Conan O'Brien on the LA River

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land

Conan O'Brien lampooned the very existence of the LA River to a national audience last night. He did a sketch with him and his side-kick (Andy) in a canoe in 6 inches of water surrounded by concrete and grafitti.

Very funny but SADLY true. This comes on the heels of a recent editorial in the LA Times questioning the possibility of ever really making the river into an attractive open space.

While tragic that the LA River was paved over in the 1930's, I am HOPEFUL the current LA River Master Plan can "re-green" the river and make it an attractive open space/bike path that runs from the San Fernando Valley all the way to Long Beach.

I do worry that it will take YEARS to really move the plan forward (reasons range from the tanking economy & budget cuts to the difficultly of getting anything done in city with a million interest groups fighting over the most minute details, etc.).

Any thoughts? Either hopeful or not.....

Not to be a bring down, but here's the deal. In its original state, the LA River was this vast, braided stream, and of course, given the climate, highly seasonal. Why was it this way? A combination of the high and geologically young (and still rising) mountains on all sides, which means lots of silt and rocky debris constantly feeding into it. Also the seasonality I noted, coupled with the flatness of the LA Basin areas it goes through. A braided stream takes up a lot of space and has a very minimal natural levee system. So, that means, a massive flooding danger anywhere near the stream.

This is why it was channelized.

De channelizing it would have significant implications and would require moving development out of a large area near the stream, and, building expensive high levees to constrain the braided water course in a way that would not change the flow so much that braiding would not occur. Such levees would have to be set back hundreds of feet.

[the one]

well i am one of the people that makes good use of the river. on the south side at least.

i doubt it will be a river like the san antonio tx river that is lined with shops and restaurants.

it would be nice. but the volume of the river is not at that level, and making it such would take great work.

the focus is on providing park space along the river. from the industrial city of vernon, south, the river provides a bike path. but north of vernon there is a chunk of bike path missing. there have been new parks built along the river path. one great park that is new is MAYWOOD river front park.

maywood is one of the densest cities in the county, state, and country. it is also exceptionally park poor (well it was until the new park was built). maywood, with the help of different organizations had to salvage the land that the park was built on. it was highly toxic.

i have friends that live by the park. it was a dump before. very industrial, very hazardous to your health. the process to clean it up was lengthy.
once "clean", the building process took more time. and after it was completed the park sat gated and unused for a couple of years. the chain link fence that cordoned the park off had signs that read : "if you see vapors or steam rising from this site, please call..." they had to allow a good amount of time to ensure the area was thouroughly cleaned. there is still a few parcels of land that were supposed to be part of the park that are currently being cleaned.

thats the case with a lot of the property that lines the river. i dont know whose big idea it was to build so many factories along the river, but now most of the land that would normally be prime real estate is TOXIC.

warehouses and industry (which result in high levels of toxicity) + working class communities = no desire to spend millions (or billions) of dollars to re green the river.

it will take a while. but the bike paths are their. from vernon south it is a nice ride. on any given day you will see women, children, cyclists, skaters, etc using the bike path. altho i dont recommend using it after dark.

Originally Posted by Island_OnThe_Land

At the risk of offending some, I am somewhat stunned by the APATHY and NEGLECTFUL attitude some responders have shown towards the LA River.

In particular, a few have suggested that since the river runs through "undesirable" parts of town the whole idea of reclaiming the river as useful open space should be scrapped.

My orignial post was perhaps not very optimisitc, but I do BELIEVE the LA River is a great utapped resource for the city and region. No I don't expect that we can make the river into something it's not (say the Seine river in Paris). That said, "greening" the river with trees, landscaping, and bike paths would be a tremendous POSITIVE for the neighborhoods lining the river as well as the REGION as a whole.

Yes, many of the neighborhoods lining the river are so called "tough" areas with high crime and poverty. That said, crime has fallen dramatically in the last 10 to 15 years and additional parks will only improve these areas for existing residents. Don't the kids growing up in these areas deserve reasonable open space/parks/recreational opportunities? The LA River master plan can bring that fruition.

Also, many of the neighborhoods along the river are quite desirable areas: Los Feliz, Studio City, etc.).

The LA river with substanial green space and bike/walking paths would be a GREAT resource for the ENTIRE REGION that is incredibly UNDERSERVED by park space. National studies have shown the LA has the distinction of having the lowest amount of park space per capita than most big cities in the U.S.

Yeah, it will probably take years or even decades but I say let's do it. We are leaving massive debt to the next generation. The least we can do is build something positive and leave something behind that can be enjoyed for years to come.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Not to be a bring down, but here's the deal. In its original state, the LA River was this vast, braided stream, and of course, given the climate, highly seasonal. Why was it this way? A combination of the high and geologically young (and still rising) mountains on all sides, which means lots of silt and rocky debris constantly feeding into it. Also the seasonality I noted, coupled with the flatness of the LA Basin areas it goes through. A braided stream takes up a lot of space and has a very minimal natural levee system. So, that means, a massive flooding danger anywhere near the stream.

This is why it was channelized.

De channelizing it would have significant implications and would require moving development out of a large area near the stream, and, building expensive high levees to constrain the braided water course in a way that would not change the flow so much that braiding would not occur. Such levees would have to be set back hundreds of feet.

That sounds a lot like the Santa Ana River. The area it flows through is very flat and the river's course changed constantly. I read that Spanish explorers once camped on the banks of the river in today's Tustin. I've also seen maps from just 100 years ago that show it rounding the northwest corner of Mile Square Park and heading down Newland St. in Huntington Beach, several miles west of the current location. Without concrete containment, a huge swath of present day OC would be uninhabitable.

[OyCrumbler]

I agree that something should be done with the LA river--seasonal river that it is, it can still be improved and put to use. Of course, Conan taking a jab at it is in some sense a cheapshot, but if some collective shame then becomes collective action, then great. I'm all for it.

[timelesschild]

Aw, why shouldn't Conan do a spot about the LA River? People all over the rest of the country have never seen a river like it before - it's fun for them to see and think about. We can have a sense of humor about it - let's face it - it's a highly unusual "river".

I've seen them make jokes about lots of ridiculous things on late-night TV. It's not like late night talk shows are important.