From my viewpoint, the LA River has been the dry, man-made concrete storm mitigation system as it empties into the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach. Had a chance to explore it a lot more on MLK Day when we found out that Griffith Park was closed because of the expected high winds coming. We connected with the Los Angeles Bike Path using the Los Feliz Blvd and I-5 Interchange, and took the path until we were able to connect with the A-Line at Lincoln-Cypress station. It's a nice walk, sharing the two lane concrete path with bicyclists moving in both directions. Water was flowing, providing moisture to the willow trees growing right in the middle. There weren't many places to sit to admire the scenery, but did find a place to (almost) hear the sound of falling water from a very little cascade where there was a sudden change in elevation. It's an unusual sound here. read more

Los Angeles River - pedestrian/bike bridge across the river - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

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One thing I learned in high school was that the word utopia was greek for "there is no such place". Same idea wit the Los Angeles River : no such place exists. Sure, it's there but it sure as hell isn't a river. Last I checked rivers had water. However, if you are itching for drugs, prostitutes or a place to lose your life feel free to hang out by the river. :-) read more

Los Angeles River - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

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I love the Los Angeles River. I studied visual arts, and the Los Angeles River was a frequent setting for my science fiction films. The dramatic concrete tunnels and slopping banks were perfect for my aesthetic at the time. Now, I find the river to be the perfect place for a long walk or bike ride. I frequently bring picnics with friends and enjoy the sun next to the river. I occasionally see folks fly-fishing or floating plastic boats down the current. Living in Los Angeles, it can often be difficult to feel connected to the natural world or to find a peaceful spot in the city. I recommend giving the LA River a chance. It indeed isn't your typical "river," and there is plenty of trash and graffiti. Despite that all, I find it to be a beautiful place to read a book on an empty afternoon. read more

Los Angeles River - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

When it rains, the LA River comes alive and turns into a possessed demon. The LA River, as many of you know, flows underneath several freeways....crisscrossing them at some point...and eventually running alongside them. Ahhhh...just last Sunday, when it was raining lightly, I got a chance to go down there and explore the nasty river. It was COMPLETELY unplanned...to say the least. http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/IDlMg8pjsDgECjZNK4LWnA/l And there I went....spinning out on all lanes of the freeway, somehow evading incoming traffic, flying over a curb, breaking through a metal fence... and FINALLY, launching my little G coupe right into the LA River.... http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/4nz4DgLZuDuPdobn9tOzQg/l Yes, I just lost control of my car. After the plunge, I sat there for 15 seconds. I can still hear the humming of the freeway traffic overhead. I was able to see smoke coming out from under the hood. THANK YOU! Somehow...I made it out without any lacerations...no bruises, no whiplash, no broken nails! PHEWW!! Because you know, scars are totally hot on dudes BUT not on chicks like me. I walked away with only wet shoes. Tried calling 911. Could NOT get through! SERIOUSLY! Gave up after 5 minutes...and decided to take pics of Mr. Quack in the river. ... http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/kW9rk0su7sD8G3ULXM1unQ/l I heard there are herons and egrets here too. *Crickets* Then, it dawned on me. I might also be a sitting duck down here. I might not be so lucky the second time around and like some weird crap out of a Quentin Tarantino movie, some other car might also spin out from overhead, fall, and clip the life out of me. Shit. Dial 9-1-1. They finally came.....blazing sirens and all. I was extremely lucky....they all said. Something was definitely watching over me. I didn't flip over.. didn't suffer or inflict any injuries.... and best of all, no fatalities. They were surprised on how I appeared jaded over the incident. Maybe I escaped death, but I only wrecked a car....not a life. Thank gawd I was driving alone and not with some weepy-ass passenger who would probably freak the shit out of me during launch point. So let this be my first and hopefully, my last accident. Now, I am in search of another suhweet, yet humble, sports coupe. Requirement: Must be able to fly off freeways and land well in rivers. :) For the record, it's not that we, Asian gals, are crazy drivers...it's just that the river shows no mercy during wet weather. Ha. So who wants to go for a ride?!! Drive safely, everyone! read more

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So my curiosity got the best of me. I've seen in movies. I've seen it in photos. I've seen it in movies. I wanted to see it in person. It really is a cool space to check out. Just the walk down one of the tunnels into the Viaduct is a moment out of every L.A. based movie you've seen. It's a little erie, a little nostalgic and a lot of cool. Depends on when you go the velocity of water they are letting flow. It's deeper than it looks and I wouldn't try to cross it. There were some people there where I was and they were attempting to cross over the moving body of water . . . not smart. The bike path that parallels the River is a great place to run, bike or just take a stroll. There are also kayak rental businesses. I've taken the plunge and it wasn't bad at all. I didn't even tip over. read more

