the san gabriel river

The San Gabriel River is just your typical Los Angeles metropolitan waterway--i.e., it is incorporated into the region's paved-over network of flood control channels.  Residents whose homes are located next to these concrete channels jokingly boast that they own "riverfront property."

When it rains, the river carries huge amounts of churning water from the mountains to the sea.  When the weather is dry, ribbon-thin indentations in the channels are adequate to direct water.

Homeless people live under bridges that cross the river.  Children play there.  The channel doubles as an urban park.

There is a strange kind of beauty in the ever-changing appearance of the San Gabriel River.