The widespread popularity of the novel resulted in jurisdictions naming schools (Ramona High School in Riverside), streets, freeways (the San Bernardino Freeway was originally named the Ramona Freeway) and towns (unincorporated communities called Ramona in both Los Angeles and San Diego County) after the novel's heroine. Southern California became a tourist destination, as many people wanted to see the locations featured in the book. Its publication coincided with the opening of Southern Pacific Railroad's Southern California rail lines, which fed a tourism boom.[2]
As a result, many sites across Southern California tried to emphasize their Ramona connections. Jackson died without having specified locations for her novel. Two places claimed to have inspired her work: Rancho Camulos, near Piru, and Rancho Guajome in Vista, as she had visited both before writing her novel.[2]
Camulos became the most accepted "Home of Ramona" due to several factors. The description of Moreno Ranch is similar to the historic Rancho Camulos. Influential writers, such as George Wharton James and Charles Fletcher Lummis, avowed that it was so. When the Southern Pacific Railroad opened its main Ventura County line in 1887, it had a stop at Camulos. With the company engaged in a rate war,[13] the trip to Camulos became relatively easy and affordable for visitors. Finally, the Del Valle family of Camulos welcomed tourists: they exploited the association in marketing their products, labeling their oranges and wine as "The Home of Ramona" brand.
In contrast, Guajome did not publicly become associated with Ramona until an 1894 article in Rural Californian made the claim. However, as the house was nearly four miles (6 km) from the nearest Santa Fe Railroad station, getting there was not so easy. Additionally, the Couts family, who owned the property, were not eager to have flocks of tourists on the grounds, possibly due to a falling out between author Jackson and Senora Couts.[2]
Estudillo House in Old Town San Diego identified as "Ramona's Marriage Place"; the novel said briefly that Ramona was married in San Diego. Although no record existed of Jackson's having visited there, this house became a popular tourist destination. This status continued for years. Estudillo House was unique in marketing solely in terms of Ramona-related tourism. The caretaker sold pieces of the house to tourists, which hastened its deterioration. In 1907, the new owner John D. Spreckels hired architect Hazel Wood Waterman to remodel the house to more closely match descriptions in the novel. When the reconstruction was completed in 1910, the building reopened as a full-fledged Ramona tourist attraction.[2] Estudillo House's application for National Historic Landmark status was entitled "Casa Estudillo/Ramona's Marriage Place".[3]
Other notable Ramona landmarks included "Ramona's Birthplace", a small adobe near Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, and the grave of Ramona Lubo on the Ramona Band of Cahuilla Indians reservation. Writer George Wharton James called Lubo the "real Ramona."[14] Her life bore some resemblance to that of the fictional Ramona. Sixteen years after Lubo's death, in 1938 local people erected a "Ramona monument" at her gravesite. [2]
The Ramona Pageant was a play adapted from the novel. It was staged outdoors, beginning in 1923 in Hemet. The pageant has been held here annually since.
Most historians believe that the fictional Moreno Ranch is an amalgamation of various locations and was not intended to represent a single place.[2] As Carey McWilliams said in his book Southern California Country (1946):
- Picture postcards, by the tens of thousands, were published showing "the schools attended by Ramona," "the original of Ramona," "the place where Ramona was married," and various shots of the "Ramona Country." [...] It was not long before the scenic postcards depicting the Ramona Country had come to embrace all of Southern California.[15]
Because of the novel's extraordinary popularity, public perception merged fact and fiction. California historian Walton Bean wrote:
- These legends became so ingrained in the culture of Southern California that they were often mistaken for realities. In later years many who visited "Ramona's birthplace" in San Diego or the annual "Ramona Pageant" at Hemet (eighty miles north of San Diego) were surprised and disappointed if they chanced to learn that Ramona was a (fictional) novel rather than a biography.[10]
The novel contributed to the unique cultural identity of Southern California and the whole of the Southwest. The architecture of the missions had recently gained national exposure and local restoration projects were just beginning. Railroad lines to Southern California were just opening and, combined with the emotions stirred by the novel, the region suddenly gained national attention.[2] Mission Revival Style architecture became popular from about 1890 to 1915. Many examples still stand throughout California and other southwest areas.
