Rory Carroll from the Gardian in the UK reports on 'LA's concrete storm drains conceal a living, breathing waterway that has rarely been explored – until now.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/27/los-angeles-river-storm-drains
He writes "The LA river will never compete with the Danube or Seine or Thames as an attraction for stressed city-dwellers. Nor will it inspire many poems or novels. It is too meagre, too hidden, to ever be fully part of the city. But advocates are on to something when they say it can transform perceptions of LA.
After passing a concrete bridge with graffiti-daubed arches and a shopping trolley half-buried in mud, we enter a wilderness that seems a world removed from the freeways and urban sprawl above. "We call this the Grand Canyon," says Wolfe, showing his flair for advertising, as we paddle through a mini-gorge 15ft tall. Nature slowly asserts itself. To our left are wild fig trees, descendants of those planted by the Indians, to our right potentially deadly ricin-producing plants. Further on, hallucinogenic gypsum weed. "Around the next bend is the Apocalypse Now bit," says Wolfe. We encounter "fish sticks": improvised traps made by unknown hands to trap carp, tilapia and other species. A discourse on how to make the traps is drowned out by a passenger jet roaring low overhead, briefly breaking the spell."
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