A Close- Up Look At People Who Matter : Chumash Chief Always Stood His Ground

Charlie Cooke was driving a cement truck for a construction project on Ventura Boulevard 11 years ago when workers uncovered the “Lost Village of Encino.”

“I refused to go in there,” said Cooke, chief of the Chumash of the Southern region. The Chumash, Gabrieleno and Fernandeno graves and artifacts uncovered on the ancient site most likely belonged to some of his ancestors.

Throughout his 30-year career in construction, Cooke occasionally ran into such dilemmas when ancient Native American grounds were threatened as the San Fernando Valley was developed. His complaints that they not be disturbed would nearly get him fired, he said, and eventually he would be transferred.

“I kept walking a fine line, I guess,” said Cooke, 60, of Acton, who retired in July. For 40 years, Cooke has dealt with Native American issues, working to keep together about 500 Chumash living in Los Angeles, Ventura and Kern counties. He is also president of the Friends of Satwiwa, a Native American learning center in Newbury Park.

Before the Spanish came to California in the late 18th century, there were 300,000 Native Americans living here. By 1900, the number had dropped to 15,000. Cooke’s ancestors were forced to live at the San Fernando Mission where their distinct cultures were nearly obliterated.

Local Native American culture has “pretty much been wiped out,” Cooke said. “We’re trying to redeem as much as we can.”

At the center, in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, is a 20-foot wide ap, a traditional Chumash hut built with a willow frame and covered with cattail. Cooke struggles to bend over to get in the smaller of the two openings. “If my knee holds up, I’ll get in,” he said.

He talks about his heritage, pausing to chat with some children who walk through the ap with their parents. “How would you like to live here?” Cooke asks. “It wouldn’t be that bad,” a girl answers. “Just remember they didn’t have TV sets in those days,” he warns.

Four families would have been able to live in an ap this size, he tells the visitors. The ap has a dirt floor, with a small pit in the center for a fire and a hole in the roof to vent smoke.

“Too many people live in their own little cul-de-sacs . . . without getting out to see what other cultures are like,” says Cooke, who wears a baseball cap that reads “CHUMASH” on the front and “Charlie” on the back.

The Chumash language is nearly extinct. Cooke knows only a few words himself. But his father, an expert roper and rancher, taught him the Native American uses of plants for medicine and rituals. He has slowly pieced together details of his culture and heritage, which includes three other tribes--the Kitanemuk, the Alliklik and the Tongva--from detective work and interviews with older members of the community.

Cooke will perform one of the rituals he learned from tribal elders, the blessing of white sage, which is meant to connect oneself with Mother Earth, when the new Metrolink station opens this spring in Chatsworth. He makes many such appearances, hoping to capture the imagination of the wider community and save the Native American culture.

“The more people you have interested, the better chance you have,” he said.

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