Lost L.A.: Rancho Los Alamitos

It is August when spacious skies soar above amber waves of grain in fields stretching from sea to shining sea. It is the month of the fruited plains and purple mountain majesties that inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write her anthem, "America the Beautiful," and that lured families west for a better life.

By Sam Watters, Special to the Los Angeles Times

August 7, 2010