Los Angeles River

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Los Angeles River
LARmap.jpg
Data
Water code US :  245154
location Los Angeles County , California (USA)
River system Los Angeles River
source to the west of the San Fernando Valley in Canoga Park
34 ° 11 ′ 43 ″  N , 118 ° 36 ′ 8 ″  W
muzzle at Long Beach in the Pacific Coordinates: 33 ° 45 '11 "  N , 118 ° 11' 23"  W 33 ° 45 '11 "  N , 118 ° 11' 23"  W.
Mouth height 0  m

length 82 km
Left tributaries Rio Hondo
Right tributaries Compton Creek
Big cities los Angeles
The Los Angeles River at Glendale

The Los Angeles River at Glendale

The Los Angeles River is a 82 km long river in Los Angeles County in the US state of California .

The river begins west of the San Fernando Valley in Canoga Park through the confluence of Bell Creek and Calabasas Creek . The Los Angeles River flows into the Pacific at Long Beach . Major tributaries are Brown's Canyon Wash , Aliso Canyon Wash , Tujunga Wash , Western Burbank Channel , Verdugo Wash , Arroyo Seco , Rio Hondo , Compton Creek, and Bull Creek .

Its water flow is extremely variable, while most of the time it hardly has any water, there are irregular flood events.

history

The catchment area of ​​the river in the coastal mountains means that the Los Angeles River was repeatedly hit by flash floods triggered by incline rain , which caused considerable damage in the early 20th century. After a flood disaster in 1938 that destroyed 1,500 houses, the US Army Corps of Engineers was called in to help. The hydraulic engineers decided to canalize the entire course of the river so that the Los Angeles River, with the exception of a few short parks, runs entirely in an artificial concrete bed.

Since the 1980s, conservationists and landscape architects began to think about liberating the river and enabling both its ecological functions and recreational use. The Friends of LA River , an organization of environmentalists, artists and active citizens, have been active since 1986 . They organize guided tours and kayak tours on the river and are responsible for bringing the awareness of the residents back to the hidden and inaccessible river.

A Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan for the upper 50 kilometers of the river has been in place since 2007 , which describes the gradual unsealing of the river bed as technically possible and defines the priorities. The first project is Taylor Yard north of Dodger Stadium . For this purpose, three concepts were presented in summer 2019, one of which is based heavily on the Isarplan in Munich. A grant of USD 1 billion from the federal government has been available since 2015 to unseal the approximately 15 kilometers between Griffith Park and Downtown LA in sections and to improve the flood protection function in view of the increasing likelihood of heavy rain events.

The renaturation of the LA River is a lengthy process because the river flows through 17 independent communities and both authorities of the state of California and the federal government must be involved in the decision-making.

media

The film Chinatown (1974), set in 1937, shows the LA River before it was canalized. The concrete bed of the Los Angeles River is seen American television series and a number of action films in countless episodes, including Jackass , Terminator 2 - Judgment Day , Blue Thunder , The Core - The inner core , The Gumball Rally , only 60 seconds , Navy CIS: LA and in the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead . The river also appears in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , Grand Theft Auto V , Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and LA Noire . In the anniversary episode The Three ??? The canalized river bed and the water level of the Los Angeles River play a role for the fiery eye .

Documentation

  • America's rivers: The Los Angeles River, from the mountains into the concrete bed. 43-minute television documentary by Katja Esson (rbb, Germany 2016).

Web links

Commons : Los Angeles River  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Caren Jao, New Greenway Opens at LA River's Headwaters in Canoga Park , KCET, July 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b curbed: The urbanist with a plan for the LA River , December 11, 2019
  3. ↑ Curbed: 9 views of the LA River before and after it was paved in 1938 , August 19, 2015
  4. ↑ Friends of LA River: History (accessed December 19, 2019)
  5. ↑ KCET: Lingering Thoughts on the Los Angeles River: A Q&A with Jenny Price , May 29, 2013
  6. ↑ LA Times : LA River planners float three design proposals for a major new park , July 17, 2019
  7. ↑ KCET: Fed's Okay $ 1-Trillion Los Angeles River Project , May 28, 2014