One of my absolute favorite parts of Los Angeles. It's no coincidence that it's also one of the strangest, spookiest parts of the city too. For the last three months or so, I've made it a point every other week to walk or bike the path between the Victory blvd entrance and Atwater Village and always go home with a bizarre sighting or unusual find. While it is common knowledge that many homeless people camp out along the river, there are all kinds of weird stories and rumors about a strange guy who either lives in the brush within the riverbed or spends a lot of time spooking pedestrians and riders. The "hiding man" as the posted signs along the path warn you, is a pale-faced (masked?) man who will occasionally peer out from the brush and according to a few anonymous message board posts, can also be spotted walking along the riverbed. To say that I find this extremely fascinating is an understatement and makes every visit something of an expedition. Hopefully, one day, I will get to actually spot him myself (I added the only pic of him I could find). A few things that I have seen and/or found: a hand-carved, very well-endowed and articulated wooden doll; syringes; men at two different ends of the path at night, using flashlights within the brush; someone using a laptop within a tent within the brush; a knife handle; a rubber baby doll fully swaddled and soaked in dirty water; cat tail; bones of unknown origin; "wild" chickens; warning signs posted about the hidden man, a headless man, robbers along the path, wild dogs and people in the pipes with the cat faces; a stash of unopened microwave burritos. So much mythology! Add all of that to the fact that right smack in the middle of congested, choking Los Angeles, you can spend some time away while looking at wildlife, lush greenery and, technically, a running river. It's sort of like a tiny pocket universe in some stretches. It's also typically isolated, aside from cyclists, it stays pretty quiet and calm all day so a good place to enjoy a book or a little scotch while you think about things. Walking it at night is a bit trickier and typically advised against but I did it a few weeks ago and found it pretty exciting, albeit a little dangerous once I saw the flashlight guys in the brush. There are very few things one could be doing with flashlights in the dark in the middle of the river! I've read several other articles/posts/blogs that mention gang activity but I have yet to encounter any of it. read more

They close down the entrance of the LA river 4 weeks ago. There's now a huge construction going on. Nobody can get in. There's gates and it's all lock up. The construction worker told me that they are re-modeling the bridge. It will take another 3yrs till they will be done and reopen it again. :( so, sad I wanted to see it. read more

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Ever since I saw the movie Blood In, Blood Out - I've always wanted to go check out the LA river. I finally got a chance when I went on my Vegas/LA vacation. The only thing that sucked was that we didn't have that much time to work with (flight was leaving in a few hours). And the area we went to was cracked down big time with graffiti cover ups. Every piece was painted over. Bummer! I can't wait to go back and take more pics. Hell maybe I'll even throw something up while I'm out there. read more

Los Angeles River - MIA in LA - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

The LA River bike path is by far the most chill and flattest path I have riden. The view is pretty mundane, but it is a smooth ride. We started from Egret Park and rode to Commissary Coffee in Burbank and back. The most energy exerted was riding on the Burbank streets. read more

Los Angeles River - Break on the path - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

This place is awesome. One day I was driving toward DTLA and this driveway kept taunting me, saying "drive down, check it out. you know want to...do it." so I did! I was a little nervous because I had passed by the entrance many times not knowing what it was, but this day I was being adventurous. I drove my truck through the entrance and a homeless man waved hello to me and I couldn't help but think, if it's safe enough for him to live here, it must be safe enough to drive through. The tunnel was dark but when I made it in, It was quite bright and beautiful actually. The concrete canvas lining the riverbed and the backdrop of the bridge and power lines really demonstrate the unique and picturesque quality of urban L.A. The L.A. River runs about 50 miles and traces through many cities, big and small, so I think it's an important landmark and reminder of the subtle quality that it brings to Los Angeles-it binds many borders. You can drive through some of it, run along the path, jog it, or be swept away by it when Mother Nature has her way. What a beautiful combination of man made and earth made wonder right in the heart of Los Angeles. Visit whether you're a local or a tourist. It's a neat place to explore. There's vegetation and wildlife in there you know. Things you don't always consider when you're thinking about Los Angeles. read more

It really takes a certain kind of person to truly appreciate the strange urban concrete beauty in the LA River, the scrap yards, the graffiti, the occasional homeless person who cheers you on and you run by them... It looks gorgeous after the rain and will take you somewhere unlike a lot of rivers would. read more

