Native American Indians

Native American Indians have lived in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding area for over 10,000 years. Though of different languages and tribes, they lived a similar lifestyle based on the abundant food and materials provided by the environment. They fished in the ocean, hunted rabbits and deer in the canyons, and gathered acorns from the oak woodlands. Prosperous and industrious, the tribes who inhabited the mountains lived in the center of a network of commerce that extended up and down the coast, west to the Channel Islands, and inland to Arizona. Today we know the descendants of these people as the Chumash in the western and the Tongva in the eastern portions of the mountains.

We are in the process of expanding this section. For more information on the Chumash, please visit the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center in Newbury Park. There you can learn about Chumash culture and walk inside a replica of an 'ap, a Chumash house.