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ABOUT THE BRIDGES

Opening day, Fourth Street Viaduct, 1931. Photo courtesy Metro Library.

Twenty-seven bridges span the Los Angeles River between the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach. Within the City of Los Angeles, fourteen of these bridges were built between 1909 and 1938, as Los Angeles’ population exploded and the automobile emerged. The bridges were part of an ambitious bridge construction program to accommodate increasing numbers of cars and alleviate traffic snarls on surface streets.

Monumental in design and massive in scale, even by today’s standards, these early bridges reflected the nationwide City Beautiful Movement of the time, which sought to improve the character, morale, and civic virtues of residents through architecture and urban planning.

North Broadway (foreground) and North Spring Street bridges. Photo by Kevin Break

The styles of the bridges evolved over time, from an early preference for highly ornamental, classical designs (Macy Street/Cesar Chavez, Olympic Boulevard), to simpler, period revival styles (Fourth Street, First Street), and ultimately adopting clean and modern lines (Glendale-Hyperion, Sixth Street).

Together, these bridges tell an important part of the story of how Los Angeles came of age as a modern city. Yet they are threatened with alteration or demolition as part of the city’s long-term bridge “improvement” program.

Seventh Street Viaduct. Photo by Kevin Break

In recognition of the bridges’ collective significance, the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission took the unprecedented step in September 2007 of self-nominating thirteen bridges as city landmarks, known in Los Angeles as Historic-Cultural Monuments.

Sixth Street Viaduct. Photo by Kevin Break

In January 2008, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to designate eleven of the thirteen bridges as Historic-Cultural Monuments. This designation ensures a role for the Cultural Heritage Commission in reviewing proposed bridge widening and replacement projects. Yet the commission can merely delay, not deny, demolition.