The EXL lab is excited to announce The World Beneath Our Feet, a new urban hiking series that explores the layers of history, buried but always present, that live under the concrete landscapes of Greater Los Angeles! For our first hike in the series, we will journey to the historical village of Yaanga.
At the time of its flourishing (pre-1781), Yaanga was one of the most powerful villages of the Kizh-Gabrieleño people. Situated on a gentle slope where the LA River bends around the eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, the location of Yaanga enjoyed a year-round supply of water that sustained agriculture and provided habitat for an abundance of fish, mammals, plants, and trees. Today, the remains of Yaanga exist roughly below the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles, from el Pueblo de Los Angeles up the hillside to Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium. An ancient path known as “The Old Salt Road,” on its way north from the mouth of the LA River up to Yaanga, leads right through what is now USC campus.
So, for our first journey, we will take the Old Salt Road from USC to the Village of Yaanga. We’ll stop for lunch and local history near el Pueblo, and end at the Buena Vista Viewpoint, which sits atop the terraced hillside known by the Kizh-Gabrieleño as Mowanga, offering an excellent view of the River looking north.
Our path is based on the indigenous trade routes recovered in “Mapping Los Angeles Landscape History,” a recently published (2023) mapping project led by the USC Spatial Sciences Institute (project website: https://lalandscapehistory.org/). To guide us on our journey, we will be joined by USC Professor Philip Ethington, a historian of Los Angeles and the MLALH’s principal investigator.
PACKING LIST:
Water
Waiver
WE WILL PROVIDE:
Lunch! (generously provided by EXL Lab)
PEAK: “Old Salt Road” from USC Rose Garden
DIFFICULTY: 1/5
SCENERY: Starting from familiar territory (USC) and venturing Downtown, we will explore the history of Yaanga living beneath our feet
TRIP LEAD: May