Culver City

A city was in the wings, just waiting to be “born.”

Before the Spanish settled California, Native Americans traversed the fertile valleys surrounding their home in Yangna, today's downtown Los Angeles. They lived off the land's rich resources, harvesting materials for their baskets and huts, hunting small game, and spearing fish from their broadboats on the creek known now as La Ballona.

The early Spanish settlers called these indigenous people the Gabrielinos after the San Gabriel Mission, established in 1771. The Mission and surrounding land were protected by Spanish soldiers sent by King Carlos III of Spain. Many stayed on, married, raised families and started grazing cattle.