After a two-year rehab (digging, draining, rebuilding, replanting, etc.), Echo Park Lake finally reopened this past weekend and it's looking mighty fine. (Here's everything they found when they drained it: no bodies!) Eastsider LA has video of the gates opening--the second they did, "the park's new pathways, freshly planted lawns and landmark bridge were crowded with people exploring a landscape that was both new and familiar." The fountains, the Lady of the Lake statue, and the lotus blossoms are all back in action; there are new wetlands and boardwalk embankments. Meanwhile, the lake itself is looking picturesquely blue, but don't get used to it--Eastsider says it's just dye used to control algae and feed the plants and that it'll fade in a week or so (meanwhile, visitors couldn't help wading in, which is verboten). The fence will stay up "for several more months," according to the LA Times, and the park will be closed between 10 pm and 5:30 am. New City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell "promised that he would work to return rental paddle boats to the lake soon and get a cafe to open in the boathouse." Now enjoy these photos of your fellow Angelenos enjoying their new lake and below, watch a video shot on opening day.
There is some debate about how the new lake smells, though:
It smells so clean now #echoparklake #echopark #joggingroute @ Echo Park Lake http://t.co/SOYXFeiddD
— SilentLes (@SilentLes) June 16, 2013
Couldn't help myself. At Echo Park lake right now. Good news. It's still smelly. #iloveechopark
— Lindsay Stidham (@lindsaystidham) June 16, 2013
But it's still the same old Echo Park Lake:
Echo Park Lake has almost the highest guitar-to-dude ratio of anywhere on Earth, except I've been to Mariachi Plaza, and now you know LA.
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) June 17, 2013
Well, not old old. Don't miss this photo of a bucolic-looking EPL taken in 1895.
· Great Drain Archives [Curbed LA]
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