Places to Visit: Acresite Gate in Atwater Village

Brett Goldstone's Acresite Water and Willow Gate

The Acresite gate isn’t Brett Goldstone’s biggest or most elaborate river gate… but it’s very nice, and just enough off the beaten path, and along one of the nicest stretches of river, so I figure it’s worth alerting Creek Freak readers to.

It’s full formal name is Acresite Water and Willow Gate. The gate was designed and fabricated by Brett Goldstone, the artist/sculptor responsible for the Great Heron Gate, Water with Rocks Gate, and many other great welcoming gates along local waterways.

The gate is located on the northeast bank of the Los Angeles River at the end of Acresite Street in Atwater Village. That’s about halfway between Fletcher Drive and Glendale Boulevard.

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The Acresite gate is a project of the Friends of Atwater Village (see their project page on it) with funding through a city of Los Angeles Community Beautification Grant. Friends of Atwater Village volunteers and Acresite Street residents helped install it. The gate was dedicated on November 18th 2006.

Here’s a shot of the rather uninviting chain link gate and fence that occupied the end of street prior to 2006:

The end of Acresite Street pre-gate - photo by Luis Lopez, used by permission

The gate depicts a large stylized central willow tree, surrounding vegetation, river, mountains, and clouds:

Acresite gate during installation - before the rocks were attached. Photo by Luis Lopez, used by permission

and, of course, plenty of Goldstone’s signature affixed river rocks:

Acresite Rocks!

For more photos of the gate, its installation and opening celebration, see Luis Lopez’s photoset on Flickr.

For creek freaks wanting to check out the gate, just search for Acresite Street, Los Angeles 90039. Be sure to take a walk through the gate and along the soft-bottom river right behind it. Atwater Village is part of the Glendale Narrows – a nearly 8-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River where the sides are paved, but the river bottom is earthen. It’s home to plenty of ducks and other birds, fish, tall trees, and much more. It’s a great spot for families to enjoy. You can walk along the asphalt access road along the levee top, or, during dry weather on the concrete lip at the bottom of the sloped levee wall (safe only during L.A.’s 300+ annual dry weather days.) Visit and enjoy.

The Los Angeles River at Acresite Street - a recent winter's day cell-phone shot that doesn't quite do it justice.

(Thanks to Sandra Caravella, Luis Lopez and Netty Carr for background on this article!)

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