Campo de Cahuenga

José Antonio Carrillo wrote the terms out in English and Spanish, and Andrés Pico and Frémont signed them here on January 13, 1847. The Californios gave up their artillery and went home, prisoners on both sides went free, and nobody was made to swear allegiance. Neither government had authorized any of it, and Kearny and Stockton did not know it was happening. Frémont later credited a Santa Barbara widow, Bernarda Ruiz, with arguing him toward a generous peace, though little of her part survives outside his own memoirs.

What the plaque says

Beneath this park rest the stone foundations and floor tiles of the historic adobe where Mexican General Andres Pico and U.S. Lieutenant Colonel John C. Fremont signed the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. Signing the Treaty ended the hostilities in California between the United States and Mexico, and led to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which ceded California to the U.S. and formally ended the Mexican-American War. The adobe, then owned by a Spaniard, Eulogio de Celis, may have been built as early as 1795 when this land on El Camino Real was occupied by a veteran Mexican soldier, Mariano de la Luz Verdugo. Between 1810 and 1834, the San Fernando Mission owned the land. The adobe also served as a stop on the Butterfield Stage from 1858 to 1861. Butterfield carried passengers, mail, and cargo throughout the western United States from Tipton, MO to San Francisco, CA. During construction of the Metro Rail station, the MTA team uncovered, researched, evaluated, and cataloged these foundations. In 1997, the archaeological remains of the adobe were determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The remnants have been protected in place for future generations to discover, observe and interpret.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Street Bridge — 11 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Santa Monica Pier — 12 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 15 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.

More markers nearby

• Freeman House — 2.7 mi
• Ennis House — 4.3 mi
• Harold Lloyd Estate (Greenacres) — 5.1 mi
• Hancock Park-La Brea — 5.3 mi