Historical Marker · No. 302
Old Mill
San Marino, Los Angeles County · California
Mission San Gabriel needed flour, so around 1816 Father José María de Zalvidea had Tongva labourers raise this two-storey mill of fired brick and adobe, water off the canyons turning tufa stones on the upper floor. The design splashed damp into the meal, and a better mill went up nearer the mission in 1823. Colonel Kewen lived in the shell for twenty years, and Henry Huntington bought it in 1903 for a golf clubhouse. It is the oldest commercial building in Southern California.
What the plaque says
Originally located in the upper story of El Molino Viejo, these volcanic tufa millstones ground grain for the Indian community of Mission San Gabriel. The stones were turned by water flowing from nearby canyons. When the mill fell into disuse, the stones disappeared. A century later they were found on the Huntington Library grounds by General George S. Patton, who, as a young boy had seen them used as blocks for mounting horses.
Where it stands
34.11945, -118.12751 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 2.0 miThe fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
- Colorado Street Bridge — 2.7 miBeaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
- Santa Monica Pier — 23 miWhere the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.