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BHistory
History · Los Olivos

Los Olivos’ post office opened in 1887, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Ballard Adobes. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1942 on.

1887first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Los Olivos’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Los Olivos began

When was Los Olivos founded?

1887

The Los Olivos post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,202139 years

How historic is Los Olivos?

B

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Los Olivos post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Los Olivos’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Los Olivos is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Los Olivos’ overall grade.
Founding era1887, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194013.6% of homes (±9.0) · typical CA town 3.4% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 9.6 per 10,000 residents · typical CA town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 58%
NewerOlder

Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Los Olivos’ 9.6 sits above most of its state (91% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Los Olivos’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Los Olivos’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Los Olivos’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewVoor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-182: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Los Olivos came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Los Olivos.

Read it all →

Sometime around 1880, on a bluff overlooking Alamo Pintado Creek, just north of the town of Ballard, a two-story house was built, with a wide, covered front porch and neatly symmetrical arched windows in the center gable, situated on prime farmland. It became the property of twenty-two-year-old Alden March Boyd, of Albany, New York, when he paid $8,000 for "157 acres, more or less, together with the dwelling house," in 1885. He planted five thousand olive trees, and called it Rancho De Los Olivos. The 1880s were a boom time for California. On November 16, 1887, the Pacific Coast Railway line extension from Los Alamos was completed. The developers of the narrow-gauge railway first named their town El Olivar, then El Olivos, and finally Los Olivos, after Boyd's nearby ranch.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Los Olivos, 1887 to 1942

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Los Olivos post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908In the archiveVoor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-182
  5. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Los Olivos, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Voor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-1821908Voor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-182
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today17 recent
Foxen Canyon Road - September 2023 - Sarah Stierch 032023Foxen Canyon Road - September 2023 - Sarah Stierch 03Foxen Canyon Road - September 2023 - Sarah Stierch 022023Foxen Canyon Road - September 2023 - Sarah Stierch 02Yellow-billed Magpie near2009Yellow-billed Magpie nearPine Trader2009Pine TraderLos Olivos CA2009Los Olivos CAVincenzo Nibali - 2009 Tour of California2008Vincenzo Nibali - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaTrent Lowe -2009 Tour of California2008Trent Lowe -2009 Tour of CaliforniaThor Hushovd - 2009 Tour of California2008Thor Hushovd - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaPedro Horrillo-Munoz2008Pedro Horrillo-MunozMark Cavendish, 2009 Tour of California2008Mark Cavendish, 2009 Tour of CaliforniaJonathan Patrick McCarty - 2009 Tour of California2008Jonathan Patrick McCarty - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaJanez Brajkovič - 2009 Tour of California2008Janez Brajkovič - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaGrégory Rast - 2009 Tour of California2008Grégory Rast - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaBen Jacques-Maynes - 2009 Tour of California2008Ben Jacques-Maynes - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaAddy Engels - 2009 Tour of California2008Addy Engels - 2009 Tour of CaliforniaAaron Olsen -2009 Tour of California2008Aaron Olsen -2009 Tour of CaliforniaFessparker2007Fessparker
On the map

Los Olivos on the map, 1942 to 1995

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Los Olivos. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Los Olivos on the 1942 USGS mapLos Olivos on the 1959 USGS mapLos Olivos on the 1982 USGS mapLos Olivos on the 1995 USGS map1942Los Olivos sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Los Olivos.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Voor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-182
Retake this viewVoor Los Olivos, RP-F-2007-6-182, 1908

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Los Olivos’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Los Olivos

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2025
Ballard Adobes
Ballard Adobes
Buildings
All 1 listings
Ballard AdobesBuilding · listed 2025

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Los Olivos

Nobody well known was born in Los Olivos itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Katy PerryAmerican singer · b. 1984
Maika MonroeAmerican actress · b. 1993
Anthony EdwardsAmerican actor · b. 1962
Edie SedgwickAmerican socialite, actress and model · b. 1943
A
Alex D. LinzAmerican actor · b. 1989
Cole HauserAmerican actor · b. 1975
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BallardIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Los Olivos’ history

What year was Los Olivos founded?

The Los Olivos post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Los Olivos rank for history?

Los Olivos is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Los Olivos?

One place: the Ballard Adobes (listed 2025).

How old are the homes in Los Olivos?

14% of Los Olivos’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1976.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.