Ballona Lagoon | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 33°58′18″N118°27′32″W / 33.9718°N 118.4589°W |
Type | Tidal marsh |
Primary inflows | Marina Del Rey |
Primary outflows | Grand Canal |
The Ballona Lagoon is a soft-bottomed channel and 16-acre (65,000 m2) [1] tidal marsh in the Marina Peninsula neighborhood of Los Angeles that feeds the Venice Canals with water from the Pacific Ocean via a tide gate. [2]
Ballona Lagoon “runs for about a mile, parallel to Via Marina in Marina Del Rey.” [3] The primary wetland is bounded by Pacific Avenue, Via Dolce, Hurricane Street, and Yawl Street. [4] At Hurricane the channel makes a sharp turn and becomes the Grand Canal of the Venice Canals. [5] When it reaches Venice Boulevard the water disappears into an underground storm drain. [1]
Part of the historic Ballona Valley ecosystem/watershed, the bodies of water now called Ballona Lagoon and Del Rey Lagoon are separated sisters, [6] kept apart since the 1960s by the construction of the Marina Del Rey boat channel. [1] Prior to the dredging of the sailboat harbor, “this acreage was for centuries a salt marsh.” [6]
As described in a 1981 legal filing:
The Lagoon in its present configuration is a narrow elongated area covered by very shallow water and is separated from the ocean by a strand or bar of beach sand. Its entire length lies within 1,000 yards (910 m) of the ocean. It connects to the Venice Canals to the northwest and to the ocean channel entrance to Marina Del Rey on the southeast. Historically, the name Ballona Lagoon referred to a much larger area than that covered by the property here involved and was part of what was once Rancho Ballona. That additional area is now dry land as a result of filling and development and natural conditions.” [7]
The tide gates replace as much as 95 percent of the lagoon’s water daily. [8]
The Lighthouse Street Bridge crossing the lagoon is a closed-spandrel bridge limited to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only. [9] The bridge, sometimes called the Ballona Lagoon Bridge, was built by Abbot Kinney as part of his Venice of California development. [10] The city of Los Angeles has recommended applying for Historic-Cultural Monument status for the bridge. [5]
The Silver Strand development that fronts the lagoon “got its name and was subdivided in 1906 by Kinney, who built the Venice canals, which feed into the Ballona Lagoon. But it remained a subdivision on paper, and development became even less of a priority when oil was discovered in the area in 1930. For nearly 40 years, the Strand was a forest of oil pumps and wells.” [10]
There are no past or present lighthouses in the vicinity of Lighthouse Street; the street names in this neighborhood are nautical terms in alphabetical order from Anchorage to Yawl. [6]
The lagoon was restored incrementally beginning in 1988, [3] with major work 1996-1997 after the city purchased “Lot R” (which comprised two-thirds of the lagoon) from a private owner. [11] [12] [13] Improvements included viewing platforms, fencing, signage, native California plants authentic to the pre-development ecology of the area, dredging six feet (1.8 m) down at the tidal inlet to create fish spawning habitat, and building an island for nesting birds. [2] Silt, litter and remnants of 50-year-old oil drilling equipment were removed. [12] Further refurbishment took place in 2011, when the city added dog fencing, stabilized the banks of the waterway, and reseeded the rare wildflower called Orcutt’s yellow pincushion. [1]
At the time of a 1987 attempt to redevelop the Lagoon area, including potentially removing the Lighthouse Street Bridge, “Much of the ensuing debate revolved around the question of whether the lagoon is a beautiful, rare habitat for wildlife or a stinking mud hole.” A local marine biology professor spoke in defense of the mud, as it plays host to the “worms, clams and snails that live in the lagoon” which in turn feed the “avocets, curlews and sandpipers.” [14]
One homeowner advocating for more development commented, “It is very charming at high tide but at low tide it smells.” [4]
The restoration has been described as “wildly successful, providing rich native habitat and regulated access for people, where degraded land once dominated.” [15]
Common native plants of the Lagoon include coastal buckwheat, beach-sand verbena, pickleweed, big saltbush, California brittlebush, and lemonade berry. Common wildlife includes snowy egrets, great blue herons, cormorants, kingfishers, mergansers, coots, horn snails, fiddler crabs, hermit crabs, California mussels, three colors of sea anemones, chitons, limpets, volcano barnacles, innkeeper worms, and sea hares. [2] [16] [8] A fenced-off lot on the adjacent beach is a protected nesting site for the California least tern, which also make appearances in the lagoon. [14] Fish present in the lagoon include goby, halibut and topsmelt silverside. [2] [8]
The Lagoon is accessible via the 1.8-mile (2.9 km) Ballona Lagoon Marine Preserve Trail, [6] said to be "fragrant with coastal sage and jasmine, and if you run south, you can turn right at the base of the lagoon and run out onto the jetty that is the northern bank of the Marina del Rey channel." [17]
Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Marina del Rey is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The port is North America's largest man-made small-craft harbor and is home to approximately 5,000 boats. The area is a popular tourism destination for both land and water activities such as paddle board and kayak rentals, dining cruises, and yacht charters. Land activities include bicycling on several bicycle paths, walking paths along the waterfront, and birdwatching (birding). Wildlife watching opportunities include California sea lions and harbor seals. Dolphins and whales occasionally visit the deeper waters of harbor. This Westside locale is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Santa Monica, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Los Angeles International Airport, and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) west-southwest of Downtown Los Angeles.
