Development Proposes Platform Over the Tujunga Wash at Victory Blvd

Site plan for The Plaza at the Glen proposed development. The unlabeled Tujunga Wash runs diagonally from the upper left to the lower center of the plan. Image from Dasher Lawless, Inc website. Click for larger version and additional images.

A 12.2-acre mixed use development called “The Plaza at the Glen” is proposed for both sides of the Tujunga Wash on the north side of Victory Boulevard west of Coldwater Canyon Avenue. That’s in the east San Fernando Valley, a half-mile upstream from L.A. Valley College where the concrete walls of the Tujunga Wash feature the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural. The proposed development site is currently the site of the Victory Plaza shopping center, and it straddles the middle of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority’s mile-mile long Tujunga Wash Greenway Restoration project wjhich extends along both sides of the wash from Oxnard Street to Vanowen Street.

L.A. Creek Freak found out about the project via an article on the usually insightful Curbed L.A. blog, which stated “In a savvy move, there’re also plans for a transit plaza over the Tujunga Wash that will connect the DASH with the Orange Line.” This L.A. Creek Freak is actually quite a fan of transit-oriented walkable density, and overall the project actually looks pretty good. I don’t find the idea of putting more lids over our already threatened waterways to be “savvy” … more like “nearsighted”.

While it’s good, maybe even savvy, to link projects like this with transit, it seems unnecessary to carve out this transit plaza turnout, which will more likely serve to delay the Van Nuys/Studio City DASH by giving it an extra little dog-leg (on top of the proposed additional loop, which I like.) Why not just run those DASH shuttles on Victory Blvd? Improve the transit stops there, which could also support the Metro 164 bus line and activate the boulevard. The transit plaza feels more like the project is turning its back to the street; emphasizing enclosed private space at the expense of livelier public space.

It would be better if the project could actually strengthen its interface with the existing park on the Tujunga Wash. The 1996 Los Angeles River Master Plan and the current Bicycle Master Plan draft update designate this area for a bike path, which the project should interface with. The project could strengthen Tujunga Wash’s bike and pedestrian connections with the Metro Orange Line, including that line’s bike and walk paths. Perhaps the development could build a portion of the bike path? Better yet and more expensive, the project could benefit greatly by restoring a portion of the Tujunga Wash as a park amenity – as a project draw! Here’s an example of where that has been proposed for development along Compton Creek.

L.A. Creek Freak will be keeping an eye on this proposal… which is probably more likely to be defeated by a weak economy than by watershed concerns. If readers learn more about developments on this project (or other development impinging on local waterways) please let us know.

Images of Proposal for Studio City Golf and Tennis Site

Studio City River Park Proposal

In October 2009, L.A. Creek Freak reported details about a proposed new Los Angeles River Park at the current site of Studio City Golf and Tennis; for text explaining this proposal, see that earlier post. At the time, the visuals weren’t available for the press. I later received them from Esther Feldman, the president of Community Conservancy International. I forgot to run them at the time…

Recently I attended a meeting hosted by California Senators Judy Chiu and Fran Pavely to present and discuss river and waterway projects in the San Fernando Valley, and I saw another presentation on what’s now called the Studio City “Los Angeles River Natural Park” proposal. Below are the images. The group, which emerged from the Studio City Residents Association, promoting this project now has its own website: Save L.A. River Open Space. The site includes these images in a downloadable color Vision and Design report (pdf.)  If you’re interested in getting involved in this project email “saveopenspace [at] SLAROS.org”

Overall Concept Design

 The overall design features multi-use green space on the site, and trail connections along the river.

Habitat and Open Space Elements

 Habitat elements include preserving existing trees, and adding a new creekbed bioswale that drains to the river.

Sub-Watershed Drainage Area

 The park would treat stormwater from the surrounding neighborhood.

Water Quality Improvement Elements

 Water quality features would include the main large creekbed bioswale (receiving rainwater from street run-off), cisterns, and infiltration areas. 

Recreational Elements

The existing (golf and tennis) uses would be preserved, though with smaller footprints.

Public Access via foot, bike, bus, and car

Access to the site would be mainly via bike and walk paths along the river.

For higher resolution images and additional details, click here or on an image to download the report.

