Los Angeles, America’s second largest city and the West Coast’s biggest economic powerhouse, was originally settled by indigenous tribes, including the Chumash and Tongva hunter gatherers, by 8000 B.C. Portuguese sailor Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to explore the region in 1542, but it wasn’t until 1769 that Gaspar de Portolá established a Spanish outpost in the Los Angeles area.