Lewis MacAdams
Riverfront Park
2944 Gleneden St,
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Established:
2018
Size:
3.9 acres
Designed by:
MRCA
Features:
Riverwalk
Bioswales
Bike path
Walking loop
Exercise equipment
Electric car chargers
Playground
Event space
Best time to visit:
Spring, Summer and Fall
Spring brings out the redbud blooms, sages and ceanothus, while summer has the elderberry and fuschias. The park’s lovely shaded edges give a lovely respite in the summer heat. The grapes planted along the pavilion and the fremont cottonwoods give a bright splash of fall color.
In 1986 Lewis Macadams cut a human sized hole in the chain link fence that separated the city from its river and declared it open. This act of civil disobedience started decades of activism and has resulted in the river we can see today. Lewis Macadams Park stands as a lasting tribute to this labor, toil, and love.
Lewis MacAdams Riverfront park is so beautiful. It is a stunning example of a small multi use park.The design serves both the environmental needs of the space and the needs of the community. The park features large grassy areas, a walking path with public exercise equipment and picnic tables. There is a large spanish revival style pavilion, which was designed by ERW Design. It can hold up to 200 people, and has both covered areas and a courtyard. The space is open for reservations- I have been to a really banger of a birthday party here- and a quick google search shows that the space has hosted a variety of events, including weddings.
The areas around this lovely infrastructure are some of the best parts of the park. This is where most of the bioswales are to be found. A small but dense woodland separates the edges of the park from the parking lot, making the space feel more intimate.
“…the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.”
The park is filled with fuchsias, sages, oaks, currants, ceanothus, manzanitas and so many more. What is truly lovely about Lewis MacAdams Park is that, as the plants have grown and matured, parts of the landscaping have become obscured. Small vistas have become visible only from one angle. This not only invites visitors to look and observe more closely but, more importantly, it is a reminder that maybe the land is not only for us. That the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.
While it has a parking lot complete with electric vehicle charging stations and a street entrance, the real entrance is from the river and the bike path, where it sits along the Glendale Narrows. At the river entrance there is a stone column with a carved frieze of Lewis MacAdams and verses of his poetry, as well as other information about his life and work.
This entrance changes the orientation of the park. Implying that, of course visitors would enter through here, they were already at the river.
“All Politics is local, and water politics are the foundation of all politics”. This famous quote of Lewis MacAdams’, comes from his time living in Bolinas, in Northern California. There, he witnessed two oil tankers crashing into each other and the community successfully keeping the oil out of the Bolinas lagoon and estuary. This incident had a profound effect on MacAdams and started laying the groundwork for a lifetime of activism and poetry.
Lewis MacAdams was a poet, activist, writer and artist. His work with the LA River, as is said every time MacAdams is mentioned, was a 40-year-long art piece. He was born in San Angelo, Texas in 1944 and came to LA by way of New York and the Bay Area. He would see the river from the bus stop as he traveled from the Downtown Arts District, where he lived, to Venice, where he worked. The river captivated him.
His first work with the river was the one-man show “Friends of the LA River” where he painted himself green, wore a white suit and embodied William Mulholland, and then embodied other river animals. This was not a success. The theater and his girlfriend at the time hated it (they broke up afterwards) and the LA Times wrote “with friends like MacAdams, the river needs no enemies.” Thankfully MacAdams continued.
A year later, with a few friends, bolt cutters spray painted silver and gold and with either caffeine or, as the FOLAR history says, “whiskey in their blood”, cut a human shaped hole in the fence that separated the river from the city and declared it open (The more common retelling of this story seems to omit the whiskey part. But really, is there anything more relatable than starting an activist movement one night while drunk with friends?).
They went to the water and asked the river if they could speak for it and, because of the sound of the machinery that was currently dredging the river, they could not hear a ‘no’, and took that as acceptance.
“The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration.”
MacAdams started “Friends of the LA River” (the organization, not the theater show) and everything began to change. The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration. As we know, this did not happen overnight. MacAdams said, “I thought all I had to do was convince people that the river could be better and I quickly realized that the first thing I had to do is to convince people that the river even existed.” But we are moving forward, and Lewis MacAdams riverfront park is a shining example of this progress.
