The main players in the story of mid-19th century West Hollywood include its first settler, a Turkish camel driver named “Greek George” Caralambo; Major Henry Hancock, the founder of a family fortune; Eugenio Plummer, a local storyteller whose name lives on in a city park; and Tiburcio Vasquez, a visiting bandit whose capture in 1874 made national news. READ MORE >
1. Greek George
The historic journey that led Greek George to present-day West Hollywood began in Smyrna, Turkey. At a camel market there, George and eight other men, including Hadj Ali – known to Americans as “Hi Jolly” – were hired by the U.S. Army to tend camels on a trip to the Gulf Coast of Texas and across the desert and Sierras into California. READ MORE >
2. The Camels Are Coming!
Greek George’s trek with the camels from Texas to California was a survey expedition that laid out the federal road that would later become Route 66 and I-40. In early 1858, dogs barked and horses bolted on the winter day when the camels loped into Los Angeles. The pueblo welcomed the soldiers, camels, and their minders with a three-day celebration. READ MORE >
3. Camp Drum
At the height of the Civil War, Greek George was fired by the Army for “drunkenness and stupidity.” After an unsuccessful attempt at prospecting for gold, the Army rehired him and Hi Jolly to tend to camels at Camp Drum under the command of Major Henry Hancock. READ MORE >
4. Henry Hancock
Major Henry Hancock, a Los Angeles landowner, purchased camels from the Army in 1864 and pastured them by a stream at the western boundary of Rancho La Brea, his 4,000-acre holding west of the pueblo. To tend the camels, he set up Greek George with a homestead near the camels, making him the first settler in what is now West Hollywood. READ MORE >
5. No Man’s Canyon
Major Hancock ordered George to free the camels around 1866, allowing them to wander the Hollywood Hills for decades. Jobless and penniless, George applied for a pension but was denied. Instead, he was deeded 160 acres in No Man’s Canyon, today’s Runyon Canyon Park. In 1866, he married Cornelia Lopez, a member of a prominent Californio family, and through the Lopezes, he met the bandit Tiburcio Vasquez. READ MORE >
6. Tiburico Vasquez
Tiburcio Vasquez was a member of a prominent Californio family. Despite his heritage, however, he chose a career robbing stagecoaches and remote stores and hotels. In August 1873, as the result of a robbery gone sideways, Vasquez and his gang killed three hostages. With a price on his head, Vasquez took refuge at Greek George’s cabin in what is now West Hollywood. READ MORE >
7. Gallows
During his stay with Greek George, the bandit Vasquez met George’s young neighbor, Eugenio Plummer. Vasquez befriended Eugenio, who had grown up among Californios and spoke fluent Spanish. A few weeks later, betrayed by a mysterious informant, Vasquez was captured at Greek George’s cabin. As he stood on the gallows a few months later, Vasquez’s uttered his last word: “Pronto.” READ MORE >
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8. Daisy Dell
The secret informant who betrayed Vasquez was his host, Greek George. With his reward money, George bought 142 acres in Bolton Canyon, including a spot ideal for farming called Daisy Dell — the site of today’s world-famous Hollywood Bowl. After farming the dell for a few years, George sold the land for $450 to his neighbor, Eugenio Plummer. READ MORE >
9. Eugenio Plummer
In his later years, Eugenio Plummer, who was one-quarter Latino, became known as “Señor Plummer, the last of the dons.” Eugenio was the keeper of Californio culture in in Hollywood well into his eighties. He hosted annual fiestas at his home in present-day Plummer Park that celebrated local life in the pioneer days. READ MORE >
10. Plummer Park
With his land investments failing, Eugenio sold Daisy Dell, the future site of the Hollywood Bowl, for $2,400. Bankrupt, he opened his family ranch on Santa Monica Boulevard as an unofficial public park. Eventually, however, the county foreclosed on the property. In 1938, it was officially dedicated it as a public park in Eugenio’s honor. READ MORE >
11. Epilogue
Greek George died in 1913 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Whittier, California. In contrast, in Quartzsite, Arizona, there is a monument to George’s comrade, Hi Jolly, on the spot where he died in 1902. In 1934, wire service reports nationwide announced that Topsy, the last of the Army camels, had died at the L.A. Zoo. She was around 80 years old. READ MORE >