Will Gehry remake L.A.’S river?
Battle brewing over future of concrete riverbanks
Its featureless concrete banks have for years framed some of Hollywood’s most memorable blockbusters.
But sections of the artificial river bed on which John Travolta raced Greased Lightnin’ and Arnold Schwarzenegger drove his Harley davidson could soon be hidden by a canopy of parks and greenery in a project led by Frank Gehry, the superstar Canadian architect.
Gehry, the man behind Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, wants to transform the channel that cuts through some of LA’S poorest neighbourhoods in a plan that it is hoped will help regenerate blighted riverside communities.
designs released this week illustrating the latest stage of his vision show parks on stilts connecting districts cut off from one another, adding to previous proposals for a $150 million cultural centre and a river flanked by trees and trails.
But the changes face stiff opposition from environmentalists battling to restore the eyesore to its former glory as a natural river. Meanwhile, critics warn that the designs are leading to real-estate speculation that could spell gentrification rather than poverty eradication.
Since it was built following a disastrous 1938 flood, the L.A. river channel has been blamed for dividing communities, creating and reinforcing racial and ethnic enclaves along the river.
The artificial river not only divided but it also displaced, in what many say was a textbook example of the city using urban design as a tool of racial segregation.
“revitalizing the river offers... communities an opportunity to rebuild our connections to the river and each other,” said a councillor for Long Beach.
“South-east L.A. deserves parks and trails, education and cultural centres,” he added. “Equity comes when every community has access to the tools to make life better.”
Gehry is one part of a fragile coalition of activists, urban designers and local officials with grand plans to turn the channel into a unified green corridor running through the city. Beyond that, agreement breaks down.
The architect’s vision — backed by Hollywood executives and real -estate developers — has not impressed environmentalists, who have worked for decades to restore the river to what it was before the 20th century, busy with wildlife and regarded as sacred by the indigenous Tongva people.
Gehry, now 91, claimed there was no way to remove the concrete without increasing flood risk.
In November, a group of non-profit organizations said the new plans “stand to do particular ecological harm, [and] create real-estate speculation.”
The buzz of renewal is already heating up the housing market.
“There’s going to be a lot of new property along the river primed for new ownership, and we highly doubt that it’s going to be the current residents who can afford it,” said Jessica Prieto from East yards Communities for Environmental Justice, a campaign group.