貝弗利山歷史一瞥

Now you’re probably wondering， “What’s this old guy， in a 1）letterman’s jacket， doing here standing near the corner of Alpine and Sunset？”Well I’m here because the story of Beverly Hills begins right about here.

This land was an 2）arid treeless desert， but right here the waters flow down from Benedict， Coldwater and Franklin canyons. So this was the richest and most fertile land in this entire area.

The native Tongva Indians called it “the gathering of the waters.” When the Spanish 3）conquistadors came their translation gave us “El Rodeo de las Aguas，”and this is the spot where our very first settler built the very first house in what is now Beverly Hills.

Now most people don’t know this， but Beverly Hills’ first landowner was a woman， and a California-born African-Latina at that. Her name was Maria Rita Valdez de Villa， and she was married to a Spanish soldier. They had eight children， seven of them girls. After the defeat of the Spanish， the Governor of Mexico thought “What perfect settlers with all those daughters，” and 4）deeded them a 4，000 acre plot of Alta， California， and the land we now call Beverly Hills.

For two brief decades life in this area was as colourful as the 5）senoritas’ dresses. Songs and laughter and the sounds of the guitar mingled with the rippling of the springs. When Maria Rita’s husband died she became the sole 6）proprietor of this whole 7）rancho. She employed a few remaining native Tongvas to help her raise crops and let her cattle 8）graze freely. Ironically， in the days before refrigerators， cattle weren’t raised for their meat. It was the 9）hides that had value， and even became known as California currency. Each hide was valued at $2.00， which might not sound like much except if you consider that， when Maria had to buy her cousin out of his half of Beverly Hills， she paid just $17.00.

The Villa’s family ran this place from 1831 to 1854， and Maria might have stayed on longer， but in 1852 the Rancho was attacked by Indians. Legend says it may have only been three or four Indians， and they were 10）renegades and 11）poachers， but they laid siege on the adobe with deadly intentions. Finally the Villa’s only son snuck out through a dry river bed and gathered a 12）posse near present-day West Hollywood， then known as the Township of Sherman. The cowboys rode up to Sunset and Alpine and chased the Indians back into Benedict Canyon.

So the posse chases the Indians up into Benedict Canyon to a spot right about here， and a furious battle13）ensues and the Indians are defeated. Now how do...how do we know this？ How do we know that 14）Chevy Chase in Benedict Canyon is such a historic spot？ Well that’s because， when they were digging the foundation for the 15）Women’s Club， they found the Indian skeletons， and they found the arrowheads， and they put up a plaque that says， “This tablet marks the site of the battle between the Indians and the early Californians，” right here in Beverly Hills.

Maria Rita is being honored October 13th， 2013， when the Rodeo Drive Committee and the City of Beverly Hills will host “Rodeo de los Caballos，” an 16）equestrian and antique auto parade down the old 17）Rodeo Drive Bridle Path.

現在你大概在想：“這個穿著運動夾克的老家伙站在阿爾卑斯大道和日落大道的交叉路口這兒干什么呢？”我站在這里，是因為貝弗利山的故事正是從這附近開始的。

這塊土地曾經是一片干旱且沒有樹木的荒漠，但就在這個地方，有水源從本尼迪克特峽谷、冷水峽谷和富蘭克林峽谷流下來，因此這一帶是整個貝弗利山最富饒、最肥沃的土地。

這里的原住民唐瓦印第安人稱這個地方為“水源的聚集地”。當西班牙征服者來到這里時，他們把這個地名用西班牙語翻譯過來，稱為“El Rodeo de las Aguas”。就在此處，貝弗利山的第一位定居者建起了第一座房子。

在今天，很多人都不知道貝弗利山的首位土地擁有者是一位女性，她出生在加州，是一名非裔和拉美裔混血兒。她叫瑪麗亞·麗塔·瓦爾德斯·德·維拉，丈夫是一名西班牙士兵。他們有八個孩子，其中七個是女兒。西班牙人被打敗后，墨西哥的統治者想：“他們有這么多女兒，會是絕好的定居者?！庇谑蔷桶鸭又莅査偟?000英畝土地立契轉讓給了他們，這塊土地就是我們今天所說的貝弗利山。

在接下來短短的二十年里，這個地方的生活就如小姐們的衣裙一般絢麗多彩。歡歌笑語、吉他和鳴伴著泉水潺潺?，旣悂啞愃恼煞蛉ナ篮螅闪苏麄€牧場的惟一所有人。她雇傭了幾個留下來的唐瓦人幫她種莊稼，而牛群則自由放牧。不過，有點諷刺的是，在那個沒有冰箱的年代，養?？刹皇菫榱顺匀?，有價值的是牛皮，牛皮甚至成為了有名的“加州貨幣”?！?br>