Rancho La Tajauta

Rancho Tajauta was a 3560 acre Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Anastasio Avila. The grant was named for the Gabrielino/Tongva place name of Tajáuta. The grant encompassed present-day Willowbrook and Watts.

History
Anastasio Avila, one of the sons of Cornelio Avila, was alcalde of Los Angeles in 1819 – 1821, and granted one square league in 1843.

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho La Tajauta was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Anastasio's son Enrique Avila in 1873. Rancho Tajauta was surveyed in 1858 by Henry Hancock, deputy United States surveyor, and the survey approved in 1860.

The legacy of Rancho Tajauta survives in the name Tajauta Avenue in the Compton/Carson area.