What do you mean you didn’t know there was a river in Los Angeles? If you don’t believe us check out the Target Science Los Angeles River Virtual Tour and see for yourself. This amazing tour will allow you to follow the river from the headwaters in the San Fernando Valley to its mouth in Long Beach, over 50 miles away.
The tour will also give you some insights, into the kinds of plants, animals, architecture, and history you might encounter along the way. There are twelve stopping points along the tour – Headwaters, First Channel, Convergence, Sepulveda Basin, Verdugo Wash, Los Feliz, Frogtown, Arroyo Seco fork, 4th Street Bridge, Rio Hondo fork, Lower river and Long Beach – so you can do the tour in one go or choose to do it bit by bit.
Cyclists should also have a look at the Los Angeles River Bikeway, which leads you from Griffith Park to Elysian Park.
The Friends of the Los Angeles River have been on a mission to protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the Los Angeles River and its riparian habitat for many years. The stream, which was once home to steelhead and grizzlies, meanders through wetlands, marshes, willow, alder and sycamore, providing desperately needed water for the region.
Now running over 50 miles long – from the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley to the ocean in Long Beach – the Los Angeles River flows through 14 cities and countless neighborhoods. When the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a flood control project in the late Thirties, they began the process of paving 80% of the river, creating the world’s largest storm drain. Over the ensuing decades, the river that had been the sole water supply for the City of Los Angeles before the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed in 1913, almost disappeared from public consciousness.
With the cement came a perceptual shift: the river no longer existed. Instead, it was a “flood control channel,” a no-man’s land, surrounded by fences and signs. Rediscovering the river by cycling or walking along its banks will be a great way of reclaiming this forgotten part of the city and the first step to turn it from no-man’s land to an integral part of LA.
image: www.grahamowengallery.com
