The Long Journey Back

By Michael Stockstill

Most people recognize the Los Angeles River from the movies: The hot rod race in Grease. The wild cops and robbers chase in To Live and Die in LA. A Dante-esqe nightmare in Terminator 2.

Concrete — by the mile and by the ton — defines most of the modern Los Angeles River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers poured it in 1938 to stem a series of torrential overflows the city experienced before the river was fenced off and channeled into submission. Today, there is a small but regular flow of water in the river from an upstream flood control basin. During winter storms, the channel swells dramatically.

As the city boomed after World War II, little thought was given to the river; the few residential neighborhoods near it were poor, and most other adjacent land was crowded with warehouses, railyards, and other industrial uses.

Attitudes toward the river have shifted drastically since. What was once derided as "the longest sewer in California" was described in 2016 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in almost religious tones in an interview with The Nation magazine: "Where the river is, it connects all of us. It connects us physically. It connects us environmentally. It connects us spiritually."

Today, the Los Angeles River is in the midst of a comprehensive revitalization that includes removing concrete and adding new parks, bikeways, riparian restoration, and the creation of miles of public access, or as The Nation described it, "an explosion of civic imagineering."

Cost estimates are calculated in the billions; so far more than $100 million has been spent by the state of California and local governments on land acquisition, remediation, planning, and development, primarily along the 32 miles of the river within LA city limits.

It is a massive — and complex — undertaking that has been in the works for decades. And is not governed by any one plan or document. Now, with river planning and coordination the focus of a special unit in the mayor's office — LA Riverworks — the potential for accelerated funding and improvements is growing.

And, then there is Frank Gehry. The involvement of the celebrity architect, who started working on river efforts and coordinating existing information and plans a few years ago, is helping to spur river improvements. For many LA locals, the project has been a long time coming.

A bicyclist exits a path along the Los Angeles River at Maywood Riverfront Park, south of Los Angeles. Photo by Monica Almeida/The New York Times.

Storied past

Few public projects are born and nurtured to this level of success without sustained and charismatic advocacy. At the forefront of backers is Friends of the Los Angeles River, which was founded in 1986 by writer and artist Lewis MacAdams, who famously waded into the shallows of the river's soft bottom section and defied U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vegetation removal teams. FOLAR now has thousands of paying members and a professional staff.

Another, newer advocacy group is River LA. It was founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, and is led today by some of Los Angeles's top business leaders.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which manages the flood control district that overlays much of the river, got involved in the 1990s. It started a process "to identify ways to revitalize the publicly owned rights of way along the Los Angeles River into an urban treasure." The next decade brought more momentum — and valuable open space. Two abandoned railroad yards near the river and Chinatown — a 32-acre parcel known as the Cornfield and the 30-acre Taylor Yard — had stood in developers' crosshairs, but ended up becoming state parks.

Next came an ad hoc committee at the city to coordinate river improvements. But it was not until 2007 that the blueprint for river revitalization, the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, was adopted by the city. Created by a consortium of urban planners that included planning firms Tetra Tech, Mia Lehrer+Associates, Civitas and Wenk Associates, it is still the guiding plan for the waterway.

The plan lays out a time line of 25 to 50 years to implement principles that include re-creation of a continuous riparian habitat corridor, removal of concrete walls (where feasible), storage of peak water flows, stimulation of economic value in riverfront communities, and the establishment of a joint powers agency to govern and direct future river improvements (although that agency never was formed).

The Cornfield, Then and Now: In the 1800s, corn and grapes were grown in the "Cornfield," adjacent to what would become Chinatown near downtown LA west of the LA River. Later, it became a Southern Pacific Railroad Freight depot. By 2000 it was in a state of suspended neglect (bottom) before the state opened the land in 2006 as Cornfield Park. Now it has been reborn as the 32-acre Los Angeles State Historic Park (top) after a $20 million renovation, including a new visitors center. Top photo by Eric Lowenbach; bottom photo by Gary Leonard, courtesy Los Angeles Public Library.

Community-Driven Strategies

The Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan resulted from guiding principles established by community-identified priorities for a section of river that runs through some of the area's poorest cities. In addition to channel and park enhancements (see renderings below), the Rio Hondo Confluence amphitheater and community center will bring programming of regional significance and provide dedicated space for local Native Nations.

