Views of, and Views from, Los Angeles Bridges

[sopas ej]

I took these photos on December 26, 2011.

This is the Broadway Bridge over the Los Angeles River. It opened in 1911 (replacing a 19th Century wooden trestle bridge) and was originally known as the Buena Vista Bridge. It's usually more well-traveled, especially during rush hour, but being that this was the day after X-mas, there was hardly anyone on it.
















Broadway Bridge in the foreground, the Spring Street bridge behind it.


Looking south towards downtown Los Angeles from the Park Row Street viaduct over the Arroyo Seco Parkway/CA-110.


First Street Bridge over the Los Angeles River. This had been undergoing widening and restoration for the last 3 years, to accommodate 4 lanes of automobile traffic and a set of light rail tracks. It finally reopened to two-way traffic the week before this Christmas.










View north of the 1st Street Bridge, looking towards the Santa Ana Freeway/US-101 bridge, and the Macy Street/Cesar Chavez Avenue bridge behind it (the one with the Spanish Baroque-style arches).












Looking south from the 1st Street Bridge, with the 4th Street Bridge and 6th Street Bridge beyond.




6th Street Bridge over the Los Angeles River. This bridge is actually in a sad state of disrepair, and will be knocked down, to be replaced by a cable-stayed bridge some years from now.


Looking at old photos of this bridge, it has actually lost some of its architectural embellishments over the years; those street lamps are obviously not the originals. This bridge had opened in the early 1930s.




View of the 7th Street Bridge, with the Santa Monica Freeway/Interstate 10 behind it. The 7th Street Bridge is actually 2 bridges, the lower one having been built in the 1910s, and the upper one built in the 1920s. The lower deck isn't used; there are plans to turn it into some kind of marketplace.


View of the 4th Street Bridge.


4th Street Bridge in front, 1st Street Bridge behind.

[boden]

Some killer shots here!

[arkitekte]

So is it the 6th Street bridge that's in almost every movie that takes place in LA?

[Illithid Dude]

I love your super specialized threads of L.A. I've always wanted to do one on the gas stations of L.A. I think you might have just inspired me.

[Matthew]

I love the historic bridges in Los Angeles. When I see them in movies or TV shows, they are just as recognizable as the skyline. I've seen the First Street Bridge in Noirish Los Angeles, complete with historic photos. All of these are beautiful. Thank you for sharing these photographs here and at Noirish Los Angeles.

[Expat]

Fantastic! This is great. Thanks.

[stepper77]

I don't really think of LA as a city of bridges, but, it definitely has some nice ones. Thanks!

[sopas ej]

Thanks for all the comments!

Originally Posted by arkitekte

So is it the 6th Street bridge that's in almost every movie that takes place in LA?

Yes, it's been used in many films, music videos, and commercials. Productions have filmed on top of and beneath the bridge as well. There's an article I read recently that basically asks the question, 'what will the demolition of the bridge do for movie production?' or more like 'how would it hurt movie production?'

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I love your super specialized threads of L.A. I've always wanted to do one on the gas stations of L.A. I think you might have just inspired me.

Go for it! I think a photo essay on the gas stations of LA would be really fun!

[johnnypd]

can't they repair the bridge? i recognise a bunch of these from movies, tv shows, pop videos and so on - they're iconic.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by johnnypd

can't they repair the bridge? i recognise a bunch of these from movies, tv shows, pop videos and so on - they're iconic.

They can't. The concrete they built it with has, in short, something similar to 'concrete cancer' and unless the entirety of the concrete is replaced, nothing can be done to halt this 'cancer'.

[sopas ej]

More bridges. I took these pictures yesterday and today (January 1 and 2, 2012).

Detail of the Macy Street Bridge (which is now called Cesar E. Chavez Avenue).


Macy Street Bridge over the Los Angeles River.




The Macy Street Bridge was dedicated in honor of Fr. Junipero Serra and the El Camino Real; I assume this is why the decorative arches of the bridge are in a Spanish Baroque style.






That is the city seal of Los Angeles.












In the background are the twin towers of the Los Angeles County Men's Jail.


The building at center is the Metro headquarters (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority).






4th Street Bridge. This one has a Gothic motif.


Adjacent is a vacant building. Looks like they'd make some interesting housing space.




4th Street Bridge in the foreground, 6th Street Bridge in the background.






















Looking south from the 4th Street Bridge, you get a good view of the 6th Street Bridge.










In the top right-hand corner of this pic, you can see the top of Dodger Stadium.




7th Street Bridge.




Of course I just had to take a picture of the south side of the 6th Street Bridge from the 7th Street Bridge.






Olympic Boulevard Bridge.




Very unique rail design on the Olympic Boulevard Bridge.










It's very industrial around the Olympic Boulevard Bridge. They wash Amtrak trains next to it.


There's a paper mill next to it, too.


I think this is a cement plant.


I'm not sure what this eye building is used for.






Olympic Boulevard Bridge, "Dedicated in Honor of Gaspar de Portolá, First Governor of California, 1769."


North Spring Street Bridge. Walking or driving on top of it, it's actually rather plain.


