Visit Native California Sites in Torrance

It’s important to honor and observe the history of those that came before us. If you’re looking to explore Native American culture and tribes in Los Angeles, start in Torrance. This South Bay city is part of the ancestral homeland of the Gabrielino-Tongva people.

When you walk through Torrance, you’re walking across a landscape layered with stories, some stretching back thousands of years. Long before freeways, fashion centers, and surfing, this part of Southern California the Gabrielino-Tongva people were the original stewards of the Los Angeles Basin.

The Gabrielino-Tongva People

The Tongva (pronounced TONG-vuh) are the Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin and Southern Channel Islands. During the Spanish mission period, they were referred to as the Gabrielino or San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.

The Tongva, whose name means “people of the earth,” once lived across more than 4,000 square miles, from the mountains and valleys of Los Angeles and Orange Counties to the shores of the Southern Channel Islands. Before European contact, they numbered between ten to fifteen thousand in more than one hundred villages across the area.

Tracing Tongva Roots

The Tongva’s villages lined rivers and wetlands, from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific coast. Their traditional territory extended from Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains, west to Topanga Canyon, south to Laguna Beach, and out to the islands of Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Nicolas.

Today, you can still feel traces of that world if you know where to look. Visitors can respectfully learn about the Tongva’s enduring presence by exploring key sites in and around Torrance.

A Window Into the Past: Madrona Marsh Preserve & Nature Center

Start your exploration at Madrona Marsh Preserve & Nature Center, one of the last remaining vernal wetlands in Southern California. Torrance was once rich with marshland, and a place of abundance, where freshwater met ocean air and life thrived year-round. Madrona marsh is a rare survivor of what much of the region once looked like, and a living reminder of how the Tongva once experienced this land.

While there’s no record of a permanent Tongva village within the marsh, it likely served as a gathering and hunting ground. Wetlands, known to the Tongva as “cienegas,” were vital places, rich with fish, birds, and plants used for food, medicine, basket weaving, freshwater, and even transportation along the coast, canoeing from Wilmington to Redondo Beach through these waterways.

Madrona Marsh is home to over 100 species, from birds and frogs to reptiles and small mammals. Its trails and Nature Center let visitors learn how the Tongva once lived here and reconnect with the land. As you wander, listen for a red-tailed hawk or spot reeds swaying in the shallow pools, reminders of the landscapes the Tongva lived in harmony with for generations.

NEARBY TONGVA LANDMARKS

While exploring Torrance, you’re also close to several significant Tongva-related sites across Los Angeles:

• Cahuenga Peak (Griffith Park) – Known to the Tongva as “Kawenga,” this high point behind the Hollywood Sign was considered a sacred “place in the mountains.” Visitors today can hike the peak for sweeping views of the city.
• Tongva Park (Santa Monica) – This six-acre coastal park honors the Tongva people, with native plants and interpretive elements that reflect the Tongva’s connection to the land and sea.
• Tongva Memorial at Loyola Marymount University – The first ever memorial in their honor is located on land once inhabited by Tongva villages, now occupied by LMU student residences.

The Tongva Today: Returning to the Land

For nearly two centuries, the Tongva were denied legal rights to their ancestral lands, a painful legacy of broken treaties and erasure. But their story did not end there.

In 2022, a remarkable event marked a new chapter: a one-acre property in Altadena was returned to them, the first time in nearly 200 years Tongva have held land in their own name. Known as the Land Return Site, it now serves as a gathering and ceremony space, and living symbol of cultural renewal and resilience.

Today, the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribal Council continues to lead efforts in language revitalization, cultural education, and ecological restoration.

You can learn more about their ongoing work and support their programs through the official Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe website.

Honoring Tongva Heritage in Torrance

For travelers interested in Native California heritage, Torrance offers a thoughtful place to visit, where nature, history and community intersect.

Stop by the California Welcome Center Torrance (inside Del Amo Fashion Center) for maps, locally made goods, and itinerary ideas that connect you to the region’s deeper stories.

Whether you’re visiting for the day or exploring the larger Los Angeles area, you will be traveling on Tongva land, amongst their stories and traditions that continue to shape Southern California today.

Originally published March 16, 2023. Updated November 1, 2025 with new Tongva history and Madrona Marsh Preserve & Nature Center information.