History of Santa Monica, California - 1760s

1760s

The first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3, 1769. There are two different versions of the naming of the city. One says that it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica (mother of Saint Augustine), but her feast day is actually May 4th. Another version says that it was named by Father Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs (Serra Springs), that were reminiscent of the tears that Saint Monica shed over her son's early impiety.

Regarding the latter, Father Crespi did note in his diary that the group found a Tongva village at the springs (where the SE corner of the campus of University High School is today). However, as is also recorded in his diary, Crespí actually named the place San Gregorio., while the expedition solders called it "El Berendo" after a deer they wounded there. The "Santa Monica" name for the springs came later . The springs were probably commonly called by the name "Santa Monica" by the turn of the 19th century, as they did indeed remind incoming settlers of the weeping eyes of the saint. What is known for certain is that by the 1820s, the name Santa Monica was in use and the name's first official mention occurred in 1827 in the form of a grazing permit., quickly followed by the grant filing for the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica in 1828 .

It remains slightly curious that the City of Santa Monica (together with the canyon, bay, mountains, boulevard, airport and freeway) is named for a natural feature not actually within its borders. The name for the springs has since reverted to Kuruvungna ("the place where we are in the sun"), which is what the Tongva People have called them all along. The springs remain sacred to the Tongva People. .