Not too many people can say they've found god near the 405. Fewer still will place the epiphany along the overpass-cluttered stretch between the 710 and the 605. And even fewer will know that he was born there, just to the west of the freeway in a quiet part of Long Beach.
Mind you, this is not Jehovah or Christ or any of our other well-known deities. This god, known as Wuyoot in older versions of Southern California Indian lore, was the great captain of the Tongva (Gabrielino) Indians. I discovered his origins in a tiny footnote to an obscure book. What caught my eye was that his birthplace was presumed to be smack dab in the middle of what used to be historic Rancho Los Alamitos, formerly owned by the Bixby family. Often, while whizzing past the unmarked border between L.A. and Orange counties, I'd noticed the Bixby Ranch Co., a modern glass building just northeast of the 405. I couldn't help but wonder, was this the spot where the first god of Los Angeles was born? It was time for a pilgrimage.
When I got to the Bixby Ranch Co., however, I was informed, both in person and by brochure, that the place I sought was on the other side of the freeway and the other side of the county line. "That's where all the controversy's been," said a woman at the reception desk.
"Controversy?" I asked.
"Sure," she continued. "Why, every time they find a bone out here, they say it's an Indian bone--even if it's just a chicken bone. And it's even worse over there on the old rancho."
So I got in my car and drove "over there." According to the Bixby brochure, the mesa of Rancho Los Alamitos was once "a sacred place, the birthplace of [the Tongva] god." With the exception of the historically preserved ranch house and a bit of surrounding land, the mesa has since become a gated housing development, carefully protected from burglars, solicitors and pilgrims.
When I rolled up to the imposing gate, I was told by the guard that it was after hours and that I would not be able to "just drive around up there and get a feel for the land." When I said that god had been born there and that I was on a religious pilgrimage, the guard coolly asked, "What god?" Before I could fully explain, she interrupted me to say that the protests about Indian land had happened about a mile away, on the Cal State Long Beach campus.