Playa del Rey is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a population of 16,230 people.
Playa Vista is a neighborhood in the Westside area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft. The area began development in 2002 as a planned community with residential, commercial, and retail components. The community attracted businesses in technology, media and entertainment and is part of Silicon Beach.
Ballona Creek is an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows" with the Tongva village of Guashna located at the mouth of the creek. Ballona Creek and neighboring Ballona Wetlands remain a prime bird-watching spot for waterfowl, shorebirds, warblers, and birds of prey.
Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is a protected area that once served as the natural estuary for neighboring Ballona Creek. The 577-acre (2.34 km2) site is located in Los Angeles County, California, just south of Marina del Rey. Ballona—the second-largest open space within the city limits of Los Angeles, behind Griffith Park—is owned by the state of California and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The preserve is bisected generally east-west by the Ballona Creek channel and bordered by the 90 Marina freeway to the east.
The Marvin Braude Bike Trail is a 22-mile (35 km) paved bicycle path that runs mostly along the shoreline of Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles County, California. The coastal bike trail is widely acknowledged as Los Angeles’ “most popular bike path.”
The Ballona Creek Bike Path is a 6.7-mile (10.8 km) Class I bicycle path and pedestrian route in California. The bike path follows the north bank of Ballona Creek until it reaches Santa Monica Bay at the Pacific Ocean. The route is defined by, and recognized for, the dramatic contrast between the channelized waterway’s stark cement geometry and the abundant wildlife of the verdant Ballona Wetlands.
Fisherman's Village is a waterfront mall, commercial boat anchorage and tourist attraction located in the world's largest man-made small boat harbor in Los Angeles County at Marina del Rey, California. The Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve is just east of Fisherman's Village and immediately to the south is the federally-owned riverine estuary of Ballona Creek. The historical Fisherman's Village, built in 1967, is nestled on the eastern bank of main harbor entrance channel between Whiskey Reds restaurant to the south and the Windward boatyard to the north.
Marina Peninsula is a neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. It is often considered a subsection of the adjacent neighborhood of Venice. Because of its name it is sometimes erroneously thought to be part of the adjacent community of Marina del Rey, California, but it was annexed to Los Angeles along with the rest of Venice in 1925.
The Culver Boulevard Median Bike Path is Class I rail trail bicycle path, walk route and linear park on Culver Boulevard in western Los Angeles County, California.
The Venice Canal Historic District is embedded in the residential Venice suburb of Los Angeles, California. The historic district is noteworthy for possessing man-made wetland canals, built in 1905 by developer Abbot Kinney as part of his Venice of America. Kinney sought to recreate the appearance and feel of Venice, Italy, in coastal Los Angeles County. The names of the canals were given by Abbot Kinney as follows: Aldebaren Canal, Altair Canal, Cabrillo Canal, Coral Canal, Grand Canal, Lion Canal and Venus Canal.
Alla is a former streetcar station and archaic place name located near Marina del Rey in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Port Ballona is an archaic place name for an area near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where Playa Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon are located today. Port Ballona was a planned harbor and town site from circa 1859 to 1903. The name comes from the Rancho La Ballona Mexican land grant.
The Venice–Inglewood Line is a former Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Los Angeles County, California. Service was very sparse, providing a suburban route between Venice and Inglewood.
Del Rey Lagoon Park is a 14-acre (57,000 m2) municipal park in the Playa Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles, United States, with a lagoon that is part of the greater Ballona Creek watershed.
The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors is responsible for 20 beaches and the Marina Del Rey small-craft harbor in Los Angeles County, California.
Oxford Basin is a 10.7-acre (43,000 m2) constructed wetland and wildlife conservation area in the northwest corner of Marina del Rey, California, located between Washington Boulevard and Admiralty Way.
This is a list of lagoons of California in the United States. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Ecology and Conservation a lagoon is "a body of shallow water with access to a larger body that is restricted by a coral reef or sandbar." Lagoons in Southern California tend to be estuarine bodies with depths of 2 m (6.6 ft) or less. After more than a century of severe ecological disruption, many of California's lagoons have been targeted for restoration, including San Elijo, Malibu, Colorado, and several others.
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