Rancho Cucamonga
California
In eighteen thirty-nine the Mexican governor granted thirteen thousand acres at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains to Tiburcio Tapia, a Los Angeles merchant and former alcalde. Tapia built an adobe, raised cattle, and planted what became California's first winery, a forerunner of the vineyards that followed. By the eighteen fifties the ranch had been taken over by John Rains, who expanded the vineyards.
The name Cucamonga came from the Tongva people and likely meant something like sandy place. Route Sixty-Six later ran through the old rancho lands along what is now Foothill Boulevard. Vineyards remained a mainstay of the area for generations.
Three communities, Alta Loma, Cucamonga, and Etiwanda, merged in nineteen seventy-seven to form the modern city of Rancho Cucamonga.
