MILLENNIUM MOMENT

When the Spanish colonizers of Southern California arrived here in 1769,

they found a land that already had about a quarter of a million

occupants.

The indigenous tribes, the Shoshonean Indians, were spread out across the

San Gabriel and Santa Ana valleys and the Los Angeles plains. Father Juan

Crespi, who wrote the first history of the tribe, called the Indians

“Gabrielinos.”

Local Gabrielino settlements included Moyo, which was north of the

Newport Bay estuary, and Lukup, which was near the Santa Ana River.

There, the Indians had access to a rich food supply and developed an

advanced culture.

The Gabrielinos didn’t fare particularly well at the hands of the

Spanish, but there are still descendants of the tribe throughout Southern

California.

* MILLENNIUM MOMENT celebrates the people who have made a major

contribution to the Newport-Mesa community during this century.