Sepulveda’s plea for San Pedro’s ‘heart’

July 1, 1902: Susana Ruiz de Sepulveda, the widow of Juan Sepulveda, went to court to argue that she was the rightful owner of “40 acres in San Pedro’s heart,” The Times reported.

“Mrs. Sepulveda claims the land under a deed from her husband made in 1876,” the newspaper said, adding that the property was valued at $400,000 and that defendants in the case included “the Bank of San Pedro, the Presbyterian Church ... and other prominent men and corporations of the breakwater town.”

“Once upon a time Don Juan owned a one-fifth interest in the Palos Verdes Rancho, which contains over 31,000 acres, and stretches away from Compton to San Pedro and Redondo.... But with the coming of the white man there came also mortgages and enterprise that soon ate away the holdings of the Mexicans, and Sepulveda was no exception,” The Times said.

Susana Ruiz de Sepulveda lost the lawsuit the next day, and the headline in The Times was “San Pedro’s Heart is Still All Right.”

“Don Juan’s deed may have been good when he made it, but subsequent mortgages and interest ate up his lands and now San Pedro is owned by numerous citizens,” the newspaper said.