FilmL.A. has joined the Los Angeles Conservancy, Friends of the Los Angeles River and the Getty Conservation Institute to celebrate a unique collection of historic structures and a hot topic of study and debate. FilmL.A. is a co-sponsor of “Spanning History: The Bridges of the Los Angeles River”, which will include an April 10 panel discussion regarding the status of, and plans for, the bridges and an April 13 “field day” exploring these remarkable, yet vulnerable, landmarks.
Built between 1910 and 1940, fifteen bridges span the Los Angeles River between Boyle Heights and Toluca Lake. Monumental in design and massive in scale, the bridges range from 1,000 to over 3,000 feet in length. Together, the bridges tell an important part of the story of how Los Angeles came of age as a major modern city. On January 30, 2008, the City Council declared eleven of the bridges as Historic-Cultural Monuments, ensuring a role for the City’s Cultural Heritage Commission in reviewing proposed widening and replacement projects.
FilmL.A. applauds efforts to preserve the character of these bridges for generations of film, television, and commercial producers to come. We regularly coordinate requests to film on or around these iconic landmarks. Many of these bridges are movie stars in their own right, having made countless film appearances, from the 1954 sci-fi classic Them! to 2007′s Transformers.