El Rancho Rinconada de los Gatos was a 6,631-acre (26.83 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California made in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jose Maria Hernandez and Sebastian Fabian Peralta.[1] Located in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, the grant included present-day Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, along with about a third of Campbell.[2][3] It also included small sections of present-day San Jose, Saratoga and unincorporated Santa Clara County.[4] Los Gatos Creek flowed through the center of the rancho. The name means "corner of the cats" and is derived from the cougars that are still present in the nearby hills, as well as the "corner" formed by the narrowing gap between El Sereno and El Sombroso mountains.
- ^ Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos
- ^ Diseño del Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos
- ^ Early Santa Clara Ranchos, Grants, Patents and Maps