USA LA! Home Sweet Home : The Los Angeles River

THE LOS ANGELES RIVER

Following are numbered walks described by the guidebook 'Down By The Los Angeles River' by Joe Linton of the Friends of the Los Angeles, published by Wilderness Press.

This mural on the 'banks' of the Los Angeles River, "The Great Wall of Los Angeles" goes on for a mile, telling the story of LA from dinosaurs to the early 1950s.

The start is at the corner of Burbank Blvd and Coldwater Canyon bordering Los Angeles Valley College in the San Fernando Valley. It's very cool and easy - stop by if you get a chance, it's a why-not? kind of outing.

Walk 5

In the heart of Sherman Oaks just off the oh-so-trendy Ventura Blvd we find this short 1.2 mile round trip walk.

Right off Ventura Blvd but quiet as could be, this patch is shaded by trees, with community gardens supported by the Village Gardeners and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and...

...the amphitheater of the Richard Lillard Outdoor Classroom.

Walk 8

From a starting point on Los Feliz in Atwater Village. This is called The Guardians of the River Gate by the artist Michael Amescua.

Winter.

Birds! and plenty more.

Just above the top bank - the roaring I5, river of cars.

Walk 9

The Alex Baum Bicycle Bridge connecting two legs of the river walk.

More from the other side.

Crossing at the Sunnynook Footbridge. Watching concrete go wild. I should say twice we ran into unexpected fences blocking our way but overall, a lovely place to walk.

Walk 11 (from Great Heron, and 10 from Water With Rocks)

I didn't actually do either walk and it looks like really good ones too, but rather just pulled off the road to get the two gates.

This one is called the Great Heron Gate and leads into Rattlesnake Park. Unfortunately the walls are getting tagged, not artistic efforts for decoration either but just unpleasant spray-can tags.

The gate across the street is cool too and called Water With Rocks Gate.

This section of the LA River is one of the places where the city broke up the cement bed to let the plants grow in which is so nice to look at.

It's great for birds but also homeless people are camping out in the overgrowth. What to do what to do.

Walk 12

By the intersection of the 5 and the 110 we find two small pocket parks, Egret Park and Oso Park...

...leading to entrances to this walk/run/bike path.

You can see here that this path is not complete along the whole length of the river...

...but the LA County Department of Public Works is making great strides at introducing wildlife back to downtown Los Angeles as well as cleaning up an eyesore and providing opportunity for recreation to the whole city.

Copied from the LAC-DPW website: 'Development and implementation of the Los Angeles River Master Plan will maintain the river as a resource that provides flood protection and opportunities for recreational and environmental enhancement, improves the aesthetics of the region, enriches the quality of life for residents, and helps sustain the economy of the region.'

On the other side of the river from this picture there is a very large MetroLink train yard.

Egret! And there were tons of other birds enjoying the afternoon, swimming around, chirpping, swooping - it was lovely.

Check it out, the Hollywood sign.

On a fine February day we ran into very nice groups of strollers, runners, bikers, and skate borders taking the air along the path.

Modest homes, several with chicken coops, bordered the path. Many had dogs loose in the yard but not one of the dogs went nuts as we passed. Good Job No Barking!

There were also the kinds of light industry that you can see in this picture.

Walk 18

One of the prettiest stretches so far, with easy access and good weather because we're down at the Estuary in Long Beach.

It's a gorgeous bike path that goes on for miles.

We saw a lot of folks running their dogs down there although we didn't see any access points. The rock and rubble embankments looked too dangerous for us to consider.

And there were birds, plenty of them.

Pretty. Dead or deciduous? I don't know.

Walk 20

Hansen Dam and the tributary in the Tujunga Wash.

After the long drought and then the first rain of November 2014 there was a very little water collecting to then get funneled into a channel, routed back to the river.

Near Walk 22 I think, at the Rose Bowl

What a great day! You can't actually walk at the river here...

...but there are breaks in the fence and we can see that the river is still in its full-on cement mode.

Further down there's a roadway crossing. That's me and Liz, fun shadows down there. You can see the Rose Bowl in the far upper right.

Always love the bridges.

Walk 25

Welcome to the Los Angeles River walk #25, the Whittier Narrows Dam, part of the Rio Hondo tributary. These metal-worked gates are so cool.

There's a large park here, the Grant Rea Memorial Park with ball fields, picnic spots, and a little zoo of domesticated animals, fun for the children.

On this part of the river they have not yet broken up the concrete bottom, but on another front they are controlling the graffiti.

Hi Sharon. No shade here, still some small birds would swoop down for a bath.

Further south dirt is beginning to appear so bushes can't be far behind.

Ballona Creek

In Culver City, what a very cool walk/bike path that runs all the way to the sea however this waterway is not connected to the LA River.

More Ballona Creek.