More Information
Opening Hours:
Daily 7AM-6PM
Lewis MacAdams
Riverfront Park
2944 Gleneden St,
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Established:
2018
Size:
3.9 acres
Designed by:
MRCA
Features:
Riverwalk
Bioswales
Bike path
Walking loop
Exercise equipment
Electric car chargers
Playground
Event space
Best time to visit:
Spring, Summer and Fall
Spring brings out the redbud blooms, sages and ceanothus, while summer has the elderberry and fuschias. The park’s lovely shaded edges give a lovely respite in the summer heat. The grapes planted along the pavilion and the fremont cottonwoods give a bright splash of fall color.
In 1986 Lewis Macadams cut a human sized hole in the chain link fence that separated the city from its river and declared it open. This act of civil disobedience started decades of activism and has resulted in the river we can see today. Lewis Macadams Park stands as a lasting tribute to this labor, toil, and love.
Lewis MacAdams Riverfront park is so beautiful. It is a stunning example of a small multi use park.The design serves both the environmental needs of the space and the needs of the community. The park features large grassy areas, a walking path with public exercise equipment and picnic tables. There is a large spanish revival style pavilion, which was designed by ERW Design. It can hold up to 200 people, and has both covered areas and a courtyard. The space is open for reservations- I have been to a really banger of a birthday party here- and a quick google search shows that the space has hosted a variety of events, including weddings.
The areas around this lovely infrastructure are some of the best parts of the park. This is where most of the bioswales are to be found. A small but dense woodland separates the edges of the park from the parking lot, making the space feel more intimate.
“…the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.”
The park is filled with fuchsias, sages, oaks, currants, ceanothus, manzanitas and so many more. What is truly lovely about Lewis MacAdams Park is that, as the plants have grown and matured, parts of the landscaping have become obscured. Small vistas have become visible only from one angle. This not only invites visitors to look and observe more closely but, more importantly, it is a reminder that maybe the land is not only for us. That the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.
While it has a parking lot complete with electric vehicle charging stations and a street entrance, the real entrance is from the river and the bike path, where it sits along the Glendale Narrows. At the river entrance there is a stone column with a carved frieze of Lewis MacAdams and verses of his poetry, as well as other information about his life and work.
This entrance changes the orientation of the park. Implying that, of course visitors would enter through here, they were already at the river.
“All Politics is local, and water politics are the foundation of all politics”. This famous quote of Lewis MacAdams’, comes from his time living in Bolinas, in Northern California. There, he witnessed two oil tankers crashing into each other and the community successfully keeping the oil out of the Bolinas lagoon and estuary. This incident had a profound effect on MacAdams and started laying the groundwork for a lifetime of activism and poetry.
Lewis MacAdams was a poet, activist, writer and artist. His work with the LA River, as is said every time MacAdams is mentioned, was a 40-year-long art piece. He was born in San Angelo, Texas in 1944 and came to LA by way of New York and the Bay Area. He would see the river from the bus stop as he traveled from the Downtown Arts District, where he lived, to Venice, where he worked. The river captivated him.
His first work with the river was the one-man show “Friends of the LA River” where he painted himself green, wore a white suit and embodied William Mulholland, and then embodied other river animals. This was not a success. The theater and his girlfriend at the time hated it (they broke up afterwards) and the LA Times wrote “with friends like MacAdams, the river needs no enemies.” Thankfully MacAdams continued.
A year later, with a few friends, bolt cutters spray painted silver and gold and with either caffeine or, as the FOLAR history says, “whiskey in their blood”, cut a human shaped hole in the fence that separated the river from the city and declared it open (The more common retelling of this story seems to omit the whiskey part. But really, is there anything more relatable than starting an activist movement one night while drunk with friends?).
They went to the water and asked the river if they could speak for it and, because of the sound of the machinery that was currently dredging the river, they could not hear a ‘no’, and took that as acceptance.
“The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration.”
MacAdams started “Friends of the LA River” (the organization, not the theater show) and everything began to change. The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration. As we know, this did not happen overnight. MacAdams said, “I thought all I had to do was convince people that the river could be better and I quickly realized that the first thing I had to do is to convince people that the river even existed.” But we are moving forward, and Lewis MacAdams riverfront park is a shining example of this progress.