Images of Possible River Improvements at Universal

 

Rendering of Potential LA River Greenway upstream of Universal (view southwest from Lankershim Bridge)

In an earlier entry, Jessica mentioned Universal’s planned expansion and its potential impacts on the Los Angeles River which runs along its northern edge.  Universal is looking to expand and renovate its facilities.  This project is currently under environmental review.  Bicyclists and river advocates are urging Universal to include the river bikeway and greenway as part of their development; the studio has been somewhat resistant to allowing a publicly accessible greenway to run along their backlot.

Context Map - the Los Angeles River is running horizontally through the middle, with Universal in the lower right corner and the 101 Freeway diagonally on the left.

Here’s where I confess that I haven’t followed this one really closely… and I had been holding off running these images until I get more background, but then I decided to run them anyway, because I think they look great, and it’s important to get them out while the issues are still before us.

These designs were commissioned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to show a possible mitigation alternative that would be located just west of Universal.  The project would extend from Lankershim to the 101 Freeway and would literally bridge together the top and bottom of Weddington Park.  Thanks to Mia Lehrer + Associates for creating these renderings and for providing them to creek freak.  This alternative was provided to Universal during their environmental review comment process, and we’ll conintue to track the planned Universal development. 

Proposed Bridge over Los Angeles River connecting Greenways along North and South Weddington Park

 

Proposed Greenway along the East Fork of the Tujunga Wash (parallels the 101 Freeway and enters the LA River at Weddington Park)

If any knowledgable readers are interested in contributing a guest blog or comments or additional background on the Universal project, please add comments below, or contact us at lacreekfreak {at} gmail {dot} com.

Standing on a beach, at the LA River

Old-timer Don Mullaly gave me a wake-up call the other day.  He’d received mail announcing a public meeting for a project that would connect Universal City to the LA River.  Wouldn’t it be great, he thought, if they understood how that area had been used by the young folks back before channelization?  Perhaps this data could help with planning, he said to me.  

Through the groggy fog that comes with answering the telephone before you’re really ready to, I understood something else:  Don’s LA River story really needed to get posted.  Alas, It’s been a few weeks, and the meeting has come and gone, but finally, finally, here’s Don’s great tale of going to the beach – at the LA River.  

The Los Angeles River near the Lankershim Boulevard Bridge, circa 1944-46

by Don Mullally

Los Angeles River at Whitsett gives a sense of the LA River that Don knew as a child. Source: LA Public Library, Photo 28404.

As before, my friends and I reached our destination using the Hollywood to North Hollywood Park streetcar line.  We exited the line somewhere near the Lankershim Boulevard-Cahuenga Boulevard junction; then walked down Barham to the river and bridge.  To reach the northern shore we either forded the river of walked over the bridge.

The location we sought was a beach about a hundred and fifty yards east of the bridge. The beach was about 150 feet long, 35-45 feet wide and enclosed on the backside by a 3 foot high flood control fence made of 3 inch vertical steel pipes linked together by heavy duty large holed fence wire. Most of the poles had been bent by the force of deep and fast running water.  Much of the fence was obviously buried in sand and branches.

The beach itself was gradual and very gently sloped into the shallow northern half of the river.  It was composed of sand and water-rounded chips of shale.  The beach was not painful to our bare feet.

Once on the beach we stripped off clothes down to our swimming suits.  Time was spent swimming, wading around, skipping flat stones, sun bathing, exploring, and looking for small animals.  Dense forests and brambles of shrubs and willows restricted us to the beach and that part of the river.  Immediately beyond the wire and pole rap-work was the border of a golf course.  We entered the golf course on occasion.  Finally I was almost hit by a flying golf ball.  We then retreated from the golf course and never returned.

On the other or south side of the river was a steep bank of soil.  A large pool of deep and fast water was next to the bank.  We deemed this water to be unsafe and never crossed the river to the other side.  At our location the river was approximately 40 feet wide.

East of the beach was a dense forest of impenetrable trees and shrubs.  The vegetation stopped us from going down river.  

To the west was a bridge, and west of the bridge were marshes, pools of water, emergent wetland plants, and the usual dense streamside forest.  All told, the river was much wider than 40 feet.  We didn’t enter that environment either.  The beach was the only place deemed open or safe.  We weren’t daredevils.

