Symposium Explores the Complexities of Sediment Management

1969. A conveyor belt transports sediment away from Big Tujunga Reservoir. (Los Angeles Public Library Images)

Last Tuesday (9/20), the Council for Watershed Health (formerly the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council) hosted a creek-freaky event entitled Shifting Soil: Sediment Management Policies in Los Angeles. While I was fortunate enough to be in attendance, it has taken some time to digest all that was discussed and to place in context all of the remarks that were made. The following is my best attempt at a summary including a few thoughts on the topic. For further reading, have a gander at Mademoiselle Gramophone’s in depth coverage (including video and audio snippets) or visit the Council’s event archive for downloadable PDF files of each presentation. A friendly forewarning: this post is a lengthy one…

L.A. Times on Filming in the L.A. River

Lee Marvin and the Fourth Street Bridge, from the 1967 movie Point Blank - click for larger image at L.A. Times website

Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has an excellent article (including a short video) about filming on the L.A. River. (It actually indirectly mentions Ballona Creek, too, as “the river” behind Sony.) (and I need to go see Drive.)

Read and view the Times’ Hollywood: A river runs through it here.

Downey Rec Ctr Albion Demolition Kick-Off This Thursday

Flier for this Thursday's Kick-Off Event - click for full-sized pdf

L.A. Creek Freak readers may remember the city of Los Angeles’ September 2009 acquisition of the 6-acre Albion Dairy site, adjacent to the L.A. River in Lincoln Heights. LACF ran this initial breaking news, a more detailed announcement, and photos of the site.

This week, at 12:30pm on Thursday September 29th 2011, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilmember Ed Reyes are hosting a demolition kick-off event. It’s open to the public – please attend and celebrate progress on the city’s newest river park.

An update on the project follows. 

Exploring Santiago Creek in Orange County

Santiago Creek, view downstream just east of the intersection of Chapman Avenue and the 55 Freeway in the city of Orange. 55 Freeway bridge is at the left edge of the photo. Bike path under construction runs along the far (north) side of the creek.

I spent quite a bit of time in Orange County earlier this year. A bit of that time I spent enjoying tooling around on a bicycle exploring Santiago Creek, a tributary of the Santa Ana River. I shared a little of this in an earlier post specifically about the Santiago Street Bridge over Santiago Creek (and there are earlier L.A. Creek Freak pieces about Santiago Creek here and here.) Today I’ll post more of the images from my explorations – all from July 2011. 

Upcoming Greywater Workshops – October 2011

Joe's Washing Machine, hooked up to water trees and berries

In October 2011, Greywater Action are teaching workshops in Southern California. Greywater Action are the great folks formerly known as Greywater Guerillas, then they changed their names after the state of California went and made greywater legal. These are the folks who installed (and taught how to install) my home washing machine greywater system that I wrote about here.

If you’re in Los Angeles, there are greywater workshops on Friday October 14th and Saturday October 15th – both at Los Angeles Eco-Village. In Santa Monica, similar workshops on Saturday October 8th and Sunday October 9th. Bonus workshop on humanure (composting toilets) on Friday evening October 14th. Workshop details below and at Greywater Action website. 

Say Goodbye to the Riverside-Figueroa Bridge

Riverside Drive Bridge 1926-2011 - photo copyright Osceola Refetoff

It’s not the greatest of the Los Angeles River’s historic bridges. The L-shaped Riverside Drive Bridge that connects Elysian Valley with Cypress Park is one of at least five Riverside Drive Bridges in Los Angeles… so it’s commonly called the Riverside-Figueroa Bridge. It’s sort of a patchwork bridge, with parts from 1928-1929, 1930s and 1950s. And it’s going to be demolished… very soon.

Signage on North Figueroa near San Fernando Road - photo by Joe Linton, uncredited photos below also by author

I knew it was coming, but just this week I spotted signs saying “BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION AUG 2011 to DEC 2015 – INFORMATION 213-978-0333. A bit further on, there were construction trucks parked on the bridge and some construction workers huddled, discussing and pointing.

At this point I feel sad for this nice old bridge… so I am going to try to faithfully record its history here. Then perhaps in a future post, I will explain some of the features of the new bridge replacing it (you can get some sense for the new bridge from this earlier Confluence Park diagram.)

I am disappointed to see it go. It’s a designated L.A. City Historic Cultural Landmark (No. 908), but, it’s one of the lesser historic bridges, so, at this point, I am pretty much resigned to see it go. There are much better bridges under great threat of demolition, including 6th Street and North Spring Street, and the city of Los Angeles’ bridge program has others on its lists (for example.) 

Downtown River Bridges in the News this Week

Vintage postcard featuring 6th Street Bridge in foreground, and 4th and 1st Street bridges in middle. Thanks Netty Carr for loaning me the postcard.

A quick post to alert creek freaks to two historic bridges in the blogosphere this week:

> Yesterday, Blogdowntown highlighted the double-decker 7th Street Viaduct. The post celebrates the 84th anniversary of the bridge opening on September 19th, 1927, and includes interesting facts about who paid for what back then. See also Creek Freak’s earlier journey into the interstices of that great bridge.

> Last Saturday, Youtube user Corvobell posted this video of the set of an upcoming Batman movie – filming under the 6th Street Bridge. Though that 1932 bridge has a long movie pedigree (appearing in Grease, SWAT, and even The Simpsons Movie) it is under threat of demolition if city proposals move forward.

On a Kayak in a River in a Valley in Los Angeles

Kayaking the Los Angeles River in the middle of the San Fernando Valley

I got a chance to kayak the L.A. River yesterday. I’ve been kayaking in the river a few times here and there, and most memorably the incredibly wonderful three-day expedition in 2008. Yesterday was the first time I officially, legally, kayaked with a permit!

It was great.

The program is called Paddle the Los Angeles River. Like their Facebook page here. In case readers want to do participate, I have to warn you that all their slots sold out in 10 minutes. It’s a one-season pilot program, and, hopefully, if all goes well, it’ll come back around again. It’s presented by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, with assists from the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), The River Project, Los Angeles River Expeditions, Friends of the L.A. River, and Urban Semillas. It’s been covered all over tv, print and internet media, so I am not going to give a huge amount of background, but kudos to leadership from George Wolfe and Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes. (And my apologies for Creek Freak not getting to cover this sooner.)