Los Angeles River

The Los Angeles River is a short, largely seasonal river flowing through Los Angeles County, California. Its headwaters are in the southwestern San Fernando Valley. From there, it flows eastward until turning southeast near the Hollywood Hills, in the city of Burbank. Prior to 1825, it then turned southwest, joining Ballona Creek and discharging into Santa Monica Bay. However, during a catastrophic flash flood in that year, its course was converted to its present one, flowing due south just east of present-day downtown Los Angeles and discharging into San Pedro Bay. (Prior to another major flood in 1862, it was joined by the San Gabriel River in present-day Long Beach, but in that year the San Gabriel carved out a new course six miles to the east, and has discharged into Alamitos Bay ever since.) The river's main sources come from the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains, although much of the water actually comes from urban runoff.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles County, California - San Fernando Valley - Hollywood Hills - Burbank - 1825 - Ballona Creek - Santa Monica Bay - Flash flood - Los Angeles - San Pedro Bay - 1862 - San Gabriel River - Long Beach - Alamitos Bay - Santa Monica - San Gabriel Mountains

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Until the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Los Angeles River was the primary water source for the Los Angeles Basin, and much of its channel was dry except during the winter rains. Unpredictable and devastating floods continued to plague it well into the 1930s (most notably the catastrophic 1938 flood that precipitated the recall of corrupt Los Angeles mayor Frank L. Shaw), leading to calls for flood control measures. The Army Corps of Engineers duly began an ambitious project of completely encasing the river's bed and banks in concrete, with only a trickle of water usually flowing down its middle. Ever since, it has primarily served as a flood control channel, fed by storm drains. The only portions of the river in which it is not completely paved over are in the flood control basin behind the Sepulveda Dam near Van Nuys; a three mile stretch east of Griffith Park known as the Glendale Narrows; and along its last few miles in Long Beach.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles Aqueduct - Los Angeles Basin - 1930s - Frank L. Shaw - Army Corps of Engineers - Concrete - Sepulveda Dam - Van Nuys

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Sepulveda Basin is a flood-control basin to control floodwater runoff. Except for infrequent but dramatic flood episodes, this otherwise dry-land flood control basin, most of which is leased from the Corps by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, plays host to diverse uses today including athletic fields, agriculture, golf courses, a fishing lake, parklands, a sewage treatment facility, and a wildlife reserve.

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The river's southern stretch forms the heart of an industrial corridor stretching nearly unbroken from Lincoln Heights to Long Beach. In this area, the busy Long Beach Freeway (I-710) and several high-voltage power lines run within a few hundred feet of the riverbed. Several rail yards are located along the river's banks in this stretch, as well. Just outside of the industrial corridor lie some of the most densely populated cities in the state of California, such the cities of Cudahy and South Gate; most of these cities are in the river's flood plain and experienced significant flooding prior to channelization.

Related Topics:
Lincoln Heights - Long Beach - Long Beach Freeway - I-710 - Rail yard - Cudahy - South Gate

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The Los Angeles River has become a source of embarrassment for many Angelenos, with graffiti lining its walls, garbage strewn along its bed, homeless persons and heroin addicts camped out underneath its bridges, and drag races (immortalized in the film Grease) taking place in its channel. The river's condition is especially bad south of Boyle Heights. Environmentalists have often called for its restoration, but as doing so would require many residents of southern Los Angeles County to relocate, it is unlikely that the river's current configuration will undergo substantial changes in the future.

Related Topics:
Graffiti - Homeless - Heroin - Drag races - Grease - Boyle Heights - Environmentalists

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