Azusa, California

AT A GLANCE AZUSA, CALIFORNIA WHAT: A city of 50,000 WHERE: At the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County WEBSITE: www.ci.azusa.ca.us The first Mexican settlement in Azusa was at the Rancho el Susa in 1841, a Mexican land grant from the Alta California Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Luis Arenas. In 1844, Arenas sold all of his holdings to Henry Dalton, an Englishman who acquired his wealth in buying and shipping goods from Peru to Wilmington Harbor, now Los Angeles Harbor, and San Francisco. On the Azusa Rancho, Dalton planted a vineyard, built a winery, a distillery, a vinegar house, a meat smokehouse, and a flour mill, importing the mill stones from France A zusa is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California. The place name “Azusa” appears to have been derived from the Tongva place name “Asuksagna,” as the area was part of the Tongva peoples’ homeland since, at least, 55 BC. The first recorded reference to Azusa was found in the diary of Father Juan Crespi, diarist and engineer with the Portola Expedition in 1769, then on its way northward from San Diego in search of Monterey Bay. A CITY’S RENAISSANCE