On the beach we found wild native Pacific Pond turtles, Western toads, and not much else in the way of land animals that I remember.  All turtles were turned loose.  In the river were mergansers (fish eating ducks), other kinds of ducks, and mud hens.  All ducks and shore birds flew away when we came down to the beach.  Shore birds frightened away included herons, killdeer, sandpipers, egrets, and other species.  Small fish were in the river.  I should have done some fishing but didn’t.  Bullfrogs were croaking (honking) in the deep water area.  Who knows what kinds of fish were lurking in the deep water!

The river water was cool, not warm.  Because of the gravel on the beach, animal footprints were not seen.  Nor did we see small, medium, or large sized mammals of any kind.  The wildlife was wild and stayed out of sight.

Three or four hours on the beach in the sun gave me painful sunburns.  None of us ever became ill from being in the river.  Canteens and lunches were brought and we didn’t drink river water.

Don's beach by 1949. Source: LA Public Library, Photo 28245

In conversation, Don noted that, although he didn’t observe spadefoot toads, tree frogs (chorus frogs), or red-legged frogs in the LA River, “at one time red-legged frogs were a dime a dozen.”  I asked him if his parents had a problem with his excursions to the river.  He replied, “my parents had gone off the farm, they were used to kids going off and getting into everything. Crime was practically nonexistent – parents didn’t have to worry about that. Older people would tell the kids, ‘better look out or the fool catcher will get you’ – meaning, you are a fool if you go into water that is too deep, too fast, or if you go to the edge of cliffs, etc.”

Don closed his story by noting that, ironically, he took a job with a contractor for the Corps of Engineers while they were concreting the river.  ”Conservation of the river and the fate of the vegetation and animal life in it barely entered my mind.  While working, my vision was on the San Gabriel Mountains across the valley, and I wanted to be up in them.  I was so thoughtlessly stupid helping the placement of the river in concrete and not thinking of the consequences!”  It takes a rare willingness for self-reflection to be able to look back and say something like that.  And for that, Don, and for all your fiery letters since then, in defense of the remaining streams, I thank you.

Don’s tales of Tujunga can be read here.

Tales of Tujunga

I know, most of my posts are tales of our waters, but it is something special to be able to sit down with an old-timer whose childhood included explorations and adventures in the days before concrete.  I met Don Mullally a month or so ago, at one of the public meetings for stream protection.  He was a fierce advocate for protecting our remaining waterways, and had extensive knowledge of the streams and trails in the Santa Susana Mountains.  I told him I wanted to interview him about the LA River, and he went above and beyond, writing his memories down for me.  I will present them, with additional notes from our conversation, over several posts.  Don was born in 1929, and has lived his life in the LA area.  His recollections on birds of the LA basin will also be published serially in the San Fernando Valley Audubon newsletter, Phainopepla.

Recollections of Don Mullaly:  North Hollywood and Tujunga Wash

GoogleEarth image of path taken by Don and pals up the Tujunga Wash. Compare his description with what's here today.

From 1943 to 1945, Don and his boyhood friends would take streetcars from West Hollywood over the Cahuenga Pass to North Hollywood Park, near Magnolia and the I-170 today. From there, they would hike up Tujunga Wash to approximately where a May Company (now Macy’s, he believes) was later built.

“The Tujunga Wash…ran across the San Fernando Valley to the western side of the Park. It probably received storm water runoff from Pacoima Creek, Little Tujunga Creek, and Big Tujunga stream. The Wash was approximately 100 yards wide and when dry resembled a desert with very few trees and patches of low shrubs; buckwheat, I believe.

Our goal was to reach the Wash. Once there, we walked upstream or north searching for whatever animals lived in it. The Wash was flanked by wide open spaces having very few and widely separated houses. Observed in the Wash were rabbits, quail, mourning doves, small birds, and lizards. Also one huge green headed bullfrog washed down from some distant pond…

Within a mile or two an abandoned gravel pit was soon discovered on the eastern side of the wash. The pit contained a lake occupied by ducks and mud hens (coots). On one occasion a group of the mud hens was noticed to be foraging beyond the shoreline. Having read that these birds sometimes froze in place when surprised, I rushed down a slope onto the birds. One became immobile, was captured, and taken home. It proved to be of little interest and was released.