More Information
Opening Hours:
Daily 7AM-6PM
Lewis MacAdams
Riverfront Park
2944 Gleneden St,
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Established:
2018
Size:
3.9 acres
Designed by:
MRCA
Features:
Riverwalk
Bioswales
Bike path
Walking loop
Exercise equipment
Electric car chargers
Playground
Event space
Best time to visit:
Spring, Summer and Fall
Spring brings out the redbud blooms, sages and ceanothus, while summer has the elderberry and fuschias. The park’s lovely shaded edges give a lovely respite in the summer heat. The grapes planted along the pavilion and the fremont cottonwoods give a bright splash of fall color.
In 1986 Lewis Macadams cut a human sized hole in the chain link fence that separated the city from its river and declared it open.This act of civil disobedience started decades of activism and has resulted in the river we can see today. Lewis Macadams Park stands as a lasting tribute to this labor, toil, and love.
Lewis MacAdams Riverfront park is so beautiful. It is a stunning example of a small multi use park.The design serves both the environmental needs of the space and the needs of the community. The park features large grassy areas, a walking path with public exercise equipment and picnic tables. There is a large spanish revival style pavilion, which was designed by ERW Design. It can hold up to 200 people, and has both covered areas and a courtyard. The space is open for reservations- I have been to a really banger of a birthday party here- and a quick google search shows that the space has hosted a variety of events, including weddings.
The areas around this lovely infrastructure are some of the best parts of the park. This is where most of the bioswales are to be found. A small but dense woodland separates the edges of the park from the parking lot, making the space feel more intimate. The park is filled with fuschias, sages, oaks, currants, ceanothus, manzanitas and so many more.
“…the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.”
What is truly lovely about Lewis MacAdams Park is that, as the plants have grown and matured, parts of the landscaping have become obscured. Small vistas have become visible only from one angle. This not only invites visitors to look and observe more closely but, more importantly, it is a reminder that maybe the land is not only for us. That the landscape is not a performance for a viewer, but a larger, more complex system for which aesthetics is the least important aspect.
While it has a parking lot complete with electric vehicle charging stations and a street entrance, the real entrance is from the river and the bike path, where it sits along the Glendale Narrows. At the river entrance there is a stone column with a carved frieze of Lewis MacAdams and verses of his poetry, as well as other information about his life and work. This entrance changes the orientation of the park. Implying that, of course visitors would enter through here, they were already at the river.
“All Politics is local, and water politics are the foundation of all politics”.This famous quote of Lewis MacAdams’, comes from his time living in Bolinas, in Northern California. There, he witnessed two oil tankers crashing into each other and the community successfully keeping the oil out of the Bolinas lagoon and estuary. This incident had a profound effect on MacAdams and started laying the groundwork for a lifetime of activism and poetry.
Lewis MacAdams was a poet, activist, writer and artist. His work with the LA River, as is said every time MacAdams is mentioned, was a 40-year-long art piece. He was born in San Angelo, Texas in 1944 and came to LA by way of New York and the Bay Area. He would see the river from the bus stop as he traveled from the Downtown Arts District, where he lived, to Venice, where he worked. The river captivated him.
His first work with the river was the one-man show “Friends of the LA River” where he painted himself green, wore a white suit and embodied William Mulholland, and then embodied other river animals. This was not a success. The theater and his girlfriend at the time hated it (they broke up afterwards) and the LA Times wrote “with friends like MacAdams, the river needs no enemies.” Thankfully MacAdams continued.
A year later, with a few friends, bolt cutters spray painted silver and gold and with either caffeine or, as the FOLAR history says, “whiskey in their blood”, cut a human shaped hole in the fence that separated the river from the city and declared it open (The more common retelling of this story seems to omit the whiskey part. But really, is there anything more relatable than starting an activist movement one night while drunk with friends?).
They went to the water and asked the river if they could speak for it and, because of the sound of the machinery that was currently dredging the river, they could not hear a ‘no’, and took that as acceptance.
“The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration.”
MacAdams started “Friends of the LA River” (the organization, not the theater show) and everything began to change. The river is called a river. It can no longer be used as a sewage dump, the Glendale Narrows are no longer dredged, there are parks popping up all over the banks and, in 2015, 1.3 billion dollars was approved for habitat restoration. As we know, this did not happen overnight. MacAdams said, “I thought all I had to do was convince people that the river could be better and I quickly realized that the first thing I had to do is to convince people that the river even existed.” But we are moving forward, and Lewis MacAdams riverfront park is a shining example of this progress.
More Information
Opening Hours:
Daily 7AM-6PM