Contrary to long-held perceptions of rapid upheaval of Native Californian lifeways instigated by the establishment of Spanish missions in coastal southern California, archaeological and ethnohistorical research in the greater Los Angeles basin highlights the persistence and autonomy, as well as the transformation, of Native Californians in a missionized socio-political and economic landscape. Mission-period GabrieliÒo (Tongva) established post-contact communities that reinforced indigenous ideology, religion, and practice. At the same time, these communities also successfully navigated the environmental, social, and economic challenges created by colonial institutions. The successful persistence of many GabrieliÒo (Tongva) cultural rituals and subsistence practices for approximately 40 years after the establishment of Mission San Gabriel was due to the continuance, and transformation, of these long-lived native communities. This study looks broadly at evidence from both La Ballona, located in what is now west Los Angeles, and from the greater Los Angeles basin.