Secret Walks #3: L.A. River Walk North, 2 miles

A bonus of trekking the city by foot is learning the history of each location. The history of the 48-mile L.A. River tracks all the way back to the first settlements of the 1700s when the river was the primary source of fresh water for the L.A. basin. Due to years of flooding, in 1938 the Army Corp of Engineers encased the entire riverbed and banks in concrete, demolishing the natural habitat of local wildlife and, over time, attracting taggers and the homeless. In 1986 a group of locals called Friends of the L.A. River began a mission to restore the natural beauty, resulting in the beautiful strip of the river Barbara and I hiked today (climbing a few gates to cross the pedestrian bridge.) But our coolest stop was the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain built in 1940. Like me, if you live in L.A. you probably drive past this fountain at Los Feliz and Riverside hundreds of times without a second look. Someday make a point to stop. Take a walk around this monument to city water engineer Wm. Mulholland, the brains behind the 1913 L.A. Aqueduct. Circling the fountain is a miniature, concrete replica map of the 223 mile aqueduct path that replaced the L.A. River as the city's primary water source. And if you're a ham, you can even get a photo taken inside an actual piece of the aqueduct pipeline.

Time to watch Chinatown again.