Their names run deep through local history and lore, adorning street
signs, canyons, historical buildings, homes and ranches in the swath of
suburbia between Pasadena and Tujunga, where the towns of La Crescenta
and La Ca ada took shape, along with the unique community of Montrose.
Profiled in the pages of Crescenta Valley Pioneers and Their Legacies by
author Jo Anne Sadler, a researcher and frequent writer for the
Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley, are such singularly
important local characters as Theodor Pickens, the first permanent
settler; Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs, the founder of La Crescenta; Jacob L.
Lanterman and Adolphus W. Williams, the original developers of Rancho La
Ca ada; and the Le Mesnager family, whose historic wine barn still
stands in Deukmejian Wilderness Park.