to take over his farm and the lease.
While many Japanese properties were looted and stolen in those days, Jaime said his grandfather Cressy made it a point of welcoming back the Japanese farmer to the ranch and paying him for all the equipment he was forced to leave behind. Cressy built the farmer a small home on the property where he stayed for years until he got back on his feet.
In 1945, Cressy was able to save up enough money to buy the ranch from its wealthy owner. He purchased 18 acres. Cressy was neighbors with eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes who built an airplane hanger across from the rancho.
Today, there is a strange little undeveloped plot of land in between a giant public storage warehouse and a big office-space campus that looks like it’s home to tech startups. This little lot is the exact location of the Lopez family home on the rancho. It’s anybody’s guess why only that little piece was left undeveloped. Jaime was able to stand on the site of his old family home for this photo.
The Lopez Ranch survived until the early 2000s. It was one of the last surviving links to the early days of California when the land was split up by ranchos and missions.
Photos & Writing : Rigo Bonilla @snaccmanjones
Video & Interviewing: Mike Bravo ogbravo1.com