Imagine a world-class restaurant serving dishes inspired by Native American cuisine to those attending the 2028 Olympics and to visitors from all over Los Angeles and beyond; that also makes low-cost and nutritious meals available to the local community.
The 2,200 acres of the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area is already a wonderful asset to the community. Now that the area has been designated by the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee as the site for several events in the 2028 Olympics, the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering has produced a comprehensive Vision Plan that address the short term needs of the upcoming Olympics; and the long-term environmental restoration of the Basin, including the Los Angeles River, the Wildlife Reserve, existing golf courses and Lake Balboa Park.
Our mission is to complement the Vision Plan – by creating an Environmental Studies Center in a beautiful pavilion that will also house a Native American restaurant; so that school children and the general public, including underserved communities, can learn about sustainable environmental & food supply practices, and the way of life of the Indigenous communities for whom the Sepulveda Basin was a place of great bounty and beauty prior to the arrival of European settlers.
environmental education and gardens
The Environmental Studies Center will serve as the home-base for outdoor classrooms throughout the Sepulveda Basin - effectively transforming the entire area, including the Wildlife Reserve to the East, into an outdoor laboratory. The studies center and satellite outdoor classrooms will be designed to be included in LAUSD’s Environmental Sciences and Sustainability curriculum and will feature:
A vegetable, herb and flower garden to educate school children & the public in sustainable practices for domestic gardens,
A foraging garden composed of native plants traditionally harvested by Indigenous communities for food and other uses,
A farmer’s market, and
Research-based studies on the transformation of our system of food production.
indigenous foodways
The Environmental Studies Center will also include a a course in Indigenous food and crafts in partnership with the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians whose ancestors lived on the banks of the Los Angeles River where it flows through the Sepulveda Basin.
The Restaurant will be leased to members of the Tatavium, Tongva and Chumash tribes to serve Indigenous inspired cuisine using produce grown in the two Gardens, and will also make low-cost meals available to the local community. It is envisaged that restaurant operators will collaborate with executive chef Sean Sherman’s North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems to create world class dishes.
A five minute walk from the Orange Line Busway stop (soon to be a light rail line), the Pavilion will be a state of the art energy positive building fitted with under floor heating & cooling and powered by solar panels on site. It will be designed and built to sit lightly on the site with a roof resembling a piece of origami. The Pavilion will house the Restaurant and Environmental Studies Center, separated by a breezeway. Parking will be created to look like an actual park, with permeable materials and trees - instead of impermeable concrete or asphalt and parking spaces defined by painted lines.