The L.A. River Culvert
Map
Map
Story & Experience
I live close enough to the LA river to walk to my chosen location. Getting to the river itself meant scaling a few chain link fences and crossing a large railway yard; however I was eventually able to get down into the culvert itself, where water still ran after a rainy spring. I got there in the early morning, when the sun was just coming up, and performed a dance for the river, letting my body sway with the slow current. It didn’t take long for the dance to feel as much a dance with the river as for it, as I could feel myself being moved by the water and life that for centuries had been flowing toward the ocean. I danced for about half an hour, until I felt an emotional release around the constrictedness of the site. Then I said a small prayer and crept back through the fences toward home.
I live close enough to the LA river to walk to my chosen location. Getting to the river itself meant scaling a few chain link fences and crossing a large railway yard; however I was eventually able to get down into the culvert itself, where water still ran after a rainy spring. I got there in the early morning, when the sun was just coming up, and performed a dance for the river, letting my body sway with the slow current. It didn’t take long for the dance to feel as much a dance with the river as for it, as I could feel myself being moved by the water and life that for centuries had been flowing toward the ocean. I danced for about half an hour, until I felt an emotional release around the constrictedness of the site. Then I said a small prayer and crept back through the fences toward home.
Why this Place?
103 S Myers St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
The Los Angeles river was once an unchannelized, meandering waterway that supported a lush ecosystem in an otherwise arid region. In the 1930s, as Los Angeles grew and the river’s repeated flooding threatened the city, the river was straightened, dredged and paved with concrete as a means of flood control. The culvert that resulted means it’s been decades since LA has experienced serious floods; however this aggressive approach to flood control severely damaged the river’s ecology.
Act of Beauty
What was most surprising about the Act of Beauty is that now I see the beauty of the river even through the concrete and debris and city runoff, so that instead of feeling sadness when I pass by I now feel gratitude.
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