"This is why we're fighting so hard to keep Panhe," said Robles, whose mother, the late Lillian Robles, traced the family's ancestry to a Juaneño named Albaro Panaula, who was born in 1753.
Her mother helped save Puvungna, a Tongva Indian village on the campus of Cal State Long Beach, during a 1993 protest when she pitched a tent on the ground and refused to budge for 15 days.
But in 2004, Juaneños lost a painful battle to preserve the site of Putiidhem, a 300-year-old village in San Juan Capistrano.
City officials approved the construction of a high school on the land. It was later named in honor of Serra.
At Panhe, Juaneños leased 5 acres owned by Camp Pendleton in the 1980s.
Although the lease has expired, tribal leaders are in negotiation over future use of the area with base officials, who have recognized the cultural significance of the area.
Robles said she knew it was difficult for non-Native Americans to grasp Panhe's significance.
Perhaps it's best understood as "being able to go to where your grandmother lived or your old neighborhood," she said. "I always feel a sense of home here."
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david.reyes@latimes.com
