Riverbooks
In last week's OC Weekly, occasional Times op-ed contributor Gustavo Arellano wrote about a new book by Patrick Mitchell, Santa Ana River Guide: From Crest to Coast - 110 Miles Along Southern California's Largest River System, which Arellano calls "an entertaining, informative read that's part travel guide, history, encyclopedia, biography -- and part activist tome for those who dream of a Santa Ana River restored to its natural state."
This is the latest in a flurry of semi-recent books on Southern California's various embattled rivers. Because it's almost Christmas, I thought it might be fun to compile a list. If there are any missing titles, please add them in the comments:
Down by the Los Angeles River: Friends of the Los Angeles River's Official Guide, by Joe Linton (October 2005).
The Sespe Wild: Southern California's Last Free River, by Bradley John Monsma (July 2004).
Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles, by Jared Orsi (January 2004).
The Definitive Guide to the Waterfalls of Southern and Central California, by Chris Shaffer (March 2003).
The Definitive Guide to Fishing in Southern California, by Chris Shaffer (June 2001).
Rio L. A.: Tales from the Los Angeles River, by our very own Patt Morrison and Mark Lamonica (May 2001).
The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth, by Blake Gumprecht (April 1999).
I'm still holding out hope for the Compton Creek, but mostly I'm shocked to not find on a quick search any Charles Lummis-style odes to the great Arroyo Seco....
The Yellow Rivulets Of Chavez Ravine written by I.P. Freely is also a book worth mentioning.
It's the authoritative study of the odd watershed that only flows from the month of April to September ( sometimes into October, but rarely, thank God).
Posted by: Jason | December 01, 2006 at 10:21 AM
There was once talk of building a freeway inside its concrete walls....
Posted by: Matt Welch | November 30, 2006 at 03:20 PM
On the presumption that all truth is from the movies, I say the most amazing thing about the L.A. River is that it seems to get more traffic than the 405, the 5 and the 10 put together: John Travolta in Grease, the Rodriguez Brothers from Repo Man, the morphing Terminator, Roy Scheider in Blue Thunder, some guy in a Volkswagen Jetta commercial, Mark Wahlberg in The Italian Job, the giant ants in Them! These are just a few of the many stars who have helped make the L.A. River basin the busiest thoroughfare in the City of the Angels. By the time Hilary Swank, in the journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth film The Core had to emergency-land a space shuttle in the L.A. River, I was sweating bullets just thinking of all the stars she was going to run over. I should have realized that if anybody can pull off a feat like that and not get anybody killed, it's Hilary Swank!
Posted by: Tim Cavanaugh | November 30, 2006 at 03:16 PM