L.A. River Kayaking Trips Attract Crowds

The Los Angeles River has been the backdrop for motion pictures from “Grease” to “The Italian Job” and, more recently, “Drive.” But unless you’re a location scout, the thought of spending time on the L.A. River has tended to evoke anything from fear to ridicule. Then some forward-thinkers had a concept: kayaking down the L.A. River — on purpose — and without getting arrested or accosted. Their concept has proven quite successful. When last year’s pilot program was announced, organizers said 290 tickets for the “Paddle the Los Angeles River” program sold out in 10 minutes. This year’s trips sold five times as many tickets, but organizers have tried to keep pace with demand by adding more trips and seats. Now at the halfway point of the 10-week program, which concludes Sept. 30, organizers already are looking ahead to next season in hopes of adding more dates and a new route that may possibly include the Glendale Narrows. George Wolfe, one of the program’s founders, said he hopes to resume the river trips in the spring of 2013, rather than having to wait until July, as was required the past two years. He said a longer season may help accommodate more youths during the school year. For nearly a century, paddling down the once-polluted waterway in the middle of the San Fernando Valley was illegal. Then Wolfe and other local environmentalists began to push government agencies to open a portion of the river for recreational uses. In 2010 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the river a “traditional navigable waterway” subject to the protections of the Clean Water Act. That prompted Wolfe to organize an expedition down a section of the river near Griffith Park. The Army Corps of Engineers issued a license allowing the LA Conservation Corps to lead the 2011 pilot program down a 1.5-mile section of the river between Balboa and Burbank boulevards. People can explore portions of the 51-mile waterway, which stretches from Canoga Park through the Valley, past Griffith Park and downtown Los Angeles on its way to Long Beach, where it flows into the Pacific Ocean. Although mostly concrete, there are several “soft-bottom” sections that resemble what the entire river once looked like before floods hit in the 1930s. After the floods, authorities moved to protect nearby homes by enclosing the river with concrete and making it a flood-control channel. It became a fenced-off area operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. Residents weren’t allowed to navigate the waters, so they started disassociating from the river, some even using it as an alternate garbage dump. Mike Mena, spokesman for the LA Conservation Corps, which also runs trips on the river, said his long-term goal is to make the river “a regular tourist attraction, like Disneyland, something that people have on their list of what they want to do when they visit L.A.” Along with the LA Conservation Corps and other nonprofit organizations such as The River Project and Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and local government public entities such as the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), Wolfe said his for-profit organization “believes that it’s possible to create a sustainable environment along with sustainable businesses; we believe that you can do good and do well.” He pointed to cities across the world, such as San Antonio, Denver, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Seoul and Munich, which are “revitalizing their urban cores and finding that it’s actually a boon to businesses to restore their rivers and make them a centerpiece of the urban design, instead of something that businesses need to fear in any way. It often pays big dividends to be good stewards of the environment. We can do that in Los Angeles, too.” Mena attributes the success of the river trip program to its accessibility. “I think it’s so popular because it’s an easy escape. It’s a getaway in your own city — you don’t have to drive all the way to Palm Springs to experience nature,” he said. “You’re going through the city (on the river) and some points are so pristine that you forget where you are. . . . most people will be pleased with the peaceful flows and lush greenery.” Tickets are $50 and availability is limited. For tickets, signup information and email alerts visit paddlethelariver.org and lariverexpeditions.com.