The Live Oak | Julia Bogany, Tongva Elder

Many trees and plants in Los Angeles are not native to the region—including palm trees. Julia Bogany, a Tongva cultural consultant, reflects on the variety of indigenous trees in Southern California and offer wisdom from this complicated history.

Julia Bogany is a member of the Tongva tribe and sits on their Tribal Council. As their Cultural Consultant, she has worked for over thirty years for the American Indian Community providing cultural training, language workshops, and more in Los Angeles and beyond. Bogany wants to change the future for her tribe, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; this is her way of doing it. She cares for her great grandchildren and teaches them arts, crafts, language, and culture. All the work she’s done for the past twenty years is for their future and for the future of her Tongva tribe.