Los Angeles is well known for its part in the entertainment business. Itâs less known for its Indigenous presence, despite having the second largest urban Native American community in the US, and the largest Indigenous community in the US, factoring in Native Pacific Islanders and displaced Latin American Indigenous peoples. Moreover, California has the largest percentage of Native Americans in the US, with 109 federally tribes and 78 more petitioning for recognition.
Whenever Iâm in LA, or Yaangna as the Tongva people calls the village that used to stand where present-day Cornfield Park is, I feel as if Iâm constantly looking for this Indigenous presence, but itâs hard to find without a map, as so much of it has been obscured by the cityâs entertainment industry and massive settler presence.
What is more, because both the Tongva and the Tataviam lack federal recognition, more than 90% of their traditional sites in SoCal have been destroyed by relentless development plans.
But the fact that settlers largely ignore Indigenous presences in the city, does not mean that theyâre not there.
In Santa Monica, Ocean Way suddenly changes its name to Moomat Ahiko, the Breath of the Ocean in Tongva. Itâs a poignant reminder that a language and a people which many had deemed lost is in fact still there, very much alive and actively engaged in the revitalisation of its culture and community.
One of the parks next to the ocean is also known as Tongva Park. It was opened six years ago, and people questioned the name at first, as they didnât know âwhat a Tongva wasâ, but their ignorance did not stop the parking lot turned city park from getting its name.
Close to Santa Monica, University High School has all but swallowed the sacred Kuruvungna Springs, which are still used by the Tongva today.
In Downtown LA, some of the cityâs most poignant and important street art can be found in the Skid Row district, in a place locally known as Indian Alley. In Newport Beach, a massive development plan was recently rejected by the State of California, as it would have destroyed a number of sacred archaeological sites, belonging to the Tongva people.
Thanks to a project known as Mapping Indigenous LA, more and more of these places are becoming visible and known by the general public. There are, however, a multitude of places that donât make it easy for their visitors to know that they stand on sites that were and still are important to the Native communities of SoCal.
Universal Studios Hollywood was built on grounds that used to belong to the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, but fearing angry settlers who had staged a rebellion at the Cahuenga Pass when the governor offered land allotments to the tribe, one of the tribeâs ancestors felt pressured into giving up the land, which mere decades later was turned into Universal Studios.
Disneyland stands on what used to be the Tongva village Hotuukgna. When the park opened its Indian Village, it did not showcase any of the local native culture, and when parts of Rivers of America were being turned into Star Wars land a while ago, the first thing to go was the Native American exhibit.
Another amusement park, Magic Mountain, stands on sacred grounds and graveyards that also belong to the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. Magic Mountain was originally called Chaguayanga, and some members of the tribe feel that the amusement park and its name obscures and mocks the original meaning and sacredness of the place.
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