The Los Angeles River watershed, Olmsted Park 2025, ENLARGE
SURRENDER
OLMSTED PARK
This area might be equally divided between the river and its tributaries, creating a network of park corridors throughout the city. The width of these park corridors could be decided by the following equation: (total river length)(width)(width) + (total tributary length)(width) = 80 square miles. This produces a 1/4 mile wide park right-of-way along the tributaries and a 1/2 mile wide park along the rivers. Such a park system already exists along the Arroyo Seco, one of the best examples of Olmsted-ean watershed, traffic, and recreation planning in the region. Indeed, this proposal is essentially what Olmsted & Bartholomew proposed in their 1930 report Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches in the Los Angeles Region.
An Olmsted Park future within the Los Angeles River Basin produces the parkland distribution illustrated by the above map and the following comparisons.
| (non-mountainous area) |
Population Density |
Parkland Ratio |
| Surrender 2025 |
7500 people / sq mi |
380 sq ft / person |
| Negligence 2025 |
7000 people / sq mi |
122 sq ft / person |
| Present |
5625 people / sq mi |
152 sq ft / person |
Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches for the Los Angeles Region by Olmsted Brothers & Bartholomew, one of the more famous reports recommending the creation of parkways and greenbelts along the river corridors, is on the reference shelves of the Los Angeles Public Library. Very difficult to find, it is being reprinted by the University of California Press with introduction and commentaries by Greg Hise, William Deverall, and Laurie Olin under the name Eden By Design: The 1930's Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region.
The 30 square mile area surrounding downtown as it would appear with an Olmsted-ean Park corridor along the Los Angeles River.
An Olmsted-style river channel.
Rendering by Erika Tapp
OLMSTED PARK