The Los Angeles River was tamed years ago. The river, by nature wanting to be violent and random, doses now in a concrete bed through downtown Los Angeles. In the city's core, there are over a dozen bridges that connect Los Angeles across the river--and these bridges are architectural marvels! These bridges were built in the first decades of the 1900s, and their history continues. The largest and longest bridge, the Sixth Street Viaduct, is in the process of being replaced. Others have been upgraded and enlarged; Spring Street is underway now. Many of the bridges were designed by one man, Merrill Butler, who made each bridge different, yet matching. In this volume, the reader will explore the necessity of the bridges, how they came to be, and where they are going in the future. The time is ripe for a reexamination of these jewels of downtown Los Angeles.

Bridging Los Angeles is an important pictorial and literary gift to Los Angelenos and to all with an affinity for beautiful and iconic bridges. Published by the City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering, Bridging Los Angeles serves as a tribute to the rich, connective history of the Sixth Street Viaduct and the related Los Angeles River bridges over the past 80-plus years. More than 100 pages, Bridging Los Angeles visits the history of early Los Angeles at the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 18th century, and examines the role river bridges played in the city's structure and development. Readers will walk away with a profound understanding of the Sixth Street Viaduct's history, the bridge's structural decline, and the future "ribbon of arches design" that will transform and re-ignite the Arts District and Boyle Heights communities in Los Angeles.

In the last decade millions of dollars have been spent on restoring and revitalizing the Los Angeles River and its surroundings. Dozens of parks, miles of bike trails, public art installations and hundreds of trees and plants follow the river as it winds 51 miles through more than 100 communities. Down by the Los Angeles River is the first on-the-ground guide to checking out sites new and old, and getting to know the historic river that runs through greater L.A. The book includes striking original illustrations as well as maps. Twenty-seven walks and twelve bike rides along the Los Angeles and its tributaries, each with directions to the starting point and descriptions of natural, historic, and artistic features along the way. The river paths are already popular for walkers and joggers, bicyclists, dog-walkers, historians and bird-watchers—a readymade audience for this one-of-a-kind book.