HISTORY HIDDEN AMID FAST-FOOD JOINTS A SECOND LOOK REVEALS VALLEY'S RICH HISTORICAL PAST.

Byline: RICK COCA Valley News Writer

Dwarfed at times by fast-food restaurants, strip malls and tract homes, historical sites in the San Fernando Valley are easy to miss.

But for those willing to stop and smell the local history, the 60-plus buildings, homes and locations designated as historical landmarks offer glimpses into the area's indigenous, ranch and early-20th century ``modern architectural'' past.

The Leonis Adobe in Calabasas has the honor of being the first landmark to receive protected historical status by the city of Los Angeles when it began making such designations in 1962.

Historic Cultural Monument No. 1 is a well-preserved ``Monterey style'' ranch house that dates back to 1844 and was inhabited by Miguel and Espiritu Leonis beginning in the 1880s.

Espiritu was a Chumash Indian who was raised at the San Fernando Mission, founded in 1797, where her father, a Chumash chief, was the soap maker.

``She got a good education (at the Mission),'' said Doris Butler, Leonis Adobe Museum docent and Calabasas resident. ``Rare for a woman. Rarer for a Native American.''

According to the museum's literature, Miguel Leonis, a Basque born in the French Pyrenees, fled to America after a little trouble with the law regarding smuggling along the French and Spanish border. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Leonis was an imposing figure who used his strength and determination to make his fortune in San Francisco slaughterhouses. His marriage didn't hurt his financial profile either.

When Leonis married widow Espiritu Chijulla, he became in charge of scores of livestock and 1,100 acres of land. A shrewd businessman, Leonis kept a small army of Mexican and Indian men to ward off ``land squatters.'' He also kept plenty of food and drink handy to loosen up judges and juries whenever these disputes ended up in court. At the time, Leonis was one of the richest men in Los Angeles, earning him the moniker, ``King of Calabasas.''

Leonis died in 1889. When he was returning from a daylong trip to a Los Angeles court, he was crushed to death when his wagon overturned on the Cahuenga Pass.

Today, visitors can see his two-story ranch home, complete with adobe- dirt floor dining area (which had to be washed and swept a few times a year during its active years), Victorian fret-work balcony and working fireplace. The equally historic Victorian-style Plummer House, moved to the site from West Hollywood and refurbished in 1983, serves as the museum's visitor center.

The Leonis and Plummer families were acquaintances who often had overnight visits at each other's homes, a common occurrence in those times, since it was about a 12-hour ride by horse from the midtown Los Angeles area to the San Fernando Valley.

While historical sites, such as the Leonis and Plummer homes, still exist, scant physical evidence remains of American Indian culture in the Valley.

Merry Ovnick, a history professor at California State University, Northridge, said there is a special section of the cemetery at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills, dedicated to local American Indians, along with a genealogical roster listing the names of the area's former inhabitants. Ovnick cited how construction workers building a bank in the late 1980s, came upon American Indian artifacts on the corner of Balboa and Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

``Indian settlements in the Valley rarely numbered more than a hundred,'' Ovnick said. That and the fact that the majority of local Indians were incorporated into the Spanish mission system, where many died from diseases they had no immunity against, explains the lack of physical sites. However, Ovnick said, local American Indian history lives on daily in towns with names such as Pacoima, Topanga and Tujunga. These names, along with Tongva and others, more accurately reflect the indigenous names the largely Shoshone-speaking natives used to identify themselves. The Chumash Indians spoke their own distinct language.

The Spanish referred to American Indians based on their proximity to missions, giving us the ``Gabrielinos'' for those near the San Gabriel Mission and ``Fernandenos'' for those near the San Fernando Mission.

``That's really a false distinction because they all shared a similar (Shoshone) culture,'' Ovnick said.

Ethnic and cultural migration have long been a part of Los Angeles and the Valley's history.

Rabbi Moshe J. Rothblum of the Adat Ari El Synagogue in North Hollywood, said prior to World War II, there wasn't much of a Jewish presence in the Valley.

