This project honors the erased and forgotten histories of early Californio families—particularly those descended from the Portolá and Rivera y Moncada expeditions. Through documents, storytelling, and lived experience, we reclaim our place in California’s past and future.

Theresa Avila Bimbela is a direct descendant of Juan Francisco Reyes, María Luisa Domínguez, José Maximo Alanís y López, and many others who helped settle and build early California. The goal is to preserve legacy with truth and accountability—especially when it comes to the histories of Native communities whose lands and labor made this society possible. These communities, along with many of our ancestors, were exploited and then erased. That cycle of displacement, exclusion, and historical erasure continues today. We believe that honoring our ancestors means confronting these truths, acknowledging the harm and the contributions, and actively working to shift the narrative toward justice and visibility.

You may be descended from these families, too.
If you are part of the Reyes, Domínguez, Alanís, Olivera, Briones, or Bégué lines—please reach out. Let’s document this legacy together.

First, I want to acknowledge the deep harm done to Native peoples in this country and the ways that harm continues. While I am not responsible for my non-indigenous ancestors’ actions, I am responsible for how I show up today. My work is guided by a commitment to repair, uplift, and honor what has been ignored or erased.

Communities like ours—Indigenous, Black, Brown, and immigrant—have often been divided by systems that were never built for us. That division benefits power, not people. I speak about this to create space for awareness, unity, and transformation.

Through this work, stories will show our truth, our strength, and our joy. I do this not for approval but for healing. Not as reaction but as reclamation.

If I am unseen or misunderstood, it is not for lack of clarity or intent but because of the barriers that still determine who is heard.

This is an offering of visibility, dignity, and love.