Brief Background
Leonis Adobe is located in Los Angeles County in Calabasas, CA. It was once the home to a prominent French ranch owner named Miguel Leonis, who was known for his business skills and his ability to purchase land. Built in 1844 The Leonis Adobe house is considered to be one of the oldest remaining private residences in Los Angeles and the older building in the San Fernando Valley.
What it looks like today
Today the Leonis adobe house is used as museum and a symbol for early Los Angeles and what it looked like in the 1800’s. The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board has done its best to keep the structure in its original form with everything in tact. Currently all of the original family pictures are still hung in their original positions from Mr. Leonis, while other artifacts such as the mirror by the entrance where destroyed but have since been restored. There have been multiple modifications to the house since its birth in the 1840s. Some of these include renovations to the living room by knocking down a wall that separated the room into two separate rooms and conjoining them in order to give a more spacious area that will better accommodate large visitors for the museum. The current location of Leonis Adobe is not the full original property. Most of the land has been sold of to the city of Los Angeles but modern day would make up a large portion of the Woodland Hills, Calabasas, and West Hills area. Several important parts of the 11,000 acres ranch has been moved to accommodate other construction around the property. Including the barn which has been moved twice due to the construction of the 101 freeway which passes right behind the current location of the Leonis Adobe house.
The Plummer House
On the Leonis Adobe property is another house known as the Plummer House. The Plummer house is another California State Historical Landmark and is known as the oldest house in Hollywood. The house was acquired by the Plummer family in 1877 and the property was used as ranch house and Cornelius and his two sons Juan and Eugenio built a barn and grew vegetables. The produce they harvested was used to sell to Los Angeles residence. After the death of Cornelius and his wife Doña Maria the land was placed into the care of their sons but was gradually sold until only three acres where left. The property was later purchased by the City of Los Angeles and allowed for Cornelius’ son Eugenio to live there for the remainder of his life. The house originally was located in Plummer Park in West Hollywood but was moved due to it being vandalized and then scheduled for destruction. Due to the close relationship of Miguel Leonis and the owner of the Plummer House, Cornelius Plummer, the Leonis Adobe Association was able to acquire the house from the city of Los Angeles and relocated it to the Leonis Adobe property where it currently remains. Do the vandalization and fire that was lit in the original Plummer house the back side of the house’s restoration was difficult and a wall was put in place in order to complete the house. Other than the rear wall the house itself was made based off of duplicates of the remains of the original house.
Who was Miguel Leonis
Miguel Louis was one of the most prominent and revered figures of the 19th century in Los Angeles. He was known as the “King of Calabasas” or “Don Miguel” and was known for his ability to make impeccable business decisions. Over his thirty-five year “rule” of the San Fernando Valley Leonis was able to acquire approximately 11,000 acres of land. Leonis immigrated to the United States in 1854 from France and began working as a prominent sheep herder throughout the Calabasas area. During this time, he purchased the property and a small abandoned brick house, which he would later rebuild and turn into the modern day Leonis Adobe. While living in the San Fernando Valley Leonis met his soon to be wife; A Chumash Indian named Espiritu. Miguel and Espiritu would later move into the house in the 1870’s.
The legend of Miguel Leonis
Miguel Louis was known for his unorthodox business methods and many legends have circulated the figure and how he came to be. Out of the many mysteries of Don Miguel the greatest is how and why he came to America. One of the stories is that he was a known smuggler in France and was wanted by both the French and Spanish and was forced to leave out of fear for his own life. When he came to the United States and began to work at El Scorpion (a large ranch located in modern day Calabasas/ Woodland Hills) his soon to be wife Espiritu owned half of it. Upon marrying her he took over her half of the ranch and began to run it in a very aggressive manner and treated her as a houseworker. He was known to have gotten many of his assets not through legal purchases but rather through threats, violence, and petty lawsuits. It was said that when he couldn’t get things he wanted illegally, only then would he rely on the legal system but found ways to cheat it. Such as bribing judges and juries. He was known for thinking of himself as the king of his own empire and ruled as such. Don Miguel was known to have hired over 100 people to protect his land from homesteaders and fight off intruders. As ruthless of a “ruler” as he was Miguel was known to have loved his daughter more than anything and when she passed away in her early twenties’ legend says that he fell into a deep depression and attempted to hang himself. After the unsuccessful suicide attempt Don Miguel continued to terrorize the Los Angeles area and continued to use the law process to his advantage. After winning his first lawsuit after the death of his beloved daughter it is said that he went to a salon where he celebrated and was so intoxicated that on his way home, he fell out of his wagon which was filled with wood and was ran over. He died days later. Even after his death he continued to torment his wife Espiritu, putting in his will that she was to only get $5,000 and referring to her as his housemaid and denying that they ever were married. After a very long court case Espiritu was able to prove that she was married to Don Miguel and was able to win back the estate and get a majority of the money that she deserved.
Sources:
http://www.leonisadobemuseum.org/history-adobe.asp
https://frenchtownconfidential.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-monster-of-calabasas-michel-don.html
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