SIMI ADOBE

The first adobe in Simi Valley was built around 1796 about a mile downstream from the confluence of the Arroyo Simi and the Arroyo del Tapo, well south of the Arroyo Simi. The site is thought to have been on the Janet Scott Cameron estate east of the intersection of Erringer Road with Royal Avenue. At that location groundwater first maintained the Arroyo Simi as a perennial stream - except during the driest years - and the site was well upstream from distributaries of the Arroyo Simi and the present day Erringer Drain, which would have threatened periodic flooding. Sometime after the beginning of the 19th Century the rancho headquarters was moved to the site of the present day Peter B. Strathearn Historical Park - perhaps because of more dependable water and firewood supplies and to be close to the historic village of Simi’. That second adobe is now referred to as the Simi Adobe. The first adobe may have continued to be occupied for several decades because it is shown on a deseno (map showing the extent of the rancho) during the 1840s.

The Simi Adobe was then occupied more or less continuously until 1841, when it was temporarily abandon. It was partially destroyed in 1820 by an attack by marauding Kumia (Kimeyaay) Indians from Baja California but was quickly rebuilt and occupied by the Pico family. Evidence of that or later fires is abundant on site in the form of baked clay, with willow branch impressions, from the burning of the wattle and daub roof.

Alfred Robinson, a Yankee trader, reported in his book, Life in California, stopping late at night at the adobe in 1829 on his way to the Pueblo de los Los Angeles, sleeping on the grounds and leaving at first light the next morning without disturbing the residents.

Throughout the rancho period a sheep camp had been maintained near the site of the historic village of Ta’apu up Tapo Canyon. About 1830 an adobe, with the same basic floor plan as the Simi Adobe, was erected where the present day ruins of a later adobe stand in the Tapo Canyon Regional Park.

In 1832 Don Jose de la Guerra purchased Rancho Simi for $1,019. The Tapo became the rancho headquarters by 1841 and the Simi Adobe was abandon. However, in 1858 Francisco de la Guerra is shown as living in the Simi Adobe. (Francisco was the son of Don Jose de la Guerra.) That year there is thought to have been another fire at the adobe.

In 1861 the adobe became a stop on the stagecoach line. That station was apparently run by a de la Guerra. It was referred to as the Noriega station. Noriega was Jose de la Guerra’s wife’s maiden name. A son of Jose de la Guerra is still shown as living in the adobe in 1864.

In 1865 the rancho was sold to Thomas Scott, the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Subsequently a Basque shepherding family occupied the adobe. Then, in the late 1880s the property was acquired by the Strathearn family, which added a New England farm house to the southern end of the adobe and used the old adobe as a dining room and kitchen.

Another fire destroyed a portion of the adobe about 1916. When the adobe was rebuilt, the northern portion of the old adobe was left off. As a result of a late-1970s archaeological excavation, the foundation stones are still visible.

Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s I was invited to investigate the attic of the adobe and document what I found.  The attic was floored and there was evidence that it had been used as sleeping quarters prior to the addition of the Strathearn home to its southern end. There had been an exterior staircase leading to a doorway under the hip roof. The rough cut rafters contained nail, indicating, I believe, that blankets had been hung to divide that space into separate sleeping quarters. There was evidence of a stove vent fire at sometime in the past. The Strathearn children had some memory of that event.

The Simi Adobe is now part of a State historical landmark. It was associated with the historic village of Simi’ and the Spanish/Mexican rancho period and the period of Anglo-American agricultural settlement. The adobe is the oldest structure in the valley and dates back to a period when the Chumash Indians were still on the land and their culture in fatal decline. Nothing in this world is static, but we can cherish relics from the past.

                                                                                    Mike Kuhn

11-28-04