Abandoned Spot Springs Back to Life as L.A. River Center
One Northeast Los Angeles resident called it a little gem, a place where you can proudly take out-of-town guests. And it is.
But the grand opening Saturday of the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens--on the grounds of the lush and long-neglected former Lawry’s California Center--marked more than the rebirth of a Southern California landmark.
Like the “denuded and renewed” riverbed chronicled in a series of exhibits in the new visitors’ center, the project is a metaphor for budding revitalization of an area where things have tended to go the other way.
In one wing of the refurbished hacienda-style facility is a public educational center offering computer animation training at bargain basement prices. For $50 a semester, adults and teenagers can enroll in day or evening classes that can lead to high-tech jobs in computer art and graphics.
Out back, where an abandoned Lawry’s spice plant once stood, is a different symbol of upgrading: a massive Home Depot. The store helped finance the River Center, which is operated by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency.
“It’s a great addition to this end of town. There’s not been much happening over here,” said Highland Park resident Mark Sumner, who dropped by with his wife and son.
Sumner is looking forward to using the River Center for his son’s Cub Scout outings. And he likes the whole idea of a new, full-scale home-improvement store in the area.
Like many of the freshly planted flowers throughout the courtyard and gardens, the center is only beginning to bloom. The small museum includes a “living river” running through historical and environmental exhibits. They track the history of the 51-mile waterway--from the time of early Gabrielino Indian settlements through deadly 1930s floods that prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to line 400 miles of storm drains in the region with concrete.
Today, only about 11 miles of the Los Angeles River bottom is in a natural state. But those areas attract migrating birds, in addition to urbanized foragers such as raccoons, skunks and opossums. In the slow-moving, unlined stretches, crayfish and insects breed, supporting other wildlife. Though the river is a shadow of its former self, “areas of great beauty can be found,” one exhibit says.
For the next several months, the exhibit hall and the courtyard and gardens will be open only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Within a year, the conservancy plans to have outdoor and indoor restaurants open, and a volunteer docent program operating the exhibit center on weekends. Special junior ranger and river bicycle rides will be held periodically.
More information is available from the conservancy at (323) 221-9939.
