I was looking for some information on the Buddha referenced in Fridays post and instead, found this blog from the Militant Angeleno. His post immediately caught my attention because he showed a creek running thorough the very area I call home, when I am at work in LA.
The Los Feliz, Silverlake, Hollywood, Koreatown, and Franklin Hills area of Los Angeles.
I talked about the Shakespeare Bridge in this post back a year or so ago. I have always wondered why there was a bridge built in that area, since there is no water or anything, but figured it was just to span a canyon. Now I find out that it was the head end of Sacatela Creek and that the creek wound its way from the Franklin Hills area of town, down through the old ABC Studios at Talmedge, through King Middle School and onto Myra Street, where a daycare facility that I sometimes used for my son was located...right by the place where Sunset Blvd goes way up in the air with another bridge that I always wondered about. It then crossed Santa Monica Blvd at Hoover, paralleled Virgil, is under the Hollywood Freeway, with no bridge involved (the freeway being built decades after the creek was filled in) and turned west just before Wilshire, ending at 6th and Mariposa in the Koreatown area of Eastern Los Angeles. Just before it turned to the west at 1st Street, there was a natural spring with hot thermal waters, called Bimini Baths. Movie stars and the wealthy would come to partake in the health benefits that came from soaking in such waters. The spring is now capped and filled in and so is the creek itself, though there is talk of bringing it back, or parts of it back.
Anyway, I found the information fascinating and part of the things I found so interesting, are old photos of Los Angeles from the 20's and such. Very cool info and I appreciate the Militant Angeleno spending 5 days of his life documenting his journey along the former creek.
If you ever lived in this area of Los Angeles, it's eye opening.
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ReplyDelete(Ooops. Messed up my link by forgetting to insert the URL, so redoing my comment to fix it...)
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that pic I immediately recognized it! I like militant's pic of the bridge from beneath too, just interesting to see THAT angle now. Always cool when one finds out more about places one is in and around all the time, especially when having long wondered about some odd detail or something. Good find. The internet is truly a modern marvel for such things.
Dim Skip: I knew you would appreciate this post, because you enjoyed my Shakespeare Bridge post initially. I have never taken the time to go under the bridge before, so I too enjoyed it. I agree with the M.A.'s question about why there are 4 schools built over a former waterway? There are also at least 2 daycare facilities, one right under the bridge and the other right by where I work and (as I mentioned) used for my own child. Hello, this is indeed Earthquake country...we don't love our children?
ReplyDeleteMy coworker who also knows the area as well as I was just as surprised to hear we were about a quarter of a mile from a former creek. Just wow...
That is fascinating! From the first time I ever laid eyes on it in 1997, I called it "The Magic Bridge."
ReplyDeleteI was on vacation in LA that March (97) and was driving around Los Feliz with my friend. I was also entertaining a fantasy that I might someday live in LA. At that moment it seemed unthinkable for many practical reasons.
In my flight of fancy, I thought that if I ever *did* get to move to LA I would live in Los Feliz.
In June of 1998, a little more than a year later, there I was.
And whenever anyone came to visit - from the East Coast or just folks from the West Side of LA who thought it was quaint but a little kooky that I was intent on living there, got dragged to that bridge for a look!
I told you that you would like that post, Fran. :-)
ReplyDeleteVERY cool. The bridge is truly beautiful from underneath. And what great history from the Militant Angeleno!
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