Leonis Adobe

Your list of 33 San Fernando Valley historic-cultural monuments (Feb. 15) included the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas. You say, "Once the oldest home in West Hollywood, it was saved from demolition and moved to Calabasas five years ago." This seems rather odd to me as I remember well being taken to the Adobe as a child for Easter egg hunts and Cub Scout events. I turn 22 in March and don't remember the Adobe's being moved anywhere! To further prove my point that the Leonis Adobe was never moved from West Hollywood, I will quote a passage from page 43 of the book entitled "The History of Woodland Hills and Girard": "In 1964, Mrs. Beachy sold the west 40 acres of her property to purchase 11 acres which contained the entire business area of nearby Calabasas in order to preserve its western history and the former house of the infamous Miguel Leonis.

Too bad the old Calabasas hanging tree is gone -- the one whose noose would swing, depending on which way the wind was blowing, toward the old adobe on one side or the western-style saloon on the other. That symbol of quick frontier justice might have calmed the rift between the Leonis Adobe and the next-door Sagebrush Cantina that has riled this town at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley once called "The Last of the Old West."

Hands flew fast and furious in silent conversation Wednesday, as 60 deaf and blind visitors from throughout the United States toured the Old West-era Leonis Adobe in Calabasas. "It's so pretty," said Kathleen Spear of Pennsylvania, who is legally blind, as she rubbed a shoe worn by the wife of settler Miguel Leonis. "What color is it?"

Hey, Calabasas, keep your paws off our city. That was the Los Angeles City Council's message Wednesday in a unanimous resolution warning Calabasas officials that it will fight the Valley city's attempts to annex a historic monument, the Leonis Adobe ranch, and a tax-revenue-generating eatery, the Sagebrush Cantina. The two spots, one beloved by history buffs, the other by motorcycle riders such as Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine, are located in Calabasas' folksy Old Town but are technically within Los Angeles city limits and Zine's 3rd District.

For any city folk who think longhorns are just a football team and that "yearling bull" is a film starring Robert DeNiro, the docents at the historic Leonis Adobe have a lesson in cattle. On Thursday, they became the proud caretakers of three purebred Texas longhorns to show visitors perfect specimens of animals that a century ago roamed the rural San Fernando Valley by the thousands. "We're perfectionists here," said Phyllis Jones, director of the Old West-era Leonis Adobe museum.

Three San Fernando Valley homeowner groups have joined a cultural preservation association in filing a lawsuit against Caltrans, saying the agency has failed to prepare legally required environmental impact reports for a planned Ventura Freeway interchange that could affect the historic Leonis Adobe in Calabasas. Leaders of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, the Calabasas Park Homeowners Assn.

The history of the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas is well-documented, but most people don't realize it's still a great place to spend an afternoon relaxing in a peaceful farm setting that includes shaded benches under lush oaks. The Monterey-style house was built in 1844 and was home to a Basque immigrant, Miguel Leonis, and his Indian wife, Espiritu. Leonis, who was also known as the "King of Calabasas," was one of the earliest and most colorful settlers of the San Fernando Valley. In the late 1800s, he controlled much of the west end of the San Fernando Valley and part of what is now adjoining Ventura County.

Caltrans' preferred plan for the interchange at Valley Circle Boulevard has provoked controversy, resulting in lawsuits initiated by the Leonis Adobe and various homeowner groups. Unfortunately, they fail to focus on the real problem of growth. In the last five to 10 years, Calabasas and Calabasas Park have seen the arrival of Lockheed's corporate headquarters, two car dealerships, two restaurant renovations and expansions, a hotel, at least five major residential developments and numerous office buildings that now line Calabasas Road from Mulholland to beyond Sperling Nursery.

Oh, what a difference a change of scenery can make. Since the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce moved into a plaza across from the Leonis Adobe in Old Town, visitors are discovering the chamber and learning a little more about Calabasas. "We'd go days and days when no people stopped to see us unless it was a board member," said Carol Amenta, the chamber's executive director. "Now, 15 or 20 people come by on a nice sunny day."

