The colony was devised by lawyer and socialist politician Job Harriman after he had failed his bid to become the mayor of Los Angeles in 1911.

The Llano del Rio Colony settled in the southern edge of the Mojave Desert along Highway 138 near what is now 165th Street East, in the alluvial plain that spread out to the north from the San Gabriel Mountains.

The colony took advantage of water from Big Rock Creek, an intermittent stream that flowed from the San Gabriel Mountains.

Several structures were constructed using local granite boulders and lumber, including a hotel, meeting house, and water storage tank.

Llano del Rio turned out to be too far from other settlements to develop a sustaining economy, and the water supply from Big Rock Creek proved to be unreliable.

[2] Job Harriman, a lawyer by training and a politician by proclivity, was the founder of the socialist cooperative colony known as Llano del Rio.

[5] Several prominent Southern California friends were solicited for financial and practical support and a 9,000-acre (3,600 ha) site was located about 45 miles (72 km) north of Los Angeles in the Antelope Valley.

[3] A new 9-member board of directors was appointed and sale of stock was begun in the fall of 1913 with a view to financing a new socialist community on the existing colony's site.

"[8] In addition to the appeal of building a new socialist society, colonists were drawn to Llano by promises of good wages paid to colony members.

[7] The activities at Llano del Rio were publicized to a national audience through the pages of The Western Comrade, a magazine purchased by Job Harriman in 1914.

[6] The valley in which the colony was located was bordered by the San Bernardino Mountains to the east and contained sites for fruit orchards, alfalfa fields, and vegetable production.

[13] Colonists tended to hail from the Western United States and included substantial contingents of farmers and businessmen, with few wage workers.

[9] The colony was marked by personal disagreements and petty political controversies from its earliest days, resulting in a steady turnover of members.

For entertainment, Llano staged black-face minstrel shows, swear words were prohibited when in the presence of women or children, and liquor was not allowed unless permission by a doctor was given.

One of the founders of the “Brush Gang”, Frank Miller, believed Harriman to be “Czar-like” and against the democratic election of Llano’s leadership.

Additionally, many “Brush Gang” members believed that not only the political but also the economic layout of Llano was counter to socialist ideals.

In response to dissenters, one of Harriman’s supporter’s, RK Williams, wrote, “Newcomers arrived here filled with idealism and notions of a weird form of democracy that are utterly out of place in an institution dealing with... practicalities.

WWI also posed an economic threat, because the wartime industry created jobs with higher wages and many less committed members of Llano left to work in the newly booming economy.

In November 1917 The Western Comrade magazine announced that the majority of the colony was going to move to an alternative site in New Llano, Louisiana.

[1] In Llano del Rio lived socialist architect Gregory Ain, son of Russian immigrants, in his childhood.

The song "Llano Del Rio" from the Frank Black and the Catholics 2001 album Dog in the Sand is written about a visit to this area in the present day.