Tongva Canoe Fragment↑

When the City of Los Angeles was founded in 1781, the Tongva had already inhabited the area for thousands of years, settling along the waterways from the San Gabriel Valley to Thousand Oaks. For ocean voyages they traveled in canoes made of Torrey pine planks lashed together with plant cords and sealed with pine tar and pitch. In 1939, the Natural History Museum dispatched a team of archaeologists and anthropologists to San Clemente Island for an exploration of its forgotten hills and caves. The Tongva had settlements on the island until 1800. The museum team found vessel fragments and other artifacts of the tribe.

Photograph by Henry Leutwyler

Source: Los angeles magazine