On two visits I brought my trusty Daisy BB Air Rifle. A couple of roosting quail and a dove were shot dead, taken home, and eaten for dinner…

On one visit I found Tujunga Wash in flood stage. The river was large and fast moving with trains at least three foot high standing waves in the current. Across the river a house was balanced on a bank: half over the water, and half on land. (Don later stated that he learned to stay out of the washes during rainstorms from this experience.)

On rainy days sea gulls flew overhead the length of the river. I once tried to shoot some down with bow and arrow. Strings were tied to te back ends of the arrows. No luck. As a youth I was a predatory Daniel Boone!”

River Bike Paths Coming to Elysian Valley and Reseda

Section View of West Valley Los Angeles River Bike Path - Construction Planned to Begin in April 2009 (Image courtesy LA City Bureau of Engineering, click on image to view 9MB PDF with additional views and details)

Next year, the city of Los Angeles will begin construction on two new segments of the Los Angeles River bike path. The bikeways in Reseda and Elysian Valley are expected to be completed in 2011.

Currently there are only two bikeway segments completed on the 32 miles of the Los Angeles River within the city: the Glendale Narrows bikeway (4.5 miles – from Riverside-Victory to Fletcher) and a portion of the Sepulveda Basin bikeway (about 0.2 miles riverfront miles in over 10 miles of park bike paths  - on both sides of the River at Balboa Boulevard.) Additionally, outside the city of Los Angeles, there are 17 miles of county bikeway along the lower Los Angeles River (from Atlantic Boulevard in the city of Vernon to the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach.)  Shameless plug alert: Impeccably thorough bikeway information for all eleven completed bike paths on the Los Angeles River and its tributaries is available in the guidebook Down by the Los Angeles River (Wilderness Press 2005) written by one of your friendly neighborhood creek freaks.

West San Fernando Valley Segment:

Concept Landscape Plan for West Valley Los Angeles River Bikeway (Image courtesy LA City Bureau of Engineering, click on image to view 9MB PDF with additional views and details)

The city of Los Angeles has planned a 2-mile segment of the Los Angeles River bikeway from Mason Avenue to VanAlden Avenue in the west San Fernando Valley. The bikeway will be on the south bank of the river and will include grade-separated underpasses at Vanowen Street, Winnetka Avenue, Corbin Avenue, and Tampa Avenue. This bikeway project is being done in conjunction with bridge retrofit projects at Tampa, Winnetka, and Vanowen.

The initial phase will include just the Tampa Avenue Bridge. The approximately 0.8-miles bikeway will extend from Corbin Avenue to Vanalden Avenue adjacent to the Westfield Promenade mall. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2009, and won’t be done before late 2011. The construction is estimated to take 20 months, but is not permitted to proceed inside the river channel during the wet weather season.

The bulk of the bikeway project funding is from the Metro call for projects. In addition, the city received about $2M in Proposition 50 (state park bond) funding to enhance the bikeway with landscaping, a water quality bioswale, a planter wall, interpretive signage, and even fitness stations to help bicyclists warm up before their ride.

Elysian Valley Segment:

Map of Planned Elysian Valley Los Angeles River Bikeway (cropped from Los Angeles River Greenway map from LAMountains.com, click to view full 50KB PDF map)

Officially, this 2.7-mile bike path is called Phase 1C of the Los Angeles River bikeway. It extends from Fletcher Drive to Barclay Street.  That’s from just above the 2 Freeway to nearly the 110 Freeway. The stretch currently has an unimproved access road used unofficially by bicyclists and pedestrians every day, though the surface is uneven and there are about a half-dozen large dips where street ends drain directly into the river.  The old asphalt road is also damaged from the roots of adjacent cottonwood trees.

The project will extend the existing 4.5-mile Glendale Narrows bikeway to an uninterrupted total of 7.1 miles.  It will include an undercrossing at Fletcher Drive, resurfacing, and lighting.

In 1999, the city of Los Angeles applied for and received Metro Call for Projects funding for the Elysian Valley bikeway.  The project has been delayed by legal troubles due to a complicated antiquated easement issue. The Elysian Valley stretch is under a 1920’s era LA County Flood Control District easement. The limited easement would only allow for flood control projects, and, according to city attorneys, was not sufficient for the construction of a bike path. So, even though owners had already seen their property taken away for river channelization many decades ago, the city had to approach 66 individual property owners and negotiate transportation easements. Most property owners accepted the city’s initial compensation offers, but one property owner held out and took the city to court.