``There were some Jews who were chicken farmers in the 1930s, but we're not talking big numbers at all,'' Rothblum said.

Rothblum has been a rabbi at Adat Ari El for 35 years. Its David Familian Chapel is the oldest synagogue building in the San Fernando Valley, dedicated in November of 1949. It was declared a historical site in 1978.

``What happened was the Jewish population grew after WWII for economic reasons,'' Rothblum said. ``The Valley was in the process of `becoming.'''

The first group of about 30 worshipers met in living rooms, eventually taking a former speakeasy on Chandler Boulevard and turning it into a synagogue, before establishing the temple on Laurel Canyon.

``The synagogue played an important social role in the lives of young Jews after WWII, and the population grew and other synagogues grew as well,'' Rothblum said.

Today, the Conservative synagogue has about 800 members, operates a K-6 general studies school, as well as a Hebrew School.

Another historical site worth seeing is the Andres Pico Adobe located at the Andres Pico Adobe Park in Mission Hills. The site is owned by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and operated by the San Fernando Valley Historical Society. Just a quarter mile south of the San Fernando Mission, it's the second-oldest house in Los Angeles, originally built by former San Fernando Mission Indians in 1834. Pico, a general in the Mexican Army and brother to Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, eventually gave the home to his adopted son, Romulo.

``If you had been a guest here, one of the things you'd do is go antelope hunting in the Antelope Valley,'' said Midge Gisel, volunteer docent and president of the San Fernando Valley Historical Society. ``There was an abundance of antelope.''

Gisel and retired physician, Richard Doyle, the historical society's recording secretary, lead guests through the two-story Pico Adobe and point out interesting objects and details that were part of day-to-day living in the 19th century ranch life. Cleverly designed sewing cabinets, double as seats and beautiful trunks were used to store clothes, since closets were not used then. Some of the ``modern conveniences'' on display include a chamber pot with a knitted covering called a ``husher,'' so late- night usage could remain discreet. Gisel pointed out solid cast-iron irons.

``If you were a bride in the 1800s, you'd have two of these,'' Gisel said. ``One to have over the fire and the other to be using. It was quite a hard life back then.'' Doyle said he doesn't tire of the work he does for the society and the Pico Adobe, especially when school children come through.

``They're mostly surprised and delighted by the things they see in the collection,'' Doyle said.

At Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in Sylmar, another historical landmark operated by the Historical Society, 602 individuals were buried there between 1889 and 1939, including veterans of the Civil War and 375 children.

Ten-year-old Devin Nunez volunteers with his grandmother, Lucinda Nunez, in the Adopt-A-Plot program run by the Historical Society, where volunteers remove weeds, clean the tombstones and plant flowers for some of the people buried there. Devin takes care of Sharon Cooley's plot, a man who was born in 1836 and died in 1907.

When asked if he would like to have lived in the Valley during Cooley's times, when riding horseback was the norm, men were named Sharon and children worked more than they played in a Nintendo-free world.

``And play with rocks?'' Nunez asked incredulously. ``Nope.''

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(1 -- 2 -- color) Historical Society member Richard Doyle, above, winds up and plays ``Listen to the Mockingbird'' on a Thomas Edison phonograph at the Andres Pico Adobe in Mission Hills. Below, Beth Weaverling and her daughter Katherine Coombes ``ghost hunt'' at Leonis Adobe in Calabasas, where ghostly sightings have been reported.

(3 -- 5 -- color) Regarding Miguel Leonis' death while riding in a horse and wagon returning from Los Angeles, docent Dee Martin, above, said, ``We don't know if the horse got spooked or (Leonis) had a few too many.'' Founded in 1797 by Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen, the San Fernando Mission, right, features the Old Mission Church, an exact replica of the original. The master bedroom, below, at the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas featured a canopy bed. ``If it was cold, they'd pull the drapery to warm up,'' said docent Doris Butler.

Photos by Rick Coca/Valley News

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