Los Angeles Mayor. He served as the mayor of Los Angeles, California, from 1853 to 1854. He was appointed to the position of mayor after the former mayor John G. Nichols left office. He was also a prominent city attorney, man of letters, and land baron. In 1838, he was made Assistant Secretary of Tribunals of the City of Los Angeles, as well as a Judge of the First Instance (or Justice of the Peace) in 1843. In 1844, he was appointed Captain and Inspector of the southern missions by then Mexican Governor Manuel Micheltorena. After the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, he served as a Captain and Sergeant-at-arms in the Mexican Artillery and fought against the United States. After the war ended in 1847, he bacame a United States citizen and permanently settled in Los Angeles. He went onto have a huge impact on the California Gold Rush, and eventually left the office of mayor in 1854 to focus on this and other projects. He was considered a leading citizen of the New Order, and on the cultural front; he had been named a member of the State Horticultural Society, served as the President of the Spanish Benevolent Society, and was a founding member of the Historical Society of Southern California. His other notable political offices held included Los Angeles City and County Assessor (1850 to 1856), Los Angeles Superintendent of Schools (1850 to 1855), Los Angeles City Councilman (1854 to 1855), Los Angeles County Supervisor (1860), California State Treasurer (1866 to 1870), and California State Assemblyman (1870 to 1871). He retired from politics to take up real estate. Once the owner of the famed Rancho Los Feliz (now Griffith Park) for many years, he died at his modest home in Los Angeles on April 17, 1894, at the age of 76. After his death he was called one of the region's most fascinating movers and shakers. Several of Coronel's personal possessions are on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.