In January 2008, in Rabie v. City of Los Angeles, the court’s verdict was that the city had to pay Mr. Rabie $7,000 for the easement. This amount was only a little above the city’s last offer of $4,000, and much less than the $200,000 that Rabie was demanding. This verdict allows the bike path project to move forward to finalizing design.

 The city Department of Transportation is currently finalizing a lighting plan that will minimize risks of copper theft that have plagued other bikeway lighting installations. The final designs are anticipated to go out to bid in January or February 2009. Construction is expected to start in July 2009 and the path is projected to open in January 2011.

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Turtles, Ballona Bikes, Dorothy Green and more!

Here are some on-line videos that all us creek freaks might enjoy:

>Los Angeles Times account of Aquarium of the Pacific’s healing and release of an injured San Gabriel River sea turtle (Great video – with fascinating x-rays of broken turtle flipper bones. Kudos to the great work of the Aquarium of the Pacific staff and the Times’ Louis Sahagun. There are also sea lions in the San Gabriel River.)

>KTLA news coverage of Ballona Creek Bike Path issues (via LA Streetsblog, includes Ballona Creek Renaissance’s Jim Lamm)

>Dorothy Green with Creek Freak bloggers (Jessica and Joe) talking with Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes on the city’s L.A. River Report public information channel

>Hook TV on How to fish for carp in the Los Angeles River

>Jeffrey Tipton’s Montage on the July 2008 Los Angeles River Boating Expedition organized by George Wolfe (Coming soon: an actual high production value trailer about this expedition. Also, check out George’s kayak commute video.)

>A group I don’t know about called LA River Story has done a somewhat accurate trio of documentaries beginning with San Fernando Valley tributaries: The Great Wall of Los Angeles Mural on the Tujunga Wash, the adjacent Tujunga Wash Greenway, and what they’re calling the beginning of the river in Chatsworth.

>Turn Here’s Down by the (L.A.) River (How many errors can you spot in Creek Freak Joe Linton’s brief appearance? Be grateful that I don’t plan to blog on restaurant recommendations any time soon.)

>Meeting of Styles Graffiti Murals Event (These murals were later painted out)

>Insidious Bliss (A bleak and beautiful documentary on crystal meth addiction and homelessness in the Glendale Narrows stretch of the L. A. River)

and lastly a couple of not entirely successful attempts at Los Angeles River Humor:

>Stewart Paap in search of the LA River (“Easy access, huh?”)

>Deep Sea Fishing in Studio City (My favorite part of this are the outtakes and the brief scene where the actor steps around the construction fence – I plan to blog soon about my frustration that the city of Los Angeles’ Studio City Riverwalk has been fenced off for more than a year.)

Pacoima Wash, Pacoima Beautiful

The Pacoima Wash downstream of the San Fernando Road Bridge

The non-profit Pacoima Beautiful is undertaking a 3-year community process to plan and implement a community greenway along the Pacoima Wash. The neighborhood of Pacoima (part of the city of Los Angeles) is located in the north end of the San Fernando Valley.

The Pacoima Wash is a tributary to the Tujunga Wash which is in turn tributary to the Los Angeles River. The Pacoima Wash originates in the Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Mountains, where it’s still very wild. Before entering the Valley, the Pacoima Wash’s natural flows are cut off by Pacoima Dam and the Lopez Debris Basin, so during dry weather there’s very little stream flow. The combined Tujunga Wash / Pacoima Wash watershed was recently the subject of a thorough and exciting watershed plan, created by The River Project.

Pacoima is a Tataviam Native American word that, depending where you look, means “the entrance” or “flowing waters“. The communities along the Pacoima Wash are some of the region’s poorest, resulting from past racial segregation. Historically, Pacoima was the only part of the Valley where blacks could live and own. In recent years, the African-American population has shifted to predominantly Latino.

Pacoima Beautiful is a non-profit organization that works on environmental justice and environmental health issues in, you guessed it, Pacoima. PB received a grant through the County Public Health Department’s PLACE (Policies for Livable, Active Communities and Environments) program. The PLACE program funds community and city efforts to create changes in the built environment to foster better health by incorporating more physical activity into people’s daily lives. Pacoima Beautiful will be working with the community to create a Pacoima Wash Greenway Master Plan which will extend from Lopez Debris Basin to the Pacoima Spreading Grounds (which are located south of Devonshire Street, east of Woodman Avenue.) Additionally, they’ll be working with local partners to create an initial linear park along the wash in the vicinity of Telfair Avenue, where there are two linear vacant areas along the creek. This is an important chance to get new green space into one of the most park-poor communities in Los Angeles. Continuous trails along the Pacoima Wash can make it safe and convenient for local residents to bike or hike up into the San Gabriel Mountains, or, someday, down the Los Angeles River to the Pacific Ocean.

