See the real Los Angeles River which Frank Gerhy and others plan to change. For the good?

Los Angeles River Glendale Narrows — This photo taken at the Glendale Narrows is often used to show the L.A. River. Most of the river doesn’t look like this. The Glendale Narrows is the point where the river changes direction from east-west to north-south and heads toward the ocean.

Recently I began to read reports that notable architect Frank Gehry had been hired by an organization I’d never heard of to design plans to revitalize the Los Angeles River. What!!??! I had already written several scenes in my new novel set along the trails and pathways by the river and was alarmed to think that the man who designed Disney Hall was going to put his imprint on the 51 mile long river. And I wasn’t the only one alarmed by this.

Billion Dollar Giveaway

Then there was this organization that almost all Los Angeles area residents, including me, had never heard of. What the heck is the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corp.? Well, it turns out that it is a public-private non-profit group that now has deep deep pockets: the federal government granted the City of Los Angeles a billion dollars toward restoring the river and this “non-profit” appears to be the beneficiary of the money. As the L.A. Times has reported this is controversial. It also appears that the Friends of the Los Angeles River, a grassroots organization which has sponsored riverside clean-ups and championed river bank restoration and trails for years and years, has been squeezed out of the picture. The Revitalization Corp is now busy holding events–no doubt paid for with the federal tax dollars–in what appears to be an attempt to create “grass roots.”

Real estate Rush By the L.A. River

Frog Gate in River Walk STudio City — The Frog Gate in Studo City leads to one of many paths and trails along the river.

Sadly, a real estate rush is on. Speculators are buying up property along the river and prices for tiny homes and highly polluted lots are skyrocketing. I shudder to think of what the riverside will be like with MacDonald’s and Starbucks and million dollar condos and who knows what else lining the banks. Perhaps the scariest real estate venture is a plan to buy an old, 40 acre train yard and use it for housing for Olympians if L.A. gets the 2024 Olympics. I wouldn’t walk across that land wearing anything less than a hazmat suit. It is highly polluted and filled with toxins!

On the other hand, Mother Nature has her ways. I remember one El Nino year when we were living in Studio City three blocks from the river. One storm brought so much rain that the river overflowed its concrete banks and our front yard was flooded. We were spared but there was a lot of damage closer to the river.

Anyway… Here are some photos of the Los Angeles River. I had intended to post photos about the CicLAvia going on in downtown L.A. today, celebrating the 5 Year anniversary of the event, but it is raining. Here comes El Nino!