You, right there! Yeah, you. Stop using plastic shopping bags. Seriously, cut it out! Having participated in my second "Gran Limpieza" Los Angeles river clean-up, I have seen more plastic crap lining trees, rocks, and channelized riverbank than I ever care to see again. Picture this, an army of volunteers creeping into an island of lush greenness in the middle of a cement river prepared to extract debris that kills birdies, gets carried out to sea, and generally looks pretty gnarly. (Note: the river was channelized to prevent areas of downtown from flooding year after year -- LA is a natural flood basin, you know.) Three hours later a dumpster is full of mostly old plastic bags from Home Depot, grocery stores, Target, etc. I'm not kidding, bags made up the clear majority of the debris you find in the LA River today. Awful! Treat the river right. Take reusable canvas bags when you do your shopping and pick up stray bags you come across. And, if you can help it, stop dumping old water heaters, mattresses and shopping carts there, too. It's not very attractive. read more

I used to come down here a lot with a group of friends during my younger years. I was an adventurer of sort. We used to occasionally walk about 8 miles from Highland Park all the way to the area where they now built the China Town Metro Rail. It is fun to walk along it or bike along it when it's dry, but the river does raise several feet in light rain [I remember the river rising over 4 feet in heavy rain]. I really want to just try canoeing down the river when it rains... For a man-made river, it really isn't that dirty... though I'm going to put it out there for the retarded ones out there : don't drink the water. If you have a gas mask and a hazmat suit, you could explore the little drain holes on the sides of the river to see where you are. If you were 12. read more

Disgusting, Dirty, Grime - Ridden, Graffitied Masterpiece! Came down here to take photos with photographer Tara Rice (her suggestion) and she took some really cool yoga shots! Something about getting dirty glass stuck in your arm while trying to pull of forearm balance just makes doing it so much cooler for some reason j/k Seriously though, when you look at things with the eye of an artist everyting becomes beautiful. I sometimes imagine that's how God probably looks at everything ;) read more

I used to run the riverbed and it smelled because our route was west of the [tertiary] waste processing facility in Downey. Its the toxic urban runoff from storm drains or streets that pollute our river. Our river is paved to avoid flooding. The riverbed has graffiti/the homeless. Prime housing used to be located on riverbanks until houses would be washed away by flash floods that led to the diversion of the river's path. read more

I'm a photographer, I came down here to take some photos, it was then that I realized that what we as humans are doing to the environment is so wrong. While I was "in" the river I saw and encountered so much trash and grime that it was sickening. I came down after it rained so all the trash was just getting washed around. It would have been a better experience without the trash and grime. The experience made me think twice about populating and littering. Anyway, it's cool that once you can get over that initial feeling you remember that many famous movies were shot down there like Terminator and Transformers. Very cool! Just be careful when journeying down here because you never know who/what might be lurking down there. The authories came by just to tell us that. read more

The L.A. River is nothing more than a great punchline. Tell your friend you spent the weekend boating on the L.A. River and a laugh-riot is sure to ensue. Tell another friend the sweat on your brow isn't sweat but water: you were just doing laps in the L.A. River. Again. Laugh-riot. Otherwise the L.A. River doesn't have much in the PRO column. Perhaps it's a nice place tor the homeless who live there in Encino... Perhaps Perhaps when a tsunami hits the Pacific, flooding the L.A. River and bringing chaos to the suburbs we'll respect it... Perhaps at places where it does reach a depth of 18" it is nice for swimming... But for now I see a THREE*STAR punchline... _C$ read more

I crossed over the Los Angeles River on 8/25/2012. To me, the Los Angeles River has never gotten the respect that she deserves. Other rivers, even here in the U.S., are far more famous for various reasons but that does not diminish her importance. Los Angeles is the 2nd biggest city in the USA after New York --- but why is she here? Because of the river. Local historians will tell you about the "Zanja Madre" or mother ditch. Well the "Zanja Madre" connected to the river --- she truly was the mother to Los Angeles. read more

I just like LA river. I don't know how many times I rode my bike there, and always enjoyed my ride. read more

Los Angeles River - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me

Big huge industrial River flowing through Los Angeles. Inside it you will find Eco preserves, trash, birds and some homeless camps. Many graffiti as well throughout. The river flows under many bridges downtown with my favorite under the 6th St. bridge. read more

The L.A. "River" is currently 52 miles of storm drain littered with shopping carts, old tires and an occasional dead body/body part. Would you believe there is an effort underway to restore it? (The River Project). Some of the ugly concrete that lines the "river" would be taken out (oh, joy!) & the water cleaned up. There used to be trout in the river, in the 50's, and even now are ducks & other wildlife. The Friends of the L.A. River give tours & do clean-ups. A worthy cause for sure! read more

Great background for pictures for that urban style. A bit dirty but great photo shots! If you are looking for the historic bridges you can get some awesome pictures from here. Entry is not allowed so you have to be creative! read more

The regular 6th street entrance is closed for construction unless you find a hole in a fence.

Staple LA experience. Always took photos around the tunnel but never went through. Yay for finally going through. Now I now why all the cars come this way. read more