Terranea Resort Puts Faith in Tribal Blessing

By KEELEY WEBSTER

CREJ Staff Writer

Considering previous battles between developers and American Indians over various construction sites, it might seem surprising that the Gabrielino/Tongva Tribe of Los Angeles County would perform a blessing of a hotel development.

The acrimony is such that "Poltergeist," a blockbuster 1982 movie, even used a theme in which a housing development was haunted because the developer constructed houses on top of an American Indian burial ground without relocating the remains.

Typically, developers don't like the delays that can result from tests to ensure that artifacts are not destroyed, while American Indian tribes are hoping to preserve and sometimes rediscover traditions lost along the way.

Surprising or not, a tribal blessing was part of the grand opening ceremony held at Terranea, the 582-unit coastal luxury resort in Rancho Palos Verdes developed by Lowe Enterprises.

"Development has its various phases," said Virginia Carmelo, the tribal chair of the Gabrielino/Tongva Tribe. "In the community, there are different levels of approval or non-approval. We would like to have all of our land remain undeveloped, but that is unrealistic."

It may have been her first blessing of a condo-hotel resort, but it was not the first development to be blessed by Carmelo. She has been asked to bless campus buildings and park openings as well during the 15 years she has performed the service for her tribe.

As it turns out, tribal members were not the ones who created the roadblocks for Lowe Enterprises that resulted in nine-year entitlement process. The tribe did not become involved until right before the project opened up.

"We have tried hard to work with developers," Carmelo said. "The roughest part is when there are human remains on the land, but that site had been previously developed."

Lowe was redeveloping the 100-acre site of a former Marineland of the Pacific, a marine life water park that was purchased by the owners of Sea World in San Diego and then closed, she said.

It took nine years for Lowe to complete the entitlement process because the city of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Coastal Commission had 200 conditions each that had to be met before they issued the permits, said Rob Lowe Jr., chief executive officer of Lowe Hospitality Group.

The project faces new challenges today as Terranea's primary lender, Corus Bankshares, announced last month that it is "critically undercapitalized."

No developer would be overjoyed by a nine-year delay that placed the opening in the middle of a recession, but Lowe said he was proud that Terranea provides access to irreplaceable land while safeguarding its beauty and nurturing the flora and fauna.

Part of the Coastal Commission's mission is to ensure that any new development is accessible by all citizens, since most of the state's coast has been developed, Lowe said. In keeping with the requirements, Lowe's 14 miles of natural hiking trails connect up with the area's trail system.

To preserve 45 trees that have been growing on the site longer than 50 years, it boxed them up during construction and then replanted them. The developer also planted 14 acres of coastal sage scrub to recreate the natural California coastal terrain.

The main concern of the Gabrielino/Tongva, at the point the tribe became involved, was that there be some recognition of them and their ancestral lands, Carmelo said.

"They did comport to this by having our presence there," Carmelo said.

In fact, it was the resort property managers, who approached the tribe about performing the blessing.

"Our grand opening ceremony was not just a celebration of our resort, but of the cultural heritage of the peninsula," said Terri Haack, executive vice president and managing director of Terranea Resort. "Including the Tongva Tribe was an opportunity to pay tribute to what came before us and honor the legacy of this land."

In addition to the blessing, Carmelo and three other members of the tribe performed four Gabrielino/Tongva songs using historically accurate instruments.

Unlike the Plains Indians, who used drums to keep rhythm, coastal tribes from this region used a clapper stick, Carmelo said. Other instruments played during the ceremony were a shell rattle, turtle rattles and a bone flute.

"I grew up with a different kind of traditional Indian music, but our group is trying to create new music based on traditional music," said Carmelo, who lives in Anaheim. "We are trying to incorporate what we know about the traditions of the area. We are also integrating with neighboring tribes, such as the Louis Eno, who share a similar culture."

In her blessing, Carmelo used burning sage to call to the four winds representing the four directions. She wouldn't reveal the actual words she used during the blessing, saying that prayers are very personal.

"The content is typically a prayer to the creator to call for his blessing upon the land and the people," she said.

The photographer present during the ceremony also was not allowed to take a photo of Carmelo while she performed the blessing because tribal members consider it taboo. Photos of Carmelo were taken while she performed songs with other musicians in her group.

While it is much rarer to bless commercial buildings in the mainland United States - the resort was Carmelo's first hotel blessing - it is not uncommon in Hawaii.

"Most large facilities or grand openings here do have a blessing," said Murray Towill, president of the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association. "It's traditional for people to bless the openings of an office, hotel or a residence."

In many cases, the person offering the blessing is a native Hawaiian minister, Towill said. But other groups do it because it is part of the culture of the community, he said.

"It has its roots in the native Hawaiian culture, but it has become part of the larger culture as well," Towill said.

- E-mail Keeley_Webster@DailyJournal.com

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