Highland Park is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Los Angeles. It was one of the first subdivisions of Los Angeles, and is currently inhabited by a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups....The area was originally discovered thousands of years ago by ancestors of the Chumash people, and would later be settled by the Tongva. After the founding of Los Angeles in 1784, the Corporal of the Guard at the San Gabriel mission, Jose Maria Verdugo, was granted the 36,403-acre Rancho San Rafael which included the present day Highland Park. Drought in the late 1800s resulted in economic hardship for the Verdugo family, and Rancho San Rafael was eventually auctioned off in 1869 for $3,500 over an unpaid loan. The San Rafael tract was purchased by Andrew Glassell and Albert J. Chapman, who leased it out to sheepherders. In 1885 during the 1880s land boom, it was sold to George Morgan and Albert Judson, who combined it with other parcels they had purchased from the Verdugo family to create the Highland Park tract in 1886. Two rail lines were built to Highland Park, which helped the town to survive as the 1880s land boom ended. Highland Park was annexed to Los Angeles in 1895. In the early 20th century, Highland Park and neighboring Pasadena became havens for artists and intellectuals who led the Arts and Crafts movement. (Source: Wikipedia)
