, ,

Behind the fence: Tour of Echo Park Lake construction

About 100 interested locals (including politicians, volunteers, and candidates) spent the morning in LA City hard hats amongst the dust and debris behind the fence of Echo Park Lake. Guided in small groups by project manager Marlon Calderon, our 9:00 am group (the first one!) got a close-up look of the North side of the Lake where Lady of the Lake statue will stand, the “boardwalk” alongside the wetlands and bridge, and the Boathouse – inside and out.

The project is about 60% complete, and come February, it should be full with water. The 60 construction workers are working on Saturdays to beat the rainy season, which will hopefully just fill the lake up naturally without any help from the city water sources. Our guide Calderon mentioned that with the Lake being the lowest point in the Silver Lake / Echo Park area, 26 million gallons of water can fill the lake in three hours – so there shouldn’t be any issues getting the water in there.

The Lake’s historic and widely known bridge

The Lotus plants will actually be planted in the next two months – a “berm” (like an under water dam) surrounding the Lotus bed on the North side of the Lake will keep all the water for that area in.

While many trees were removed due to disease, there are 400 trees currently being maintained and watered, and 200 more are expected to be added before the Lake’s grand opening in Spring 2013.

The Boathouse has yet to have an official concessions company, but the kitchen is high-end and fully stocked (leaving many of us to hope for something along the lines of Homegirl Cafe taking over). They’ll also be adding in a new boat dock, while bringing up the entire Boathouse to compliance to make it fully functional (that means paddle boats, people!).

More photos and info after the jump!

Click to download the landscape plan (PDF)

If you’re not familiar with the Echo Park Lake rehabilitation project, the run-down is as follows: It’s a $65-70 million project funded by Proposition O, which sets standards for safe and clean water in California. The lake is actually a reservoir, collecting water runoff from Glendale Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue. Because that runoff contains a bagillion pollutants, the water was incredibly toxic. Other issues included dying plants that needed replacing (lots of trees), a leaking lake bed that needed replacing, surrounding structures like sidewalks that needed upgrading, and of course a filtration system for the runoff. The main controversies with the project include its allocation as an historic monument – changing and updating the filtration meant changing the historic landscape.

View of the Boathouse from the peninsula

View from the peninsula, where the Lade of the Lake statue will stand

The Lotus bed, which will be planted within a couple of months

The wetlands on the West side of the Lake have some structures built that will be about a foot or two under the water

Random boat that obviously hasn’t been used in a while…

This whole area will be covered in wetlands and a “boardwalk”

The Boathouse dock – exposed!

The 9:00 am group, ready to get out of the heat!

View from the Boathouse

Inside the Boathouse

The Boathouse kitchen – fully stocked

In the Boathouse – this is the access ladder to the rotunda. It was hard to resist climbing up!

Notice the Boathouse has new glass panes on the rotunda

Related articles:

1589 replies
« Older CommentsNewer Comments »
  1. Eusebia says:

    If you are going for best contents like myself, simply visit this web page
    everyday as it presents feature contents, thanks

  2. tinyurl.com says:

    Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring
    a blog article or vice-versa? My blog addresses a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.

    If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot
    me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
    Fantastic blog by the way!

  3. Bettamio Vivone e Pace Advogados says:

    Greetings from California! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break.
    I really like the information you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
    I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my
    mobile .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, awesome site!

  4. Grupo Coral says:

    It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this
    superb blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to
    my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will share
    this website with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  5. Minerva says:

    Asking questions are truly fastidious thing if you are not understanding anything completely, but this article provides good understanding yet.

  6. Rodrigo Branco says:

    Hi! I realize this is somewhat off-topic however I needed to ask.
    Does building a well-established blog like yours require a
    large amount of work? I’m brand new to running a blog however I do write in my journal every day.
    I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my personal experience and views online.
    Please let me know if you have any kind of ideas
    or tips for brand new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate
    it!

  7. Florian says:

    I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or
    did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as
    I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from.
    kudos

  8. Patsy says:

    Thanks for your marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed
    reading it, you will be a great author. I will always bookmark your blog and will come back down the road.
    I want to encourage you to definitely continue your great writing, have a nice
    holiday weekend!

