Boardwalks + Wetlands

John Arroyo's thesis blog,"Culture in Concrete: Art and the Re-imagination of the Los Angeles River as Civic Space," came to our attention because of its relevant featured content based around the L.A. River.

"Envisioning Boardwalks and Wetlands on the LA River," was one of many posts made by John. Click to view all entries from "Mental Maps of the L.A. River" or view John's blog.

Patty Lundeen of BREAK Urban drew this map, scanned it, and emailed it to us. Her map looks at ways to capitalize on current assets on the LA River, such as adding a pedestrian bridge to complement existing parks. Previous maps in this series also emphasize that the river is already rich in physical and cultural assets.

Look at the red line she’s drawn on the right side of the Lower Arroyo Seco. Her accompanying words say, “landmark mural that ‘someone’ painted over”. Her note refers to the 2007 Meeting of Styles:LA event, in which over 200 graffiti artists came to donate their artwork to the river’s concrete walls. They created approximately 10,000 square feet of graffiti art. LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina subsequently ordered that the mural be removed. This is a picture of a partially whitewashed portion of the mural:

Lundeen knows the River well. I designed the water feature that is going to be at Confluence Park (currently under construction) with WET and Mia Lehrer's office; she said. I volunteer for FoLAR (Friends of the LA River) that has offices at the LA River Center. I sometimes help lead walking tours of this section of the river for school groups.

Thanks to John Arroyo andCoLab Radio for sharing the research.