View Larger Map

Creek Freak had an opportunity recently to walk the area with Pacoima Beautiful’s Max Podemski. The wash’s channel is anonymous trapezoidal concrete. At some streets that dead-end into the Pacoima Wash, there are issues with illegal trash dumping. There is quite a bit of vacant space, though, so there’s a good potential space for greening in a neighborhood that can really use it. Creek Freak is looking forward to seeing what Pacoima Beautiful comes up with along this neglected tributary.

If you’re intersted in getting involved in this project, email Max at “mpodemski {at} pacoimabeautiful.org”

(Note that the adjacent city of San Fernando is currently under construction with its Pacoima Wash greenway project – I’ll blog about that one soon, too.)

Where to Get Married on the L.A. River

So you’re wondering where you and your betrothed can get hitched on the LA River… Well, fret not, for the creek freak has done some advance scouting so you won’t have to. Here are three excellent L.A. River wedding locations, listed from upstream to downstream:

The San Fernando Valley's Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden is located on the grounds of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, which is the source for most of the reclaimed water that flows in the Los Angeles River. The “garden of water and fragrance” and sewage treatment plant are safe behind the Seplulveda Dam in the middle of the San Fernando Valley. The address is 6100 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, California, 91406 - a short walk or bike ride from the Woodley Avenue Metro Orange Line Station.  Though they’re connected hydrologically, the very pleasant and immaculately manicured garden is a lot unlike the unkempt Los Angeles River. The river and garden do attract a similar mix of birds, including plenty of ducks and herons. Urban Ranger and river nature writer Jenny Price sums up the quirky wonder of the place by quoting the gardens’ promotional materials stating: “Enjoy the beauty of another culture while learning more about wastewater treatment and reuse.” The garden features docent-led tours, a quaint gift shop and a very helpful website, with its own section specifically for weddings.

Courtyard at the Los Angeles River Center

The Los Angeles River Center and Gardens is located in Cypress Park right around the corner from the historic confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco – just north of downtown Los Angeles.  The address is 570 West Avenue 26, Los Angeles CA 90065 – easy access from the Metro Gold Line Lincoln/Cypress station.  It’s a great setting for events and is booked nearly every Saturday all year for weddings.  It’s the former corporate campus for Lawry’s spice company which had a popular restaurant there – called Lawry’s California Center.  Now it’s owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority – a state agency that develops and manages parks along the L.A. River, in the Santa Monica Mountains and elsewhere.  The River Center’s buildings house the offices of various governmental agencies and non-profits that are working on the restoration and revitalization of the Los Angeles River.  They have a river visitor center, lots of bike and car parking, and a helpful wedding planning page.

The Queen Mary in Long Beach (photo by Christophe Finot - Creative Commons)

The Queen Mary is probably the only site where you can really say that you were married in the Los Angeles River.  She has been called the toothpick in the mouth of the L.A. River (romantic, no?)  It’s a beautiful setting for weddings with lots of ornate, well-preserved woodwork and ornamentation.  See their wedding information web page.  Their address is 1126 Queen’s Highway, Long Beach, CA 90802 - a long walk, manageable bike ride, or a short shuttle ride from the Metro Blue Line Long Beach Transit Mall station.  I attended the wedding of Jim and Nina Danza there a while back, where Friends of the Los Angeles River founder Lewis MacAdams read his poem ‘Wedding Song on Board the Queen Mary.’ It’s printed in his excellent L.A. River poetry collection The River: Books One, Two & Three (Blue Press 2005).  Jim and Nina Danza, were two great river advocates who, back in the early 1990’s, were instrumental in getting me involved in river advocacy.  Here’s the start of that poem:

The wood’s split and stacked against the night.

We’re having a cool snap. There’s a ring around the

night-before-the-bean-harvest moon. You’ll soon be

roaring over the Atlantic on your honeymoon.

