Rancho La Ballona was a 13,920-acre (56.3 km2) Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California.

The rancho was confirmed by Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839, to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes.

The cession of California to the United States followed the Mexican–American War, and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo promised that the existing land grants would be honored.

[5][6] The US District Court upheld the decision on appeal in 1873, 8 years after Agustín Machado had died, and Rancho La Ballona was patented at 13,920 acres (56 km2) to the original four claimants.

[7] In 1857, Benjamin D. Wilson received title to one fourth of Rancho La Ballona on a foreclosure of a loan he had made to Tomas Talamantes in 1854.

[citation needed] José Manuel Machado (1756–1810) married María de la Luz Valenzuela Y Avilas in 1780, and traveled in Rivera's 1781 expedition to Alta California.

In 1826, Ygnacio Machado married Estefana Palomares they had 7 children: Luisa, Versabe, María, José, Andres, Francisco and Rafael.