Projects: Los Angeles River

Many Angelenos are unaware that a river flows through the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. And for many more their image of the river is something that they've seen only in any number of films or television programs.

The Los Angeles River flows some 52 miles through Los Angeles County, California. It starts in the west end of the San Fernando Valley at the union of Bell Creek and Calabasas Creek and empties into the Pacific Ocean at the port of Long Beach where the Queen Mary is permanently berthed.

For me the river was at first just a curiosity but then it became cathartic and an escape. At various points in my life I lived near bodies of water. I grew up mostly in Salinas, California which is just 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean. And I spent a wonderful year living in Paris, France, just a short walk from the Seine which runs through that beautiful city. Even then I would escape the world by walking near the water. The flow, the sounds and the deep darkness seemed mysterious and obviously symbolic of life.

The LA River has its own personality and its own quirks. The river illustrates the struggle of man vs nature...but in such a way that it is most amusing. Here we have a river which by its nature and its history has defined and created Los Angeles, a city also created and defined by man. There is the fence that seems to be built to keep plants away from the water source, a tree that beckons to the birds that prefer the order of power lines, plants that somehow force their way through the concrete channels of the river, the river that attempts to cleanse itself of the tons of garbage that is dumped into it by man. The story of the River is the story of nature's persistence.

Whenever I had a morning or afternoon free I would take a walk along the LA River. I always have my camera with me and I started talking snaps here and there. After awhile when I started reviewing the images, I noticed that the pictures seemed to have its own feel and a flow. I became more and more eager for the times spent along the banks of the river.

These photographs are not a comprehensive view of the river. More photographs are included in my book available at www.blurb.com. They are just the snaps I've taken during my walks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy my time down by the river.

-John Nelson

For a personal guide to the river I highly recommend the book , Down by the Los Angeles River, by Joe Linton.

Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) is the oldest LA river advocacy organization. For more information and ways to get involved with restoring the Los Angeles River visit www.folar.org.