I can see you dozing underneath a thin blanket

in your narrow seats, while a report on the hydrology

on the Los Angeles River slips to the floor unread.

(Note: Lest the rumors start to fly, please don’t get any ideas that this creek freak has plans to get married any time soon. I still have to meet the woman of my dreams first – and she has to get along with me. These wedding locations were something that occurred to me when I was writing my book Down By The Los Angeles River… but I wasn’t able to weave them in there, so I present them for your enjoyment here.)

Kayaking the Los Angeles River: Day 1

It’s day 1 of a 3-day kayak trip down the Los Angeles River. The trip was organized by George Wolfe of the Lala Times – see his river trip page. Today we did the Sepulveda Basin in the heart of the San Fernando Valley – from the Orange Line Bridge to the Burbank Boulevard Bridge. It’s about 2 miles, and probably the most scenic and easiest-to-kayak stretch of the 52-mile river.

Right away, let me say that kayaking can be a little dangerous – and so can the L.A. River. We did just fine – but I would recommend it only for folks who know how to kayak and who know how to swim. We went in mid-summer, when there’s no real chance of floodwaters. We wore life vests. There were 10+ boats and more than a dozen people. Kayaking is fun and safe, but, if you’re going to try it someday yourself, please be responsible! Wear life vests, go with a partner, and don’t go when it’s raining. The Los Angeles River can be deadly when it’s raining. Please be careful and safe!

I didn’t take or draw pictures today. I’ve added links so you can tell what it looked like… and I will link to other folks photos in a subsequent post. Soon. I promise! The photo above is from a test run we did a week ago.

The group did a ceremonial put-in at the river’s “headwaters” where Arroyo Calabasas and Bell Creek come together behind Canoga Park High School. See this confluence yourself from Owensmouth Avenue just north of Vanowen Street. I put headwaters in quotes because the actual headwaters are the streams way up in the local mountains. The site that folks call headwaters is where the L.A. River proper begins. The group wasn’t actually kayaking from there, but, after convening there, the plan was to drive down to the Sepulveda Basin located ~5 miles downstream. It’s pretty rough kayaking in the West Valley. Portions of it have no central low-flow channel, and little water this time of the year, so we would’ve had to walk much of the way. I had a meeting downtown, so I took the Metro Red Line and Orange Line and met the group at the put-in site, immediately upstream of the Balboa Boulevard Bridge.

There were reporters, TV cameras, and photographers. We put in about 8 bright yellow sit-atop sea kayaks and a couple of bright green canoes. We tooled around and struck poses and positioned for the cameras. This stretch is earthen bottom, so there’s lots of tall trees. The sides are concrete, but from the kayak, you can’t really see the concrete. It was a treat to see night herons, great blue herons, and mallards. While you kayak, you get close to the herons and they fly off. Now and then fish splash away in front of the boat.

After a while, we started upstream. Due to the presence of grade control structures (a fancy name for low stair step dams that the water spills over), so the water stretches out in long flat pools in the Sepulveda Basin with little current and no riffles. These are separated by little waterfalls spilling over rock and concrete steps. Going upstream we had to portage over to a couple of grade control structures to get to the Orange Line Bridge (just downstream from White Oak Avenue) where the vegetation ends and the river becomes three sides trapezoidal concrete. Right before the all-concrete area, there’s a nasty stinky area with lots of what I think is duckweed on the surface.

The approximately two-mile kayak ride down stream was great. It was punctuated by three or four portages over those pesky grade control structures, but the glassy stretches between were calm and pleasant. Herons flying overhead. Carp occasionally jumping. Canoes sometimes jockeying, but mostly meandering slowly downstream.

We took out at the Burbank Boulevard Bridge in view of the Sepulveda Dam. The sun was setting. A dozen thirsty boaters smiled and loaded up our vessels into the Uhaul Truck.

Come see us off as we depart downstream. Join us tomorrow (Saturday July 27) we put in at 9am at the Burbank Boulevard Bridge, just west of Woodley Avenue. The excellent and insightful urban nature writer Jenny Price will be speaking. The kayakers will be traversing the East Valley, Griffith Park area, and ending up at Marsh Park in Frogtown. The day after (Sunday July 28 ) at 9am, we put in at Marsh Park and kayak to the river’s mouth in Long Beach. See you down by the river.