The North Branch of the Arroyo Seco is a perennial stream that meanders through the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park.
It flowed between sycamores and oaks, through ravines and open meadows, before it was buried in a network of storm drains that accompanied extensive development in the early 20th century. Trout once swam in it, generations of kids played in it and it still flows to this day, albeit through confining pipes, quietly beneath our feet. Our effort is dedicated to uncovering the story of this forgotten stream and to re-imagining a future where the stream flows freely once again.
08/15/2023
Listen to the Sounds of the North Branch, a stream flowing under Highland Park 90042 all day all night
Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays http://www.underflowla.net/
Live Stream Saturday August 26, 11am-12pm
11/19/2021
Endangered streams of Highland Park: The North Branch is Highland Park's main water course. Its waters originate from the precipitation that falls on the hills and valleys of 90042, which still flows under feet under York Boulevard and southward converging just above Sycamore Grove Park, where it once fed a wading pond. Numerous community-based efforts have brought some attention to this neglected stream, and the Army Corps of Engineers even acknowledged the North Branch in their plan for restoration of the Arroyo Seco. Despite that the stream has been considered 'low hanging fruit' for a restoration effort, the City of Los Angeles is currently in the process of diverting its underground waters away from the Arroyo Seco, and into Hyperion Wastewater Treatment plant to be treated like sewage. Our local waters, which could be feeding trees and native habitat and adding to the shady respite provided by Sycamore Grove Park, instead, will become entangled in a maze of "diversions within existing storm drains, below-grade pipelines, trash collection structures, maintenance holes, junction structures, pump stations, pressurized discharge pipes, valve and meter vaults, power supplies for pump stations, and control/monitoring instrumentation." Is this the same City of LA that just rolled out a forward-thinking Biodiversity Index? The City is a many headed-creature. How can we get its various heads to talk to consider big picture solutions ? Local streams are some of our best opportunities for watershed restoration. They need to be considered a key part of how we might address local water supply, water quality, climate change, and urban heat island.
https://www.arroyoseco.org/SycamoreGrovePark.htm
https://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/more-on-the-north-branch-of-the-arroyo-seco/
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.114858,-118.2103043,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1s1GpzdIoxJLH7sQhvWPN4vabXemrU
More on the North Branch of the Arroyo Seco A couple weeks ago, Jessica made a thoughtful post about Stream Spirit Rising (part 1, part 2), a series of activities organized around the North Branch of the Arroyo Seco. I wanted to continue tha…
08/09/2019
Just an update to this self guided biking/walking tour of Northeast Los Angeles water history...
http://myriadsmallthings.org/myriadunnamedstreams%20index.html
In 1903, the possibility of discovering artesian water on land in Northeast Los Angeles seemed promising enough that one developer included a blanket covenant reserving the right to all artesian water flows in properties they sold in their subdivision-- even for lots at the very top of Mount Washington...
Rereading some interview notes I took down in 2009, in preparation for a short tour stop I'm doing on Thursday, I found these stories from Virginia Neely describing Aldama Street at Avenue 54:
"They would laughing call it “Aldama Street Lake”. This was overflow from the North Branch. Unwary drivers would get stuck there. Some driver got a truck and made himself a nice pot of money by pulling trucks out of there.
"There were some people who bought a house in 1901-2, and they would raise wheat there. It flooded there regularly.
"Even recently, water would flow out of the manhole covers when it has been raining, so that those covers would just bounce up and down with water flowing out."
02/18/2016
The North Branch Slow Flow Bike Challenge....
Rainwater flows downhill, which is something bikes also do well!
Starting at the origin of the North Branch around Figueroa and Springvale, what is the least amount of pedal strokes that can get you all the way down to Sycamore Grove Park?
Offer your guesses in the comments section. Then when the weather dries, anyone who wants to try it out, let us know how many pedal strokes it took you!
Will the least-pedal-stroke route be made by following this map? Or another route?
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=ztlu3Sq5rGek.kt9MbQKPeWaE
North Branch 2014 July 24
09/19/2015
http://www.northbranch.info/
Lifting up a manhole cover with Joshua Link, we were surprised by the sound of flowing water emerge from the depths!
In the driest places along its route, it is hinted at only in place names....but the North Branch still flows, above ground and below ground. In this video footage, we traced its route through Northeast LA.
03/30/2015
Treefrog season has started at Hahamongna, upstream of the North Branch! Have you seen any treefrogs lately in Highland Park or York Boulevard? Maybe one day soon, along the North Branch.... photo by Ilsa Setziol
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=ztlu3Sq5rGek.kt9MbQKPeWaE
Do you live on the route of the North Branch? This map combines data from historical maps with digital elevation data. It's in beta. We have not groundtruthed the route yet. If you are able to before we do, tell us what you find!
North Branch 2014 July 24
06/25/2014
Thank you to Youth Voices writer Rubi Fregoso for another great article about the North Branch!
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/youthvoices/los-feliz/outreach-the-north-branch-of-the-arroyo-seco.html?fb_action_ids=10203361604072443&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=feed_opengraph&action_object_map=%7B%2210203361604072443%22%3A548252548618419%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210203361604072443%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
Outreach: Unearthing The North Branch of the Arroyo Seco with Jane Tsong How does a community come together to "daylight" a hidden creek and how does it assert it's voice on how the creek will flow?
06/24/2014
Kids with imagination make great urban planners. This really great series by KCET follows the work of Louisa Van Leer and the Living Museum at Los Feliz Charter School. I love the sketches the kids made showing how the North Branch and the Arroyo Seco can be such an integral part of NELA!
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/highland-park/
Highland Park | Departures | KCET From the age of the Native Americans, through the birth of Arroyo Culture and Chicano activism, to the DIY ethos of today, Highland Park has always been a laboratory for new and emerging ideas on what it means to be an Angeleno. Numerous factors - including location and geography - created condition…
03/09/2014
A fun morning of applied hydrology. Who are you? What's your watershed?