  9. Mario Celso Lopes says:

    Hey there! I realize this is somewhat off-topic but I had
    to ask. Does building a well-established blog such as yours require a large amount of work?

    I am brand new to blogging however I do write in my diary daily.
    I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my experience
    and views online. Please let me know if you have any kind of recommendations or
    tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!

  10. Umanizzare says:

    Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide
    credit and sources back to your webpage?
    My blog is in the very same area of interest as yours
    and my users would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you
    present here. Please let me know if this okay with you.
    Thanks a lot!

  11. Bettamio Vivone e Pace Advogados says:

    Its like you learn my mind! You appear to know a lot approximately
    this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something.
    I think that you just could do with a few percent to power the message
    home a bit, however instead of that, that is magnificent blog.
    A great read. I will certainly be back.

  12. Daniel Dantas says:

    I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and
    amusing, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the
    head. The problem is something that too few people are speaking
    intelligently about. I’m very happy I stumbled across this during my search for something concerning this.

  13. Cristina Boner says:

    Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative
    in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us
    useful information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!

  14. view says:

    I simply want to say I’m beginner to weblog and absolutely enjoyed you’re website. Almost certainly I’m going to bookmark your website . You surely have tremendous writings. Kudos for sharing your webpage.

  15. Luiz Gastão Bittencourt says:

    Hello There. I found your blog the usage of msn. This
    is a really neatly written article. I will make
    sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful information. Thanks for the post.
    I will certainly comeback.

  16. Grupo Coral says:

    I’m not sure exactly why but this blog is loading incredibly slow for me.
    Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue
    on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.

  17. Leandro Martins de Almeida says:

    hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from
    right here. I did however expertise a few technical issues using this website, as
    I experienced to reload the web site a lot of times previous to I could get it
    to load correctly. I had been wondering if your
    hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow
    loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could
    damage your high quality score if advertising and
    marketing with Adwords. Well I am adding this RSS
    to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective exciting content.
    Ensure that you update this again soon.

  18. Daniel Dantas says:

    This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger.
    I have joined your rss feed and look ahead to in the hunt for more of your fantastic post.

    Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks

  19. Mauro Martins cunhado says:

    Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web
    site so i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find
    things to improve my website!I suppose its ok
    to use a few of your ideas!!

  20. Bettamio Vivone e Pace Advogados says:

    I do agree with all the ideas you’ve presented to your post.
    They are really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts
    are very short for beginners. Could you please prolong them
    a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.

  21. you could check here says:

    I just want to mention I’m all new to blogging and actually enjoyed you’re blog site. Almost certainly I’m going to bookmark your site . You absolutely have wonderful posts. Regards for sharing with us your website.

  22. Luiz Gastão Bittencourt da Silva says:

    I’m really impressed with your writing skills and also with
    the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself?
    Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see a
    nice blog like this one these days.

  23. Daniel Dantas says:

    Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a weblog web site?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I were tiny bit familiar of this your broadcast provided brilliant transparent concept

  24. internet says:

    I simply want to mention I am just beginner to blogs and actually liked this web page. Likely I’m likely to bookmark your site . You actually come with excellent well written articles. Regards for sharing with us your blog site.

  25. click to investigate says:

    I simply want to mention I’m all new to blogging and site-building and absolutely enjoyed your blog. More than likely I’m likely to bookmark your website . You amazingly come with excellent articles. Cheers for revealing your website.

  26. tinyurl.com says:

    I am not sure where you are getting your information, but good
    topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more.
    Thanks for great information I was looking for this information for my mission.

  27. Daniel Dantas says:

    Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading through your articles.
    Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same topics?
    Many thanks!

  28. Nidia says:

    Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
    It is the little changes which will make the greatest changes.

    Thanks for sharing!

  29. Desembargador Mauro Pereira says:

    Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your
    blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently fast.

  30. tinyurl.com says:

    Fantastic items from you, man. I have bear in mind
    your stuff previous to and you’re simply extremely excellent.
    I really like what you have obtained here, certainly like what you’re stating and the best
    way in which you are saying it. You’re making it enjoyable and you continue to care
    for to stay it smart. I can not wait to read far more from you.
    That is really a great web site.

« Older CommentsNewer Comments »

Comments are closed.