Moons Over Monuments

Moons Over Monuments #3

The Tongva Sacred Springs monument appeared to be just a street sign next to a LA high school, it revealed itself to be so much more.

I chose this monument because: a. I dig indigenous American history (still pondering chasing that archeology degree) and b. it’s on a street named “Barrington“, which I found hilarious and appropriate for a shoot about “baring” my” ton” of a behind.  If you are expecting more sophisticated humor, let me remind you, this is a website where I moon important stuff and it makes me giggle.

I saw the sign!

On a whim (honestly, it was because I was already wearing make up from a friendly breakfast date) I thought we should just drop by and get an idea of the place on Saturday, maybe even go ahead and moon in the midst of heavy traffic if inspiration struck.  Surely we could make a clean get away before cops showed up to site me for indecent exposure.

After Seen took the pic of my mug next to the sign, we realized the gate to the high school parking lot was open and there seemed to be a park just inside.  That park turned out to be the actual Tongva Sacred Springs!

Here’s where the serendipity really kicks in.  The park is only open for 3 hours, 10:00 am – 1:00 p.m. on the 1st Saturday of every month.  We sauntered in at 12:55 on that whim-chosen Saturday.

The Tongva Sacred Springs is a lovely area, with a little path over a stream that was home to graceful reeds.  Those reeds served as a discretionary curtain for me hide behind, as I did what I had to in order to get this blog to you.  (If you look closely, you can see the teenage girl just to the left of where I was mooning.  I hope she was as completely oblivious to me, as teenage girls can be.)

Because there were a few people around, the chance of exposure increased.  My heart was racing and my cheeks flushed as I quickly let the full moon loose on Tongva Springs.  I was in such a rush pulling my trousers down, I popped the button off my pants and had to walk around the rest of the day buttonless.  This included going to a fancy-pants art walk in Culver City.

A Moon rises over the marsh

After I composed myself, we walked around the grounds, witnessed the cool bubbling of the natural spring, sat in the groovy outdoor amphitheatre and read about the history of the place.

On our way out, we encountered a short lady who asked if we had enjoyed our tour of the grounds.  Turns out that lady was Angie Dorame Behrns, President of the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation.

She let us know about plans the City of LA was making to build a parking lot on the southern part of the springs.  Not near, ON.

(How she intends to save the springs and an explanation of why I’m wearing the pink t-shirt after the jump)

The entire park is smaller than a football field, paving this over this postage stamp sized preservation area seems really ballsy of LA.  Angie is currently fighting the city, but if you know bureaucracy, it’s going to take a lot of cash and a lot of time.

Ms. Behrns also handed us some brochures, her card and an invitation to attend the fundraising event. A Native American Arts and Crafts festival will light up the springs on Sunday, September 26th.  You can bet my naked bum we’ll be there.

Such a peaceful path to the moon

I let her know that I’m writing a blog about California Historical markers and monuments.  The detail that it is also about my butt was left out, because I actually wanted her to take me seriously.  Awareness could shine a light on this itty-bit of land and help their cause to save it.

According to the materials she gave us, the springs, called the Kuruvungna Springs, was once a thriving, self-contained village filled with tule-thatched houses called kichas.  The first Europeans to the area were soldiers of the Portola expedition in August 1769.  Less than 60 years later, the village was forcibly dissolved as the California Ranchos began to dominate the area.  You can read a bit more on their website.

Waiting for a show at the amphitheatre

This adventure, my 3rd Mooning of a Monument, was exactly what I want to accomplish here on MOM:  I discovered a very cool historical spot that probably 99% of people have never heard of; I learned about, and hopefully shared a bit of, history and; Seen and I had a fun time together, giggling in the bushes.

There are just 2 more notes I wanted to share with you about this entry:

1.  I am wearing a 32 Candles t-shirt to help promote Ernessa T Carter’s debut novel.  I won the shirt for pre-ordering the book, which is great btw.  We were just going to take a few pictures for her blog on Saturday, but the day rolled it’s serendipitous carpet out in front of us and who were we to say no.

2.  I mean absolutely NO disrespect by baring my hiney here.  In truth, this has taken me about a month after the shoot to write and post.  I can see how my European descended, lily-white keister floating over the Native peoples Sacred Spring might be a apt metaphor for the history between my ancestors and theirs (though mine, specifically, chose to steal land in NE, IA and CO).  Even though I am a student of Indigenous fairy tales, I know I’m an Irish-German girl, not a Native American of any tribe (that 1/16th in me is a drop).  I respect the culture and hope there is enough humor left in that camp to understand the reason I chose to moon and write.  A lot of people drive right by historical stuff, but seeing a crazy chick mooning historical stuff, that might make them look twice.

(Click on a picture below to make it larger.  My butt will not change size no matter how many times you click.)