The flags of three different countries have flown over Southern California: Spain, Mexico, and eventually, the United States of America. Those changes in government played havoc with real estate ownership.

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. But it was another two decades before bureaucrats got around to surveying Spanish land grants in Southern California. John Newcombe documents this history in his film "Rancho La Cañada." He says in 1843, a portion of the old Verdugo rancho was given to a local schoolteacher and former soldier named Ignacio Coronel.

"He was due a lot of back pay, and this was their way of paying him, they gave him this. He's the one who named it La Cañada, meaning a glen between mountain ranges."

The land was dry and rocky and full of rattlesnakes. Coronel preferred living down the hill near what's now Glendale College. After just four years, Coronel was chased off the land by outlaws during the chaos surrounding the war between Mexico and the U.S. Today, no streets are named for Coronel, but his description "La Cañada" remains for both a city and a major boulevard.

(Airdate for this story: 1/20/08)