October 27 to December 01, 2001
John Humble
The Los Angeles River: 51 Miles of Concrete

The Los Angeles River is a purely modern construct, a perfect metaphor for the city itself. Completely artificial and the first truly 20th Century city, Los Angeles was also the first city to create a completely artificial river. The river represents the obvious and logical result of Manifest Destiny. It was exploited to extinction, used as a dump, then entombed on an Olympian scale. But the river has a rich history and is the basic reason for the location of the city itself. It has influenced the city’s history and culture more than any other single entity.

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