Historical Marker · No. 363
Centinela Springs
Inglewood, Los Angeles County · California
Erected by California State Parks; and Historical Society of Centinela Valley, 1970
Aguaje means watering place, and everything here is named for the water. The springs marked the northeast corner of the Mexican grant of 1837 and fed a creek running west to the Ballona wetlands. A willow-lined ditch carried the runoff south to water sheep. Daniel Freeman's land company platted a town on the strength of them in 1887. A local history in 1938 warned that more was being drawn from the basin than nature was putting back. The springs stopped flowing. The park is what marks the place now.
What the plaque says
On this site bubbling springs once flowed from their source in a deep water basin which has existed continuously since the Pleistocene Era. Prehistoric animals, Indians, and early Inglewood settlers were attracted here by the pure artesian water. The springs and valley were named after sentinels guarding cattle in the area. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 363 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, October 9, 1970.
Where it stands
33.97439, -118.34264 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Bruce's Beach — 6.9 miWilla and Charles Bruce ran a seaside resort here for Black families until the city took the land in 1924. It came back in 2022.
- Chavez Ravine — 9.0 miThree Mexican American neighborhoods cleared for public housing that was never built, then traded to a ballclub.
- Santa Monica Pier — 9.2 miWhere the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
- Domínguez Rancho Adobe — 10 miThe first Spanish land grant in California contained the whole harbor, and in 1846 fifty Californio lancers turned back three hundred Marines on it.