Site Plan

Visionary Design Backed by Community-Focused Planning

Phase One

Instead of the Hollywood sign and palm trees, the location of 2028 Olympic events in the Sepulveda Basin presents Los Angeles with an opportunity to celebrate its Indigenous peoples and the land on which it sits.

Native American Model Village

A series of traditional structures and meeting grounds that will provide visitors with a glimpse of what life was like for the original inhabitants of the Sepulveda Basin in pre-colonial times.

Native Plant Nursery

A 1.3 acre/50 foot wide strip of land that’s suited to different types of plants and a wide variety of micro climates - full sun, shade, ample water, little water to propogate Native plant species that were found in the Sepulveda Basin in pre-colonial times using soil enriched with Indigenous microbiota to support a wide range of plants used for food, medicine, baskets, reed canoes and other essentials of life.

Native American Food Concession

A pop-up featuring range of Indigenous “fast foods”, including plant based and meat & fish dishes – A “taste of place” reflecting locally available ingredients and cuisine prepared by the Indigenous communities of Los Angeles, before colonization.

A project led by Alan Salazar, a Tataviam and Chumash Tribal Elder, Julia Samaniego, a native plant expert and member of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and Claudia Serrato, an Indigenous chef.

Site plan showing a coastal village layout with beach, green zones, and infrastructure.

Easy Access From Lake Balboa Station on the Orange Line the Olympic Will Require:

New entry plaza
Civic Promenade and new bridge over Bull Creek
Clean up around Bull Creek

A gift to the people of the San Fernando Valley

Alan Salazar, Julia Samaniego & Claudia Serrato

Salazar and Samaniego share the same bloodline as the Tataviam Tribal leadership whose ancestors Francisco Papabubaba & Paula Cayo, and the families of two other Native Americans, jointly received the Rancho Encino land grant on July 24, 1845. This area of 4,460 acres encompasses what we know today as the Sepulveda Basin.**

For many years, Serrato has been actively involved in the Native food justice and sovereignty movement, cooking alongside other Indigenous chefs at cultural food gatherings, summits and pop-ups throughout North America.

The Lake Balboa/Anthony C. Beilenson Park is a highly popular recreation area for the surrounding communities of Lake Balboa, Van Nuys, Encino and Sherman Oaks.

The investments outlined above form part of Projects 16, 17, 18 & 22 in the Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan. With the exception of the pop-up food concession, they will remain in place after the Olympics. Accordingly, we propose that the LA28 Organizing Committee make the investments outlined above as a way to give back to the community.

** NOTE: This grant is referenced in a publicly available letter issued in 2016 by the Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA) within the US Department of the Interior – in response to an ongoing petition from the FTBMI for Federal Recognition.

Phase Two

Environmental & Cultural Studies Center and two Gardens

The environmental & cultural studies center will serve as the home base for outdoor classrooms throughout the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, including Bull Creek and the wildlife reserve. This will effectively transform the entire Basin into an indoor/outdoor laboratory for a course that will be part of an Environmental Sciences and Sustainability curriculum.
A 1.3 acre native plant nursery (Phase One) and a 9-acre foraging garden, composed of native plants traditionally gathered by Indigenous communities for food and other uses, will provide a course in Indigenous culture to be included in a Social Sciences curriculum. This, and the rehabilitation of Bull Creek, will also serve the studies center as an example of restoring habitat and supporting native wildlife species and pollinators.
The geometry of the foraging garden will allow for paths to lace between existing and new oak trees, creating a varied and complex loop system that allows visitors to “discover” new areas and approximate the experience of foraging.

The Native American model village (Phase One) will provide students and visitors with a glimpse into the lives of the pre-colonial inhabitants of the Sepulveda Basin.
A vegetable, herb and flower kitchen garden (approx. ¾ acre) will also serve overall educational objectives that include:
- Educating school children & the public about nutrition and sustainable food supply practices,
- Research-based studies into the sustainable transformation of our system of food production,
- The study of environmental sciences.
Abundant water for irrigation is available to the site from pipes that provide outflow from the Tillman Reclamation plant to the waterfall into Lake Balboa.
The building housing the studies center will also be a teaching tool, demonstrating the principles of sustainable building technologies.

