Alessandro “Alexander” Repetto (c. 1823-1883) was a wealthy sheep farmer from Genoa, Italy who at one point owned 5,000 acres of land in the Montebello/Monterey Park region, including parts of the Lugo family’s Rancho San Antonio and the elusive Rancho La Merced, which had already slipped through multiple hands (Soto, Workman, Sánchez, etc.). Repetto was a character, tipping the scales at 335 pounds and known for his homemade miracle cures. Yet he is mostly remembered for an 1874 incident in which he was robbed by notorious bandit Tiburcio Vásquez and gang. Repetto was mistakenly declared dead by the press in 1882; when he died for real the following year, his good friend Harris Newmark – who called Repetto “a recluse somewhat on the misanthropic order” – executed his will and eventually bought his ranch, which became the Montebello tract in 1900. Montebello’s Repetto Avenue was named in 1927, Monterey Park’s El Repetto Drive in 1953. Not sure why they added the “El”.
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