Global InformationPuvunga information
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Puvunga Indian Village Sites and Boundary Increase | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
U.S. Historic district | |
 The Puvunga site on the campus of Cal State Long Beach | |
    | |
| Nearest city | Long Beach, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°47′06″N 118°07′16″W / 33.785°N 118.121°W |
| Architect | Tongva |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000521 (original) 82000429 (increase) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 21, 1974 |
| Boundary increase | May 22, 1982 |
Puvunga (alternate spellings: Puvungna or Povuu'nga) is an ancient village and sacred site of the Tongva nation, the Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin, and the Acjachemen, the Indigenous people of Orange County. The site is now located within California State University, Long Beach and the surrounding area.[1] The Tongva know Puvunga as the "place of emergence" and it is where they believed "their world and their lives began".[2] Puvunga is an important ceremonial site and is the end to an annual pilgrimage for the Tongva, Acjachemen, and Chumash.[1]
Before the arrival of European settlers, Puvunga extended far beyond the contemporary location or site that remains.[1] Its presence was first uncovered in 1952, and then in 1974, at the designated location, when trenching was done for the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] In 1992, the university challenged its historic designation and threatened force to build a strip mall on the site, which was blocked by direct action and intervention by the ACLU.[1] In 2019, dirt and trash were dumped on the site by the university.[3]
The site is located near the Japanese Garden along the banks of a now channelized creek, about three miles (5 km) from the Pacific Ocean.[1] The natural area is located near a parking lot at the edge of campus.[1] There was a natural spring located a short distance from the Rancho Alamitos building that flowed until 1956 referred to as Puvunga Spring.[4] Another similar (but larger) Tongva site is Kuruvungna Springs on the grounds of University High School in Los Angeles.
- ^ a b c d e f g Loewe, Ronald (2016). Of sacred lands and strip malls : the battle for Puvungna. Lanham, MD. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-0-7591-2162-1. OCLC 950751182.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Greene, Sean; Curwen, Thomas (May 9, 2019). "Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:5was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Woodbrige, Sally; Berner, Loretta; Young, Pamela. "Architectural Narrative: "Rancho Los Alamitos"" (PDF). Rancho los Alamitos: 2.