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Education

Family-friendly field trips to learn more about LA’s original, Indigenous stewards

A park with green grass and a variety of trees in the background including palm and pine. The sky is clear and blue. There is a wooden plank fence in the foreground.
Santa Monica's Tongva Park features more than six acres of walking paths, sculptures, and native plants. The six-acre expanse is one of more than a dozen landmarks identified by the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.
(
George Rose
/
Getty Images North America
)

If you attend an LAist event or listen to one of our podcasts, you’ll hear an acknowledgement that we operate within the homelands of the Gabrielino Tongva people. The tribe is one of many that has lived on and tended the land now called California.

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Where to take a family-friendly field trip to learn more about LA’s original, Indigenous stewards

“We recognize the painful history of displacement, settler colonialism, and erasure of the People, their language, including place names, and their sovereignty,” our statement reads.

We’ve also got resources for adults, but not a whole lot of kid-friendly ways to learn more about the original stewards of Southern California and today’s Indigenous communities.

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“If parents really want to be diligent about it, they have to educate themselves first,” said Gregg Castro, the culture director for the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, a Northern California tribe. “Then go along that same path with their kids.”

Castro, who is also T’rowt’raahl Salinan and Rumsien, suggested a locally produced documentary series “Tending the Wild,” which explores how Indigenous knowledge of plant and animal life has shaped the environment.

UCLA’s digital storytelling project Mapping Indigenous LA illuminates the lives of the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin as well as those who have relocated and migrated here, including Pacific Islanders and the Indigenous diaspora of Latin America.

Tips for starting conversations with kids

Once you’ve done the homework, here are a few family-friendly places to explore, but keep in mind, much of the area we now live in was once someone else’s home.

“Let the sun shine on you, let leaves fall on you,” Castro said. “Let flies and critters buzz around you and understand that you're only part of it, not the apex of it.”

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Read Native stories

The Los Angeles Public Library curated Native American themed reading lists for children and teens.

A picture book with the title Waa'aka': The Bird Who Fell in Love with the Sun. The title illustration is of a yellow sun with silhouette of a white bird. There is a family sitting at a table with yellow chairs in the background.
Cindi M. Alvitre tells the Tongva creation story in "Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love with the Sun."
(
Elly Yu
/
LAist
)

LAist is also a fan of Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love with the Sun. Cindi M. Alvitre tells the Tongva creation story with help from beautiful illustrations by Carly Lake. Publisher Heyday Books also has dozens of titles for adults by and about California’s indigenous peoples, from cookbooks to essay collections.

Take a field trip

The Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians council of elders offers this guidance for visiting their homelands and we think it applies to any space you might explore on this list.

“Understand that the land beneath you contains thousands of years of our DNA. Be respectful of our Mother land and all her beings … We ask that you do not disturb our animal relatives, contaminate our sacred waters, or leave trash or belongings on our homelands during your visit.”

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An orange building with Autry Museum in white letters on the facade. There is a blue sky in the background and a brick walkway leading to the entrance.
The Autry contains one of the country's largest collections of Indigenous art and artifacts.
(
Courtesy The Autry Museum of the American West.
)

Autry Museum of the American West

The Museum’s collection includes more than 400,000 Indigenous objects. The museum also offers special programs for teachers and schools, and hosts performances by resident theater company Native Voices.

  • Address4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027
  • Hours: Tuesday - Friday 10 a.m.– 4 p.m., Saturday - Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed on several major holidays
  • Admission
    • Adults: $18
    • Discounts: Seniors and students ($14), children ages 3-12 ($8)
    • Free for: members; active-duty U.S. military and veterans; children age 2 and under; visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (if you pre-register).

Chumash Indian Museum

The museum was created after Chumash cultural sites were discovered in the area now known as Oakbrook Park in the 1980s. The center also hosts guided tours on the last Saturday of the month and workshops at varying times.

Have an idea for this story?
  • Send suggestions for places in Southern California where families can learn more about Indigenous communities together to mdale@scpr.org.

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Kuruvungna Village Springs

University High School sits on the site of a Tongva village near a spring thought to be continuously inhabited for more than 8,000 years. The Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation restored the site in recent years and maintains the cultural center there now.


