Skip to main content

Beats and Rhymes: Ode to the L.A. River

Support Provided By
3267797295_7b0f370f03_z.jpg
Metrolink's L.A. River photo by Ensie used under a Creative Commons license

The plight of the Los Angeles Riverand its concrete channel are well known. Unfortunately few know that a lush ecosystem once existed in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River watershed. Grizzly bears once roamed the banks. Much of the Southern California basin from Glendale, Eagle Rock, Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Torrance, Compton -- all held pockets of swamps and dense, wooded vegetation.

I sing of a River dammed,
dumped, pumped & Diverted;
I sing of a River
They almost Murdered..
I sing of a River
the people forgot,
I sing of a River
that flows from the rocks...
The Tongva, also known as Gabrielino, Indians had many villages along the rivers. Within the ecology were an ample variety of edible plants and animals. The Tongva relied on the rivers for almost every facet of their existence -- they even made their huts with poles from the willow thickets. The Tongva remained undisturbed well into the 18th Century.

I sing of a River that switched beds,
Underground moisture in the watershed.
 
Lakewood City official D.J. Waldie in his book "Holy Land," says that before these rivers were paved, locals called them "tramp rivers" because every year they switched beds. The San Gabriel River once emptied into the ocean where the L.A. River does now. In 1867 a great flood changed the San Gabriel's course. The L.A. River once emptied into the ocean via the Ballona Creek near Marina Del Rey. The force of the 1825 flood was so powerful that it cut a new waterway south towards Long Beach.

My first exposure to the river was riding my bike in the 1980s on the San Gabriel Riverbed from my mom's house in Cerritos to my grandfather's, 5 miles south in Long Beach. Pedaling there on the riverbed took about 20 minutes. We would then ride to Seal Beach along the concrete riverbed. I also saw the L.A. River when we drove past it on the freeway and in movies like Grease and the Terminator.

Years later at UCLA I began studying Los Angeles history. I read essays about the River, like Mike Davis' "How Eden Lost Its Garden." I read about theFriends of the Los Angeles River. By 1999 after I graduated, I befriended FoLAR founder Lewis MacAdams. A few years later I worked in Frogtown right next to the River. I began taking more hikes and learning as much as I could, like the Olmsted Brothers' Original plan. I've written dozens of poems about the river. The poem recorded here is a culmination.

There are now several history books about the River. Lewis MacAdams' book of poems titled "The River: Books 1,2 & 3" published in 2007 by Blue Press is reminiscent of William Carlos Williams. Joe Linton's "Down By the L.A. River" on Wilderness Press is an excellent starting point for anyone looking to hike or explore more. The resurrection is underway.

I sing of a River resurrected
one pocket park at a time.
Blades of grass breaking concrete,
Riparian Wetlands in the Compton Creek,
Oleanders in Atwater,
Re-instate the native garden!
Lewis MacAdams founded
The Friends of the Los Angeles River
With the Power of the Word.
Like John Kinsella says,
Poems can stop bulldozers.
I sing of a River where
Wetlands & Washs once dominated
Witness the Return of the Watershed!
 
A short film matching the poem is in production now. Stay tuned!

Support Provided By
Read More
A group of over 60 poets line up in three rows for a group photograph in a high ceiling public library. The floor beneath them is granite tiling arranged in geometric shapes. Above, is a mural.

'A Day of Poetry in LA' Celebrates the Diversity and Strength of L.A.'s Poetry Community

There's an incredible geographic, cultural and even philosophical diversity in the Los Angeles poetry community. Over 60 poets gathered at "A Day of Poetry in LA" to honor and celebrates these differences.
Looking west over the Heart Mountain Relocation Center with its sentry name sake, Heart Mountain, on the horizon.

How Japanese American Incarceration Was Entangled With Indigenous Dispossession

Indigenous land dispossession was bolstered by the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II — and vice versa.
A black and white photo of Michelle Mush Lee in the background, out of focus. Her hand, balled up in a fist, is in focus and in the foreground.

Poem: When We Dream a New America

Since the Chinese Exclusion Act made Chinese laborers "America's first undocumented," Asian Americans have helped to dream a new America. Watch Michelle Mush Lee's poetic recollection of solidarity throughout history.