Chumash Indian Museum
Thousand Oaks
March 22, 2014
We found out about this museum through the Passport 2 History link on the Leonis Adobe website. It was an inspired bit of serendipity. The museum is small, but it hosts a good collection of baskets and stone metates, mortars and pestles. The interpretive paintings and dioramas add nicely to the visitor’s understanding of what the Chumash people’s everyday life was like. Behind the museum (about a 5 to 7 minute walk) is a Chumash “village” with several model homes and the framework of a sweat lodge.
As we drove west on 101 heading toward the museum, Margaret recognized and pointed out a site at which she had done some archeological work, as a student at Pierce College several decades ago. There is no café at the museum; we stopped in Thousand Oaks for lunch at the local Stonefire Grill. We enjoy their food. If you have not eaten there before, be warned that portions are generous! Food is served family style. Err on the side of ordering less and sharing.