- Author: Judi Gerber
Many people might be surprised to find out that California’s first commercial wine country wasn’t in the Napa or Sonoma Valleys, but Los Angeles County.
Grapes were first planted in Los Angeles in the late 1780’s, as Spanish missionaries planted cuttings they brought with them from Spain and Portugal. Unlike the vintners of today, the Franciscan fathers made their wines strictly for private consumption. Not surprisingly, the grapes they produced became known as “mission” grapes.
Because wine grapes followed the slow expansion of the missions, vineyards planted by individuals were few and far between, and mission vineyards dominated through the early 1830s. As a result, Southern California was the primary winegrowing region of the state with Los Angeles being the largest area in the region.
Even as the mission variety of grapes spread to private growers, they didn’t sell or grow them for commercial purposes either. There were exceptions. In Los Angeles, some early Mexican growers including Tiburcio Tapia, Ricardo Vejar, and Tomas Yorba did sell to the locals but not as a large-scale commercial industry.
In 1826, Joseph Chapman put in 4,000 vines and became the first American grower on record in Los Angeles. For the next decade, he grew grapes in Los Angeles, eventually moving to Santa Barbara.
Then, in the 1830s, as European immigrants moved into Los Angeles, they started to plant other varieties, and planted them with the intention of making money.
In 1831, Frenchman Jean Louis Vignes moved to Los Angeles and purchased 104 acres of land and created a commercial vineyard where Union Station is today. He called the ranch El Aliso, named for the large Alder tree on his property. As a result, he became known as Don Luis del Aliso.
It was Vignes who made winegrowing a commercial enterprise in Los Angeles, leading directly to it becoming California’s first commercial winegrowing region. Not happy with the grape quality here of the “mission grapes” he brought in Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc from France.
He was soon followed by others and Los Angeles was on its way to becoming the state’s wine growing capital. In 1831, more than 100,000 vines were growing within the current city limits of Los Angeles, or, one-half of those in the state (Carosso 1951).
And, in 1833, Los Angeles had six wine growers owning nearly 100 acres of vineyards and approximately 100,000 vines (Carosso 1951).
By 1839, Vignes had over 40,000 vines thriving on his acreage and shipped wine at San Pedro, using ships he chartered for regular wine and brandy shipments to the ports of San Francisco, Monterey, and Santa Barbara. In 1849, he had the largest vineyard in California.
By end of the 1840s, the Gold Rush led to demand for winemaking, and viticulture became one of the most profitable agriculture industries in California.
By the mid-1850s, there were over 100 wineries in the Los Angeles area, with at least seventy-five within the town itself (Carosso 1951).
Watch For Part Two: Commercial Winemaking Explodes in Los Angeles
Carosso, Vincent P. (1951) The California Wine Industry: A Study of the Formative Years. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Sullivan, Charles L., (1998). A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking From the Mission Period to the Present. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Workman, Boyle, (1936). Boyle Workman’s The City That Grew. Los Angeles: Southland Publishing Company.
- Author: Rachel A. Surls
Recently, I have been visiting urban farms as part of a research project. It’s been interesting to see that even a tiny piece of land can produce enough for sale. Last week I visited a home where a standard suburban backyard and front yard have been converted into a mini farm producing vegetables, herbs and seedlings. The owners grow enough to sell at two area farmers’ markets each week.
This may be a trend. The Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s office certifies growers to sell at local farmers’ markets. According to the staff member I spoke with, they have received quite a few calls recently from LA County residents interested in selling at local markets.
At a California Certified Farmers’ Market, everything has been grown on the farm and has been brought to the market by the farmer, their immediate family members, or their employees. An inspection and certification process helps to ensure the integrity of this system.
In order to sell farm products grown in Los Angeles County at a Certified Farmers’ Market, growers must contact the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office at 562-622-0426. (For those growing in other counties, they would contact their own county agricultural commissioner’s office). An inspector will make an appointment to visit the growing area to find out what and how much the farmer is growing, and how much they project they will have available for sale.
There is a small annual fee for certification. After the inspection, and paying the fee, the farmer receives a Certified Producer’s Certificate to display when selling at a market. Growers can only sell what has been grown on the farm, and specifically, what is on the certificate. New crops can be added by amending the certificate.
