Here's Your Summer Fun Guide to the Newly-Opened LA River

For the first time in decades, part of the Los Angeles River is open for free-for-all funtimes this summer (a section in the Valley opened for guided kayaking a couple years ago). Two and a half miles of a natural-bottomed portion running through Elysian Valley, from just south of Fletcher Drive to the Los Angeles River Center just north of Downtown, opens to the public (but not dogs) on May 27 and a website launched yesterday with some guidelines and suggestions for using the river. (Hey, this is new to Angelenos!) The zone will be open seven days a week from sunrise to sundown with access points at Fletcher's Rattlesnake Park and at Oros Street's Steelhead Park. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which is managing the pilot program, has also created a detailed kayaking map of the area (above). According to Echo Park Patch, "Many special activities are being planned along both banks of the zone this summer ... including movies nights sponsored by the L.A. River Revitalization Corp." More on that here.
· Los Angeles River Pilot Recreation Zone [Official Site]
· Stretch of LA River Will Be Open to the Public This Summer [Curbed LA]