Rivers Lost to City
September 20, 2008 § 7 Comments
Click on image to enlarge article
I did a double take on this title. Was this the Judith Lewis piece, Lost Streams of Los Angeles, featuring, among other things, my creekfreaky research and advocacy for LA’s buried streams?
No, this is a 1924 Los Angeles Times article, a wistful and racially peculiar (to be charitable, we’ll call it naive) obituary to the streams that were being buried at that time. While not making any strong environmental case for preserving these streams, the author nostalgically laments the decline of a more pastoral era, stating: “And so the romance of the city goes – the prosaic storm drains and high priced lots have run the alluring arroyos out of business.”
The story also fills in this Creekfreak on a long-simmering mystery – the name of the creek that used to flow through Lafayette Park – Arroyo de la Brea (Tar Creek). Worth noting the name, as there is a parking lot across the street from Lafayette Park that oozes tar to this day. If you’re into weird urban geology, ask the car rental company permission to go to the back of the lot and take a look.
From the City of Los Angeles Navigate LA archives
For the curious, here’s a stormdrain map of a portion of Arroyo de los Reyes, the downtown creek mentioned in the article. I am working on the connection of this to Echo Park-historical maps clearly show two streams that joined where Echo Park lake is today, with a perennial creek flowing along the path that is now Glendale Blvd to 2nd Street. But the maps lose the flow around Figueroa. This description here may fill in the gap – and we Echo Parkians may now have a name for our buried creek!
More later on lost rivers – and more importantly a City effort to preserve what’s left.
L.A. Creek Freak 
[…] last post, Rivers Lost to City, noted that we’ve been losing creeks for a long time. In fact, so many have been literally […]
[…] Oh, that hurts, as for years I’ve been hoping we could convince a public agency to acquire the parking lot in question and use it to expand Lafayette Park, one of the city’s most intensively used parks, in probably the densest and most park-poor part of Los Angeles. I knew it was a losing battle, it would take serious political will to purchase property for the public good on Wilshire Blvd, but it is disappointing nonetheless. In expanding the park, we also would create an opportunity to daylight the buried Arroyo de la Brea, the stream that used to flow through this terrain. I referenced it in an earlier post. […]
[…] wrote about Arroyo de los Reyes over a year ago, with promises of telling more -as the creek’s origins are in Echo Park. As […]
Great research! Interesting how she describes La Sacatela as the Silverlake Wash. Rocket
Sacatela had many tributaries, the mainstem of Sacatela as extending up to the Shakespeare Bridge. I think of “Silverlake Wash” as one of the tribs.
did any of the creeks/rivers run downtown? near Pershing Square perhaps?
Yes, Arroyo de Los Reyes, I believe it was called. Check the tags, I think a post or two on it will pop up.