The Tongva village of Otsungna was situated in today's El Sereno on the banks of a stream that was later named Arroyo Rosa de Castilla, which ran east of present-day Guardia and Farnsworth avenues.

[3]: 6 In 1784, three years after the pueblo was founded, Spanish Governor Pedro Fages granted all the lands between the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco to Jose Maria Verdugo.

[3]: 6 After Mexican independence from Spain (1821), the Rancho Rosa de Castilla – named after a stream that ran through the area – was granted to Juan Ballesteros in 1831.

A ranchhouse on the south side of Valley Boulevard, near the junction of present-day Eastern Avenue, was owned by the Hirigoyen family, which raised chickens, ducks, and pigs.

The Cornwall family built a house about 1885 on part of the former Smith property, near present-day Eastern Avenue and Harmony Lane.

This land later passed to Marcos A. Forster of San Juan Capistrano, a nephew of Pio Pico, who subsequently subdivided the parcel.

During a real estate boom, the Yorba and Paige Tract, at the western edge of El Sereno, was recorded in October 1887.

Unlike the real estate promoters of the surrounding territory, none of these wealthy and comfortable owners had an incentive to develop their land.

A stop was at The Five Mile House Saloon and watering trough just south of Valley Boulevard, adjacent to the present Long Beach Freeway.

By 1869,what is now Mission Road/Collis Avenue proceeded from the western end of the present El Sereno through a pass in the hills to the Rancho San Pasqual.

Roses Road was established by 1873, beginning at the present intersection of Huntington Drive and Collis Avenue and proceeding east.

A fare war between the two railroads lowered rates, bringing many immigrants from the East and Midwest to Los Angeles.[3]: 8, fig.

14 Water sources for the area were the Arroyo Rosa de Castilla and another ditch that ran north to south just west of present-day Eastern Avenue.

The small Ascot Reservoir, being used by 1894 to store water, did not have the capacity to meet the needs of the many subdivisions that were later to bring new residents to the area (section below).

A vote taken on September 28, 1889, however, excluded from the city limits all land south of West Alhambra Road (effective October 2, 1889).

[3]: 8, 9 On May 1, 1895, the first inter-urban rail route in Southern California opened from Los Angeles to Pasadena along the Arroyo Seco, spurring subdivisions along that passage.

At the southern end of Bairdstown, between EI Monte Road (now Valley Boulevard) and the Covina Line of the Pacific Electric, was Grider and Hamilton's Floral Park, a subdivision of large lots recorded April 1906.

Subdivisions were platted haphazardly by each property owner, resulting in four distinct neighborhoods, each with its own school as a focal point.

One year later, the name of Bairdstown was changed to "El Sereno" meaning serene, quiet, unruffled place.

With annexation to Los Angeles, El Sereno's population began to grow, resulting in the establishment of many community facilities.

A one-story theatre and brick store building, erected on Huntington Drive in 1922, was designed by architect A. Godfrey Bailey.

Residential development was centered along Huntington Drive, between Collis and Farnsworth avenues, from the hills on the north to Gambier/Allan Street on the south.

A one-block-deep development strip on the north side of Huntington Drive tied Sierra Vista to central EI Sereno.

Because of rationing of gas and rubber, most new residents who came to work at the aircraft and munitions factories in Los Angeles moved to communities along the Pacific Electric routes.

After restrictions were lifted by a 1948 Supreme Court decision (Shelley v. Kraemer), many Mexican-American families moved to EI Sereno.

The demand for housing after World War II was satisfied by the construction of new neighborhoods in the southern end of EI Sereno.

[3] Like other neighboring communities in northeast Los Angeles, El Sereno is going through gentrification as many older and longtime homeowners are replaced by professionals and young families.

In 1910, the Los Angeles Military Academy was established by Ida B. McKinnon at the southwestern corner of Farmdale Avenue (Eastern) and Huntington Drive.

Services, previously held at the Cameo Theatre, were moved to the new building at the comer of Eastern Avenue and Twining Street.

[14] On the AMC TV show Fear the Walking Dead, El Sereno plays prominently in the first season.