Old Cucamonga

To its first inhabitants, the Tongvan Kucamonga tribe, cucamonga meant land of many waters, referring to the area's numerous streams flowing down from the southeastern end of the San Gabriel Mountains. By the 1800s, it was a Mexican land grant named Cucamonga Rancho. Murder, drought, and foreclosure led to the subdivision of the rancho's 13,000 acres. Immigrants from around the world arrived in Cucamonga's renowned wine valley. Italian immigrant Secundo Guasti bought a huge swath of land in...