Native American Restaurant

Inspired by executive chef’s Sean Sherman’s OWAMNI fine dining establishment in Minneapolis (https://owamni.com/), the Native American restaurant aims to be destination dining on a par with other high quality and innovative establishments that Los Angeles is known for.
The restaurant will be housed in the western half of a stunningly beautiful pavilion with a terrace overlooking an expansive kitchen garden and Lake Balboa, and the Santa Monica Mountains in the background.
Using produce grown in the kitchen and foraging gardens, our plan is for the restaurant to be controlled and managed by members of the Indigenous tribes and communities whose ancestors lived in the Greater Los Angeles area in pre-colonial times, with support from and trained by established Indigenous chefs, including Chef Dr. Claudia Serrato and Sean Sherman’s North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems - https://natifs.org/indigenous-food-lab/.

The restaurant and adjacent event space can be planned to accommodate special events and catering.
Community Objectives Include:
- Raise awareness of the pre-colonial historical narrative of local Native Americans and their way of life as a model for modern sustainability.
- Raise student awareness of nature's role in the evolution of culture and science.
- Provide specialized vocational educational opportunities in the culinary arts.
- Subject to timely approvals and funding, showcase Native American culture and cuisine to the world during the 2028 Olympics, and to patrons of the proposed championship golf course a short walk away.
- Provide low-cost nutritious take-out meals from the restaurant for the local community.
The pavilion hosting the Studies Center and Restaurant is an attractive prospect for a naming rights funder.

Civic Plaza/Resilience & Community Center

A civic plaza, to be located near to the corner of Balboa & Victory Boulevards and the Orange Line bus station, will become a “downtown” for neighboring communities.
A key objective is to ensure, through community outreach, that the plaza provides facilities and activities that local residents themselves believe will enhance their lives.
Currently, our plan is to include a crescent-shaped two-level pavilion that fits into the existing topography accommodating:
- Underground parking
- A resilience & community center providing a safe place in the event of climate emergencies
- A branch library
- Workstations & virtual meeting booths
- Performance spaces in the 20,000 SF first level
- A natural & cultural history interpretive center
- A gift shop selling Native American art & crafts
- A ranger station and security office
- Exhibition spaces in the 20,000 SF second level

An outdoor plaza would accommodate:
- Restroom and hydration facilities
- A café and a take-out kiosk selling subsidized meals produced in the Native American restaurant and produce harvested from the foraging & kitchen gardens
- A weekend farmer’s market
- Performance spaces
In addition to an outdoor escalator from the plaza, ADA access from the underground parking via an elevator would lead to the proposed civic promenade and a short walk to the Native American restaurant.
We see the civic plaza/resilience & community center as being key to community support by creating a neighborhood in an area, part of which is currently being used as an encampment for the unhoused.
The Civic Plaza and the Resilience & Community Center are attractive prospects for naming rights funders.

Bull Creek Restoration – Including a New Bridge

In the Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan, Bull Creek’s rehabilitation is described as follows (accompanied by the image below): “Bull Creek's active channel zone will be widened to ~200 feet to expand the natural flow of the creek with low and midlevel terraces. The banks of the creek will be re-planted to provide an expanded riparian and upland habitat. Existing native vegetation will be preserved and invasive species removed.”

In addition to adding great beauty alongside the restaurant, this project would supplement the foraging garden by providing ingredients, including acorn-rich Valley Oaks, and be a powerful education tool in habitat restoration for the studies center. Bull Creek is one of a number of LA River tributaries within the Basin and we’re proposing that research into its historical hydrology will serve as a pilot “enabling-study” to guide the restoration of the other tributaries. The new bridge is another prospect for a naming rights funder.