Becoming certified to sell at farmers’ markets is relatively simple, but the business of farming is not! Like starting any business, it requires careful research and planning before start-up. For example, farmers need to identify one or more farmers' markets that will be a good match for their operation, working with market managers. Also, many commercial farmers in Los Angeles, even very small growers, will need to join the LA Irrigated Lands Group to ensure compliance with water quality regulations. Many other issues need consideration as well. Some helpful on-line resources for starting a small farm business are available through the UC Small Farm Program.
The best strategy is to do a considerable amount of homework before starting any urban farm venture where sales to the public are involved.
- Author: Rachel A. Surls
If you follow urban gardening/agriculture issues, you may have heard about a disagreement that’s received quite a bit of attention. Folks are upset with the Dervaes family of Pasadena because they have trademarked the terms “Urban Homestead” and “Urban Homesteading”. This family has operated an impressive mini-farm in their yard for a number of years, and has a website that shares information on how to become self-sufficient by producing food around your home. They have recently sent letters to others who use the terms “Urban Homestead” and “Urban Homesteading” in blogs, on Facebook pages, and even book titles, asking them to remove these terms or provide attribution. This has not been well received, to say the least. The OC Weekly and the LA Times, among others, have covered this issue in detail.
Rather than rehash the debate, I want to share what may be a little known fact; that Los Angeles was home to a movement which was a precursor to present-day interest in urban sustainability.
The trend was called “Small Farm Homes”, or “Little Farms” and gained momentum in the 1920s, then continued full-force for several decades. As the population of Los Angeles County mushroomed, and real estate boomed in tandem with growth, subdivisions were developed with micro farming in mind. Many homes were constructed on lots of one half to three acres, and marketed as “small farm homes” to newcomers flocking to Los Angeles. Many were Midwestern farmers who no longer wanted large farms and cold weather, but didn’t quite want to give up their agricultural heritage. Others drawn to these new homes were city people, attracted by publicity campaigns touting Southern California’s abundant harvests and golden sunshine and hoping to try their hand at small-scale farming. The automobile helped to promote the popularity of small farms on the periphery of the city, as newly mobile Angelenos could now easily transport their harvest to local markets.
The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce did much to promote this “little farm development” around Los Angeles County. According to the Chamber, it was possible to make a living on a small farm on the outskirts of the city. People might make a go of it farming, according to the Chamber, with vegetables, fruit trees, and at least 200 laying hens on two to five acres. These small family-run, home-based farms helped to feed the demand of the growing city. The number of farms of less than 3 acres in Los Angeles County increased substantially during the 1920s, with 1,334 recorded in the 1920 census, and 5,000 in the 1930 census (White, 1933).
The Chamber, in cooperation with the LA Times, ran an annual Small Farm Home contest, publishing photos and stories about the winners, with the following entry a typical example:
“The one-acre farm of C.E. Drummond, 15219 Stagg Street, in West Van Nuys, is another where beauty and utility have been successfully combined in the making of a rural home. Here, again, are flowers for joy and recreation, vegetables and fruits for the table, and chickens to help swell the family purse (Scarborough, 1930, p. K12).”
Small farm homes contributed significantly to Los Angeles County’s status as the number one agricultural county in the US during this era. They also helped to make Los Angeles food-secure. According to a 1940 Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce brochure, “nearly half of the Los Angeles food supply originates on farms within 50 miles of the city”.
The small farm home trend continued through the Depression and well into the 1950s. In 1949, the University of California reported there were approximately 10,000 families living on small farms of one acre in size or smaller in Los Angeles County.
There are certainly differences between yesterday’s small farm homes, and today’s urban homesteads (TM). Today’s urban and suburban lots are much smaller. The Dervaes family’s Pasadena home is on a 1/5 acre lot, and certainly, many urban dwellers have much less space. The harvest from an urban yard today is more likely to supplement a family’s diet and income, rather than constitute a main component. Still, the motivators for self-sufficiency today and eighty years ago are similar; good food, a little relief for the family budget, and a sense of pride in “growing your own.” Whether you call it an "urban homestead (TM)", or a "small farm home", or maybe just "planting a garden", it’s a Los Angeles tradition that is once again gaining momentum.
Sources:
Scarborough, O. (1930, Jan. 5, 1930). What acre offers. Los Angeles Times.
What the newcomer should know about agriculture in Los Angeles County and Southern California (1940). In L. A. C. C. o. Commerce (Ed.) (pp. 51). Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
White, R. P. (1933, Jan. 3). The new city of country homes. Los Angeles Times.