Map by Perkins+Will.

Rio Hondo Confluence; artist rendering of confluence vista point looking north. View from Parque Dos Rios (number 8 on map). Rendering by Perkins+Will.

New bridge parks at the Rio Hondo Confluence will connect the large open spaces for people on foot, on bikes, and on horses. View of bridge park looking south (number 5 on map). Rendering by Perkins+Will.

The LA River today

From 2007 to 2014, guided by the master plan, projects such as pocket parks, bikeways and tree plantings were implemented in scattered sites along the river.

But it was the news in late 2014 that River LA had secretly initiated a collaboration with the internationally famous architect Frank Gehry to develop a plan for the river that stimulated the most passionate dialogue about the river's future in recent years.

Gehry's involvement — pro bono — alarmed some river advocates, who feared the potential connection to powerful business interests would diminish the vision of the river as a recreational amenity and turn it into just another Southern California real estate development.

A more sympathetic portrayal of Gehry's work was detailed in a lengthy article in the December 2015 issue of Los Angeles Review of Books by New York architect and critic Joseph Giovanni. Noting that a dozen master plans and studies have already been done, Giovanni clearly sees the Gehry effort as bringing those previous efforts together, offering greater understanding of river issues (from economics to hydrology), and synthesizing "information so it's transparent and accessible to policy makers and public agencies."

Chronicling Gehry's collaboration with other planners — notably hydrologist Mark Hanna — Giovanni concludes with a coda of praise: "Few people, if any, are better qualified to see the river in all its complexities, and then answer the complexities with proposals. And few figures have the skills to coalesce a broad-based effort that can unite the city."

As Gehry's analysis evolves, aided by a roundly praised three-dimensional digital model of the river, more plans and more land acquisitions are taking place:

• An 11-mile bikeway and landscaping design project mid-river, jointly funded by the countywide transit agency and LA, will link two existing trails.
• Seven design firms were retained by the city last year to "visualize LA River Revitalization Master Plan implementation possibilities in the Downtown Los Angeles Corridor. Plans from Gruen Associates, WSP, CH2M, Chee Salette, Mia Lehrer+Associates, AECOM, and Tetra Tech responded with an array of approaches.
• In September 2017, the city council funded a design team for the G2 site, a 41-acre stretch of riverside that the city paid $60 million for. Envisioned as open space, remediating and fully developing the site is estimated to cost $120 million, according to Michael Affeldt, director of the LA Riverworks Group.

The city's efforts align with river restoration and flood control plans developed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps examined an 11-mile section of the river near downtown and came up with a price tag of $1 billion for work.

The newest player in revitalizing the river is Anthony Rendon, the speaker of the California Assembly. Rendon represents a district in southeastern Los Angeles County, where many of the region's poorest cities are located. He spearheaded creation of the Lower Los Angeles River Working Group to give the area a voice in future river planning, and he was influential in steering $100 million from a state park bond fund into river rehabilitation.

The costs of reclaiming the river are staggering, but funding sources exist. In 2016, Los Angeles County voters approved a parcel tax that will generate an estimated $94 million annually for park and recreation uses. River rehabilitation is a probable candidate for some of it.

On June 5, California voters approved a $4 billion parks and water bond. Some of these funds will likely go to projects on the LA River based on the bond allocation criteria. And if plans to allow development along the river are realized, it is possible that an increment of an existing park tax collected there could be allocated for river recreational uses.

Social Equity on the River: The LA River Index reports that a significant percentage of residents in communities along the river are living below the 200 percent poverty line. Along with that, these communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental burdens and a lack of park space — something river planners want to change. Map courtesy LA River Index (Riverlapreports.Riverla.Org).

The long game

With prospects of significant funding continuing, and perhaps increasing, questions have naturally arisen about the fate of the existing plans (done by the city and county and the Corps) and the Gehry effort, now well into its third year.

"When you are doing (the) kind of planning, for example, like what we did on the Los Angeles River, you understand that these are big strokes," noted landscape architect Mia Lehrer in an interview that appeared on the American Society of Landscape Architects website (www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=26558).