See what I mean? It's more interesting when viewed from the Buena Vista/Broadway Bridge; you can see the open-spandrel arches beneath the road deck (as shown in picture number 9 in my initial post).


Speaking of which, you get a good view of the Buena Vista/Broadway Bridge from the North Spring Street Bridge.






Washington Boulevard Bridge.




A rather short bridge, the Washington Boulevard Bridge is interesting to me because of an adjacent, curving rail bridge...


... and these ornamental pylon thingies at either end of the bridge. They have friezes on them depicting workers building the bridge, and doing other things.














The rail bridge is on the south side of the Washington Boulevard Bridge.

[ChrisLA]

Nice photos, LA does have some beautiful bridges and I don't think many really realize this.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. I would think that there would be a lot of bridges over the Los Angeles River, but the thing that surprises me is that the river looks so controlled with concrete surrounding it everywhere. Obviously that's to control flooding, but it's still strange to see it in pictures. Is there any portion of the river that is naturally-flowing?

Also, aren't there some big bridges down near the port?

[Leo the Dog]

The details on some of these bridges is fantastic. It's nice to see LA keep the character of the newly expanded bridge to accommodate Metro Gold Line.

I remember reading a few years ago about a proposal to restore the LA River...is this dead or is it still an active proposal with/without funding?

[vanman]

The LA river is such a sad thing to see, it's more of a drainage ditch than a river. Either way it is iconic, and unique to LA.

Are there any plans to at least rehabilitate or naturalize sections of it?

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by vanman

The LA river is such a sad thing to see, it's more of a drainage ditch than a river. Either way it is iconic, and unique to LA.

Are there any plans to at least rehabilitate or naturalize sections of it?

Very much so.

(from Curbed Los Angeles)

[Centropolis]

Man, this is super cool!

It kind of gives me a perspective of the city I haven't really experienced, too.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Very much so.

(from Curbed Los Angeles)

Incredible, thanks.

[montrealman]

Great pictures, and nice themed tour of LA. A question for all Angelenos: what is the story with the LA River? I've always been curious having seen it in countless movies. Is it for flood control? When is there actually water flow, and how are safety issues vis-a-vis flash flooding?

[sopas ej]

Good question. Many Angelenos don't even know what the LA River is, or that LA even has a river. Many do assume that it's just a flood control channel or large rain gutter.

Regarding your question about water flow, there is usually a small or medium-sized trickle of water running down the center. After heavy rains, it has a much higher water level, with dangerously fast-rushing water. It's not uncommon for our local news media to report stories of people swept away and drowned in the LA River because they slipped and fell in; usually the media announces warnings during heavy rains to stay away from jogging and bicycle paths that line the river. I remember back in the early 1990s when there was a huge flood in one of the sections of the LA River that's left in its natural state, the Sepulveda Dam basin, in the San Fernando Valley. People had to be rescued from their cars as the floodwaters rose.

Before it was lined with concrete, the LA River was basically an arroyo or near-dry riverbed. For centuries, pre-Spanish colonization, it was a source of water for the native Tongva population. Because the river never had rushing water year-round, it never dug itself a permanent course. However, during very heavy rains, flooding would be a problem; water would overflow its banks, and sometimes the river itself would even change courses (think of drops of rainwater falling and flowing on a windowpane; you can see little streams of water running down but then occasionally the same streams will shift in one direction, and then yet another direction). A very disastrous flood in 1938 was the motivation to eventually line the river (and other rivers in Los Angeles County like the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River) in concrete so that it would permanently follow a course. Of course back then, they didn't think of the environment. Even today, the LA River, and the other LA County rivers, aren't completely lined in concrete; there are sections that were left natural; these sections have become wildlife habitats with plants, species of waterfowl and fish. It's a shame that they couldn't have left these rivers unlined. I don't see why they just couldn't have dug a deeper channel for these rivers, rather than lining them with concrete, and then gradually plants and wildlife would have returned.

Here are some old photos.

This is from 1924. The bridge at the center of the photo is the Broadway Bridge. But look at the LA River. It's in its completely natural state, with plant life in it.

LAPL

Here's a view looking north from the Broadway Bridge in 1988.

LAPL

But here it is in the late 1930s, before the river was concreted.

LAPL

Here's a pic I gook on January 2, 2012, of the same general view. The metal truss railroad bridge has been replaced with a double-tracked concrete bridge for the Metro Gold Line light rail, and a maintenance yard for light rail trains has been built.

Photo by me

Here's an undated photo of the pre-concrete-lined LA River through the industrial section of LA County; you can clearly see here that the river could be volatile when filled with rushing water, and that it could dangerously change courses.

LAPL

Here's an undated photo, showing the 7th Street Bridge and a very dry non-concreted LA River. During this period, the LA River was a subject of jokes in Los Angeles because of its dry riverbed.

USC Archive

Here is the iconic 6th Street Bridge, back when it had more details and its original street lamps--and the unconcreted river. You can see some water flowing. I guess if the river were never lined with concrete, there would have been no drag race scene in the film "Grease."

USC Archive