Río L.A. : tales from the Los Angeles River /
Morrison, Patt, 1957-
Río L.A. : tales from the Los Angeles River / Río Los Angeles by Patt Morrison ; photographs by Mark Lamonica ; foreword by Kevin Starr. - 1st ed. - Santa Monica, Calif. : Angel City Press, c2001. - 128 p. : col. ill. ; 23 x 29 cm.
Includes index.
Foreword :FOREWORD
So many of the great cities of the world-London,Rome,Paris,Budapest, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis-area riverside cities. And so is Los Angeles. Yet in contrast to the Thames,River,Seine, Danube, Hudson, Charles, Mississippi, Allegheny,Monongahela, or Missouri, the Los Angeles River does not sweep majes-tically past its city in unchallenged supremacy. Ever since it was buried under tons of concrete in the late 1930s, the Los Angeles River has allbut lost its identity, at least in comparison to so many other rivers sweeping so arrogantly past their cities. Nor has the Los Angeles Riverreceived any testimony comparable to the final paragraphs of the GreatGatsby(1925) in which F. Scott Fitzgerald extolled the Hudson as the waterway into the American future.
And yet the Los Angeles River, ever present in the history of thecity, is inextricably linked to the identity and meaning of the City ofAngels. In ages past, the river protected in the bend of its crooked armthe Native American village of Yangna, somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Elysian Park. In time, the river no longer sufficed to serve the growing city. By 1913, no longer was it the sole or even the main artery of the City of Angels. It had been replaced, rather, by waters arriving from the Owens Valley via the Los Angeles Aqueduct and in less than three decades after that by the waters of the mighty Colorado River,theMississippi of the far west.
Yet the Los Angeles River refused to be ignored! From its height-ened and volatile watershed, the Los Angeles would gather unto itself during the rainy seasons a mighty torrent, which it released onto the floodplain of the city below, as if-or so it seemed-the river were angry.
Table of Contents :FOREWORD. THE ONCE AND FUTURE RIVER. 18 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 THE FREE-RANGE RIVER. 28 CHAPTER 3 THE WOMEN WITH BASKETS. 36 CHAPTER 4 THE MEN WITH MUSKETS AND ROSARIES. 44 CHAPTER 5 THE INADEQUATE RIVER. 50 CHAPTER 6 THE RENEGADE RIVER. 58 CHAPTER 7THE MEN WITH BULLDOZERS AND CEMENT68 CHAPTER 8THE MEN WITH ARCHES AND SPANDRELS.82 CHAPTER 9 THE IRRELEVANT RIVER 94 CHAPTER 10 THE PHANTOM RIVER.102 THE RIVER RESURRECTED:CHAPTER 11112 PHOTOGRAPHER'S APTERORD124
INDEX126 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.128 PHOTO CREDITS128
1883318246 (hardcover : alk. paper)
2001001787
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--History.
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--Description and travel.
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--Environmental conditions.
Special Collections---Luis Leandro G. Sinco.
F 868 L8 / M75 2001
Río L.A. : tales from the Los Angeles River / Río Los Angeles by Patt Morrison ; photographs by Mark Lamonica ; foreword by Kevin Starr. - 1st ed. - Santa Monica, Calif. : Angel City Press, c2001. - 128 p. : col. ill. ; 23 x 29 cm.
Includes index.
Foreword :FOREWORD
So many of the great cities of the world-London,Rome,Paris,Budapest, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis-area riverside cities. And so is Los Angeles. Yet in contrast to the Thames,River,Seine, Danube, Hudson, Charles, Mississippi, Allegheny,Monongahela, or Missouri, the Los Angeles River does not sweep majes-tically past its city in unchallenged supremacy. Ever since it was buried under tons of concrete in the late 1930s, the Los Angeles River has allbut lost its identity, at least in comparison to so many other rivers sweeping so arrogantly past their cities. Nor has the Los Angeles Riverreceived any testimony comparable to the final paragraphs of the GreatGatsby(1925) in which F. Scott Fitzgerald extolled the Hudson as the waterway into the American future.
And yet the Los Angeles River, ever present in the history of thecity, is inextricably linked to the identity and meaning of the City ofAngels. In ages past, the river protected in the bend of its crooked armthe Native American village of Yangna, somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Elysian Park. In time, the river no longer sufficed to serve the growing city. By 1913, no longer was it the sole or even the main artery of the City of Angels. It had been replaced, rather, by waters arriving from the Owens Valley via the Los Angeles Aqueduct and in less than three decades after that by the waters of the mighty Colorado River,theMississippi of the far west.
Yet the Los Angeles River refused to be ignored! From its height-ened and volatile watershed, the Los Angeles would gather unto itself during the rainy seasons a mighty torrent, which it released onto the floodplain of the city below, as if-or so it seemed-the river were angry.
Table of Contents :FOREWORD. THE ONCE AND FUTURE RIVER. 18 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 THE FREE-RANGE RIVER. 28 CHAPTER 3 THE WOMEN WITH BASKETS. 36 CHAPTER 4 THE MEN WITH MUSKETS AND ROSARIES. 44 CHAPTER 5 THE INADEQUATE RIVER. 50 CHAPTER 6 THE RENEGADE RIVER. 58 CHAPTER 7THE MEN WITH BULLDOZERS AND CEMENT68 CHAPTER 8THE MEN WITH ARCHES AND SPANDRELS.82 CHAPTER 9 THE IRRELEVANT RIVER 94 CHAPTER 10 THE PHANTOM RIVER.102 THE RIVER RESURRECTED:CHAPTER 11112 PHOTOGRAPHER'S APTERORD124
INDEX126 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.128 PHOTO CREDITS128
1883318246 (hardcover : alk. paper)
2001001787
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--History.
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--Description and travel.
Los Angeles River (Calif.)--Environmental conditions.
Special Collections---Luis Leandro G. Sinco.
F 868 L8 / M75 2001