Angie Behrns & University Springs
“When we lose respect for the land we lose respect for one another.â€
Los Angeles is once again suffering a drought. Our fragile ecosystem is stressed beyond reason by millions of people living in this semi-arid climate. They all need water and power. They demand access to showers and toilets, air conditioning, television and computers, swimming pools and saunas, street lighting and traffic signals. It was disturbing to see gushing spring water draining unused into the Los Angeles sewer system to be carried to the Pacific. Far more than 50,000 gallons are wasted per day.
I’ve never seen a real spring. I expected, prepared by book descriptions and movies, to see some rocks with water spilling over them. Instead there was a small concrete-rimmed pool. The sandy bottom bubbled and stirred as the water came up. The pool feeds into a small lagoon, also concrete-edged, surrounded by trees and shrubs. This natural miracle sits on the south campus of University High School. It has a long history, beginning with the Gabrielino village (Kuruvungna) that was here long before Spain or England looked covetously at California. In 1769, Gaspar Portola camped here with his soldiers, exploring Alta California. Francisco Sepulveda built his rancho home near the springs. In the 1880s, newly founded Santa Monica drew their municipal water from the springs. Today it is watched over and protected by the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation and, more specifically, Angie Dorame Behrns.
Angie is a descendant of the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe on her father’s side. She attended University High School in the 1950s. She remembers the springs then, lush with green grass, inviting and shady for lunch or quiet studying. In 1992, she and husband Dan returned for an alumni reunion. She wanted to show him what she remembered as Los Angeles’s most beautiful school campus. She was appalled to find the springs overgrown, strewn with trash, dead grass, almost criminally neglected and abused.
The memory of its beauty nagged at her, stirred her to question. What she learned was even worse. Planned construction of an underground parking structure associated with Barrington Plaza would soon destroy the springs entirely.
Angie has always encouraged her children and grand-children to be activists, to be involved in their community. How could she turn her back and see this historic and amazing gift of Nature destroyed to create parking?
She began to reach out to others, enlist aid, learn what needed to be done, find people to help her do it. At first, her concern was simply to save the springs she remembered so fondly. As a Gabrielino/Tongva descendant, she knew that a tribal village had been located at the springs. But the idea of connecting the two came from a supporter’s suggestion. It has proved to be a good union, drawing help and support from a broader spectrum.
The struggle has been long and hard. First, there was the detail and legal tangle of creating a non-profit foundation. Then there was fund raising and applying for grants. Sometimes it seemed there was no end–and little help. They began “Before Columbus Day†in 1993 (obviously in early October) to increase awareness of the springs and its problems. It has been held every year since. Distinguished guests have included Maxine Waters, Bill Rosendahl, Tom Hayden and Antonio Villaraigosa. Last year, the name was changed to “The Gathering,†a less confrontational description for the event.
Angie and her Foundation Board have never stopped–or even slowed–in their commitment to the springs. They have achieved much. They have both Los Angeles City and California State recognition as an historic site. In 2007, they received the prestigious Governor’s Historic Preservation Award. This year, they are planning the use of a generous grant that will allow them to re-landscape the area around the lower springs with California native trees, shrubs and flowers.
Angie envisions a future when the springs will be an open park with a cultural center and interpretive signage. She’s gathered a museum’s worth of historic objects over the past 16 years, reflecting the many groups that have enjoyed the springs over time. There are items from Kuruvungna, the Gabrielino/Tongva village; a stone metate and mano (for grinding corn and other grains into meal) were recently unearthed. There is Mexican pottery from the Rancho period and a wealth of memories of University High in its first years and its distinguished alumni.
The spring as it exists today challenges us to believe in its future. It is dried-brown grass with unlovely temporary buildings, poorly planned by LAUSD. One upper spring is over-grown with foliage and littered with trash; another is simply a manhole cover and a nearby grate beneath which you can see the rush of water flowing into the sewer. Yet we must not only believe but also become a part of its future. Where else in Los Angeles is there such a bounty of Nature, generously given and easily seen?
On Sunday, September 28, the springs will be open for this year’s Gathering, a celebration of the past–and a chance to help the future. There will be lots of activities: Azteca and Gabrielino/Tongva dancers, story-tellers, basket-weavers and pottery-painters, and Native American foods to taste and enjoy. Angie’s museum of treasures will be on display, spanning 300-plus years of history. You can see for yourself the magnificent springs and how much they need your support and help.
Sunday, September 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking is free; enter off Barrington.
