Rancho De Los Kiotes

Rancho De Los Kiotes, also called the Leo Carrillo Ranch, is a ten-and-a-half-acre complex of adobe and wood buildings in Carlsbad, California. Actor Leo Carrillo built it between 1937 and 1940 as a weekend retreat and working ranch meant to honor his Hispanic heritage. Carrillo drew up the designs himself, and Cruz Mendoza and his sons of Vista did the construction. The U-shaped main hacienda has thick adobe walls, a clay tile roof and corner beehive-shaped fireplaces. Nearby are a three-level adobe barn, a foreman's house, a cantina, a swimming pool and a small hillside house built for his wife. The ranch once covered 2,538 acres, but only the historic core remains, now owned by the city. The buildings show deterioration but have not been altered. The ranch is significant for its link to Carrillo, a film and television actor and longtime state parks commissioner who promoted California's Spanish past, and for its authentic adobe craftsmanship.