Earthquake repairs to the Leonis Adobe will cost about $250,000 and keep the historic home closed for at least six months, the museum's president said Monday. "One thing I've learned from running this place for 30 years is patience," said Ray Phillips, president of the Leonis Adobe Assn. "In the meantime, we are not closed. The Plummer House is still open, the barn is open, all the animals are there and you can see the house from the outside."

Calabasas is exactly 60.3 acres too small for Mayor Dennis Washburn--the size of a smallish but extremely popular notch of land coveted by the city but owned by Los Angeles. So Calabasas is positioning itself to make a second bid to take over the only portion of the folksy, lumber-fenced Old West throwback known as Old Town Calabasas that it does not own.

The history of the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas is well-documented, but most people don't realize it's still a great place to spend an afternoon relaxing in a peaceful farm setting that includes shaded benches under lush oaks. The Monterey-style house was built in 1844 and was home to a Basque immigrant, Miguel Leonis, and his Indian wife, Espiritu. Leonis, who was also known as the "King of Calabasas," was one of the earliest and most colorful settlers of the San Fernando Valley. In the late 1800s, he controlled much of the west end of the San Fernando Valley and part of what is now adjoining Ventura County.

The tall, imposing Miguel Leonis, along with his Indian wife, Maria Espiritu Chijulla, reigned over much of the southwest Valley in the 1800s, with Leonis becoming one of the 10 richest men at the time in Los Angeles County. Espiritu was a widow with a young son, Juan Menendez, when the Basque immigrant from the French Pyrenees came into her life in 1857. A one-time smuggler, Leonis worked as a shepherd near Espiritu's family's El Escorpion rancho, now the Platt Ranch subdivision.

Oh, what a difference a change of scenery can make. Since the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce moved into a plaza across from the Leonis Adobe in Old Town, visitors are discovering the chamber and learning a little more about Calabasas. "We'd go days and days when no people stopped to see us unless it was a board member," said Carol Amenta, the chamber's executive director. "Now, 15 or 20 people come by on a nice sunny day."

Earthquake repairs to the Leonis Adobe will cost about $250,000 and keep the historic home closed for at least six months, the museum's president said Monday. "One thing I've learned from running this place for 30 years is patience," said Ray Phillips, president of the Leonis Adobe Assn. "In the meantime, we are not closed. The Plummer House is still open, the barn is open, all the animals are there and you can see the house from the outside."

For any city folk who think longhorns are just a football team and that "yearling bull" is a film starring Robert DeNiro, the docents at the historic Leonis Adobe have a lesson in cattle. On Thursday, they became the proud caretakers of three purebred Texas longhorns to show visitors perfect specimens of animals that a century ago roamed the rural San Fernando Valley by the thousands. "We're perfectionists here," said Phyllis Jones, director of the Old West-era Leonis Adobe museum.

Hey, Calabasas, keep your paws off our city. That was the Los Angeles City Council's message Wednesday in a unanimous resolution warning Calabasas officials that it will fight the Valley city's attempts to annex a historic monument, the Leonis Adobe ranch, and a tax-revenue-generating eatery, the Sagebrush Cantina. The two spots, one beloved by history buffs, the other by motorcycle riders such as Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine, are located in Calabasas' folksy Old Town but are technically within Los Angeles city limits and Zine's 3rd District.

It isn't the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. State Department of Transportation highway engineers and Calabasas history buffs are facing off in a more genteel showdown over a corral connected to a 77-year-old barn behind the historic Leonis Adobe in Calabasas. Caltrans officials would like to chop off a corner of the Leonis Corral to make room for an off-ramp for a $40-million Ventura Freeway interchange.

Hands flew fast and furious in silent conversation Wednesday, as 60 deaf and blind visitors from throughout the United States toured the Old West-era Leonis Adobe in Calabasas. "It's so pretty," said Kathleen Spear of Pennsylvania, who is legally blind, as she rubbed a shoe worn by the wife of settler Miguel Leonis. "What color is it?"