Her involvement with the river spans decades. "You have to take satisfaction that these large-scale planning efforts become a canvas for the next generation of designers," she adds. "The end goal is not to design every square inch of a large-scale project, but to allow the flexibility to educate and communicate in a healthy way with your clients at these agencies about what the possibilities are."

Speaking for River LA, director of external affairs Jon Switalski described the group's partnership with Gehry as ongoing. "His plan has evolved and continues to evolve," he says, citing the Gehry-developed River Index — a huge compendium of river planning data (riverlareports.riverla.org) — as an example of the value the collaboration has produced.

City officials agree. "There is no one plan for the river," says Michael Affeldt of the mayor's office. "Much of the work being done is complementary, and a variety of proponents are doing work in parallel."

Over time, Mayor Garcetti has charted a middle course on public oversight of river planning and private efforts like Gehry's.

Speaking to the VerdeXChange conference in early 2016, Garcetti offered a prophetic vision of the river and its future: "No single group or entity will ever control the river. Only the river can control itself. ... There is room for multiple visions. That's why I am so encouraged by the broad support for the river's restoration. People are putting their money where their mouths are."

Michael Stockstill is a retired public affairs executive who writes from Irvine, California.

Resources

See how Gehry Partners and associates hope to transform the river: riverlareports.riverla.org

See how the water wheel will look in action: http://bit.ly/2sRJtCL

Water Works in the Works

Dozens of major and minor projects — including housing and commercial — along the Los Angeles River are listed on planning documents or in local media. Here is a sample.

Landscaping and Concrete Removal

A 500-foot linear terrace will be built along the west bank of the river, once this section is freed from its "concrete straightjacket," as LA Mayor Eric Garcetti once called it.

Location: Between N. Main St. and Cesar Chavez Ave. in Los Angeles.

Sponsor: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and city of Los Angeles.

Significance: This will be the first time a large amount of concrete has been removed from the river channel and replaced with plant materials.

Status: Detailed design is under way. Funding from federal and local government will determine start date; completion is several years away.

Photo courtesy Los Angeles River Revitalization.

The Water Wheel

A metal replica of an 1854 wooden wheel that lifted water for domestic consumption and agriculture from the river. More than 60 feet tall and 70 feet in diameter, the wheel will be built in a 32-footdeep pit. Water from the river (collected from behind a small rubber dam) will be piped there and cleaned, then returned to the river (a portion will be piped to irrigate nearby parks).

Location: Metabolic Studio, a block from the river.

Sponsor: Artist Lauren Bon, heiress to the Annenberg fortune.

Significance: The water wheel is a reminder that the river was once an important part of everyday life in the city.

Status: Installation of the dam and digging of the pit is expected in late 2018. The wheel is expected to start operation in spring 2020. The project required more than 60 permits.

Photo by Lauren Bon.

Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan

A comprehensive, community- inspired set of recommendations for the stretch of the river south of the city of Los Angeles. Passing through a series of largely lower-income cities, this part of the river was until recently largely ignored or given last priority for examination until California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon earmarked $49 million in state park bond funds for the project.

Location: Beginning in Vernon, just past the LA city limits, to Long Beach, 17 miles.

Sponsor: River-adjacent cities and LA County working with the San Gabriel Mountains and Rivers Conservancy.

Significance: The plan identifies 146 potential projects, including seven "signature" projects — such as Cudahy River Road (pictured above) and the Rio Hondo Confluence — that combine recreation, public art, restoration, bikes, and walkways as well as parks built on bridges, new access to the river, and a band shell.

Status: Completion of the plan in late 2017 sets the stage for project prioritization and initial implementation in the next three years.

Rendering courtesy Perkins + Will.

Proposed Commercial and Residential Development

Several key projects near or adjacent to the river are currently in the planning stage. On the drawing board are hotels, significant amounts of office space, hundreds of residential units, retail, and open space. One highly talked about project is the redevelopment of the 1930s-era Lincoln Heights Jail, a collection of commercial and manufacturing spaces, a public market, live/work housing, and green space.

Photo courtesy Rios Clementi Hale Studios.