A close up look at a duck who seems to be a bit miffed to be having a photo taken. The duck is perched on the edge of a pond. Other ducks can be seen in the background.
A natural spring at Los Encinos State Historic Park once sustained the Chumash, Tongva, and Tataviam people.
(
Paul Haddad
/
LAist
)

Los Encinos State Historic Park

The natural spring here once sustained the Chumash, Tongva, and Tataviam people who called the village of Siutcanga home. More than 70% of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians descended from residents of the village. In 2023, California State Parks and the tribe deepened their collaboration to protect and provide education at sites within the tribe’s ancestral lands. The park also features Rancho El Encino’s historic adobe and blacksmith shop. Pro-tip: LAist outlined a 2.9 mile trek through Encino that includes a stop at the park!

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For a family trip that teaches about Indigenous land, head to Encino


Natives 4 Nature 

This community organization hosts presentations and nature walks throughout Southern California with the goal of raising Native American representation in the outdoors. Recent events included outings to Ernest E. Debs and San Gabriel River Parks.

  • Locations and hours: Vary by event 

Small rough-edged leathery green leaves.
Coastal Live Oak tree (Quercus agrifolia) are one of the native plants found in Sycamore Canyon. The Chumash harvested, dried and created a flour with their acorns.
(
Robyn Beck
/
AFP via Getty Images
)

Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center

Nearby Sycamore Canyon was part of a Chumash trade route for many years. The Culture Center hosts workshops, presentations, and art shows. You can also picnic and hike the nearby trails throughout the year.

  • Address: Parking at N 34.1569 W -118.9733, Via Goleta and Lynn Road, Newbury Park, CA, 91320
  • Hours: Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m - 4 p.m. 
  • Admission: Free 

Antelope Valley Indian Museum

Mojave Desert homesteader Howard Arden Edwards built the chalet-style building that now houses the museum in 1928. There are more than 3,000 objects that represent the American Indian cultures of the Great Basin. Can’t make the drive? There are also virtual museum tours hosted by tribal members with sign language interpretation.

The Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe has a list of historical landmarks that includes trails, parks and monuments.

A man light skin tone, a white shirt and dark shorts on sits beneath a curving metal pavilion. There are palm trees and the ocean visible in the background.
Santa Monica's Tongva Park features more than six acres of walking paths, sculptures, and native plants. The six-acre expanse is one of more than a dozen landmarks identified by the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.
(
George Rose
/
Getty Images
)

Willing to venture farther?

Visit Native California, a section of the state tourism bureau’s website, highlights destinations connected to tribal communities from the Central Coast’s proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary to Temalpakh Farm in Coachella.

“There are all these beautiful hidden secrets everywhere,” Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians public relations director Kate Anderson told Condé Nast Traveler. “All culture is not for tourism, but a lot is.”

Get lesson plan ideas

While California fourth graders have long-studied the state’s history (and once built sugar cube Mission models), the narrative was often incomplete.

There have been various efforts to expand lessons about California tribes. This year, lawmakers introduced legislation that would require teaching about mistreatment during the Spanish Mission and Gold Rush eras.

UCLA researchers created a series of questions to evaluate potential learning materials about American Indians including:

  • Does the material speak solely in the past tense? If so, think about ways to speak to how American Indians are alive, present, and all around us.
  • Does the material center European superiority and uncenter Indigenous science, technology and gifts given in the world? 
  • Does the material homogenize all Indians? Or does it speak to specific histories and cultural attributes?

California Indian History Curriculum Coalition

Videos and lesson plans created and vetted by educators, tribal scholars and native activists.

  • LAist pick: This middle school lesson teaches students about primary and secondary sources (we love media literacy!) through the lens of the Miwok Indians, but could be adapted to talk about other communities. 

Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians Education and Cultural Learning Department

Enrollment in the nation’s workshops and camps is limited to Native American youth in L.A. County, but anyone can purchase this workbook that introduces the Fernandeño Tataviam language through stories, colors, animals, and numbers.

Early childhood reporter Elly Yu contributed to this story.

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