Unlike many #rivers that terminate in a #seaport, the #LARiver was never navigable by ship. It was more of a marshy estuarial system, fanning out all over #wetlands. The placement of the #LosAngeles/ #LongBeach #ports is actually kind of arbitrary as far as the river is concerned--but the river had to be managed to support #railroads & later, freeways.
Here you can see downtown LA thru haze (& electrical pylons). DTLA is ~20 miles north of where the river terminates in San Pedro Bay
The #ports were sited in San Pedro Bay before #oil was "discovered" locally, but the wealth that oil extraction & trade generated allowed capitalists to (literally) cement San Pedro Bay as an important node in global #trade, pouring oil profits into building up the ports.
I'd argue you can see both refinery & exhaust outputs in the red glow of the moonrise here.
View is from Port of LA looking east #LosAngeles
@inquiline It's hard to communicate just how central freeways are in defining LA (and urban SoCal generally). I've lived all over the US and was blown away how directions and sense of place was completely oriented to these built infrastructure.
Reframing this as national infrastructure rather then local transport makes a lot of sense here. Thank you!
tools for commensality 🧿
Kathe Todd-Brown