title: Ballona
text: # Ballona
  
  Ballona is a geographic place name in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
  
  Geographic place names:
  
  * Ballona Creek
     * Ballona Creek Bike Path
  * Ballona Wetlands
  * Ballona Lagoon
  
  Historic places:
  
  * Rancho La Ballona
  * La Ballona Township
  * La Ballona station (1870s to 1890s)
  * Port Ballona
  
  School:
  
  ## Place name origin
  
  The origin of the unique toponym Ballona is much disputed and possibly unknowable. Various theories have been exchanged for more than 150 years.
  
  * 1875: Misspelling of Ballena, Spanish word for whale (various dead whales did wash up near Ballona during the 19th century), or misspelling of Spanish “valle” meaning valley
  * 1893: An introduction to Southern California in the Los Angeles Herald noted “Ballona, meaning and derivation unknown; not Spanish.”
  * 1939: “The origin of the word Ballona is in doubt.” Discounts whale theory; Cristobal Machado, an heir of the rancho family, suggests it’s somehow derivative of “bay”
  