He started by sorting beer bottles. He ended up building a valley.
The kind you drive an hour for and end up coming back to. Five properties, hundreds of jobs, and a whole side of Temecula, built by one man who set out to bless the people around him and never stopped.
The valley he built, one property at a time
Ken Smith didn’t set out to build a portfolio. He saw places with potential, character, and a story worth continuing. Over the years, those places have become destinations where people gather, celebrate, explore, and make memories that stay with them long after they leave.
The Spark
Ken and Tina purchased Galway Downs, 242 acres with a rich history and even greater potential. What began with one remarkable property would become a lasting commitment to creating places people could experience, enjoy, and remember.
A Legacy Takes Shape
Over the years, that vision found new expressions across the valley. Danza del Sol. Masia de la Vinya. Native Falls. Cross Creek Golf Club. Each distinctly its own, each shaped by the land, the people, and the experiences that make Temecula special.
Memories In The Making
Today, five unique properties welcome people for rounds of golf, afternoons in the vines, weekends by the lake, celebrations, competitions, and everything in between. Different places. Different experiences. Countless memories that will last a lifetime.
Ken and Tina Smith
Ken Smith started a long way from wine country, sorting beer bottles as a kid in Chicago. In 1977 he founded Southwest Traders and built it into one of the region’s most trusted distribution companies. He brought that same drive to Temecula. One property at a time, he took places the valley had written off and put in the years it took to make them thrive. Native Falls was neglected. Cross Creek was underused. Galway Downs was waiting for someone to see it. Ken saw all of it, and built. His work has earned multiple Xenia Awards and the Welty Award for Tourism Professional of the Year, and created more than 800 local jobs across the valley.
“I’m most proud of building something that blesses others. My family, my employees, and the community.” Ken Smith
That is the why behind it all. Ken didn’t inherit these places. He saw what they could become and put in the work to help them thrive. Today, each property stands on its own, with a character, history, and experience entirely its own. Together, they have become places where families gather, couples celebrate, friends reconnect, and visitors discover something unexpected in Temecula Valley. The legacy isn’t simply in the properties themselves. It’s in the memories people make there.
Built Over Time. Remembered For A Lifetime.
The People Who Keep It Going
Ken built the properties to bless the people around him. The Kentina team carries that forward, working across every property with one mission: make every guest experience live up to why he built it.
Blaine Smith
Sara Sindicich
Walter Carter
Robert Kellerhouse
The Story Is Still Being Written.
Five distinct properties, each with a story of its own. Come discover the places, experiences, and moments that continue to shape their legacy in Temecula Valley.