Turn back toward downtown (south) on Broadway past the 101 freeway. You will pass through Grand Park between Temple and 1st Street, a strip that links the Music Center on Grand Avenue with iconic City Hall. Several years ago, this recently-salvaged open space was dramatically redesigned to quickly become a meeting area and focus for a multitude of open air festivals, celebrations, marches, and rallies. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that evacuated these public spaces painfully underscored how diminished L.A. would be without them.
Turn left (southeast) on 1st Street past City Hall and travel past our former adventures in Little Tokyo. Continue east on 1st, past Alameda, and over the historic bridge that spans the L.A. River.
We could spend an entire day exploring the length of the L.A. River, excusing why it was converted into a concrete flood control channel by past officials who didn’t know any better. Our discussions would include the current costly struggles to return it to some form of natural waterway that offers recreation and open space opportunities for the communities it transects. You might notice the latest filming crews that frequent the river bed and the other historic bridges that span it. This 1st Street Bridge first opened in 1929 and has since served as a vital connection between Boyle Heights and Little Tokyo, downtown and the East Side. This bridge was declared an historic-cultural monument in 2008 and was retrofitted for light rail that further connected communities on opposite sides of the river by 2009.
