Sepulveda Dam

Sepulveda Dam (June 2004)

Located in Los Angeles, California, the Sepulveda Dam is a project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, built in 1941 to withhold winter flood waters along the Los Angeles River. It is located south of center in the San Fernando Valley, about eight miles east of the river's official source in the western end of the Valley.

Sepulveda Dam, along with Hansen Dam in the north San Fernando Valley, was constructed after the historic 1938 floods on the Los Angeles River which killed 144 people. Sepulveda Dam was placed at the then current edge of the city (1940)--east of the dam the river was crowded into a narrow bottom by the city's growth. One legacy of Sepulveda Dam is the huge undeveloped area in the center of the Valley--used for wildlife and urban park. But another legacy of the 1938 Los Angeles River flood was the post-WWII channelization of all the Valley's dry washes, which along with the post-WWII rapid suburbanization left the Valley with hot dry concrete-lined river bottoms, instead of greenbelts and connecting bikepaths.

Behind the dam, the Sepulveda Basin is home to several large recreation areas and parks, a model aircraft field, The Japanese Garden, a wildlife refuge, a water reclamation plant and an armory. The Basin is kept free of urban over-building so that water can build up there during a prospective hundred-year flood.

Sepulveda Dam's large concrete spillways, seen from the San Diego Freeway, represent one of Los Angeles' best examples of the President Franklin Roosevelt inspired public construction inspired by the Great Depression. It's an often-used location for car commercials.

Bike path

The Sepulveda Dam bike path is a loop that starts at Victory Boulevard and Interstate 405, runs westward to White Oak Avenue with an alternate loop at Balboa Boulevard, and returns to Victory Boulevard via Woodley Boulevard. The western stretch along Balboa Boulevard is frequented by soccer players and observers, which can make cycling tedious. In that same area is some of the most beautiful scenery under bridges and along the rush of water in the narrow riverbed wooded by native, fragrant Arroyo Willows.

The south run of the loop leads by parking lots, and is frequented by joggers and children. The path has a high instance of burr-bearing plant life, which can cause flat tires.

There is ample parking available from the Burbank Blvd. side, as well as street parking along Woodley and Balboa Boulevards. Access is continuous.

Filming location

Due to its neomodern look and proximity to Hollywood, California and Burbank, the dam is a popular filming location for movies, television and advertisements:

• Sabotage by Alfred Hitchcock
• Escape from New York, representing the prison perimeter.
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, in the end credits.
• Iron Man 2
• The Fast and the Furious
• 24
• Bones
• CHiPs
• Alias
• Entourage
• Gattaca
• S1m0ne
• The Italian Job
• They Might Be Giants' music video for "The Statue Got Me High".
• Switchfoot music video for Stars
• Knight Rider''
• The Biggest Loser
• Air Patrol, during the climax of this 1962 film.
• Profiler (TV series)
• Fear Factor has also performed some stunts here.
• The music video for R.E.M.'s song "Drive" was shot here during August 1992.
• Audioslave music video for Cochise
• The music video for "Accidents can happen" by Sixx: A.M.

External links

• Sepulveda Dam background and data
• Friends of the Sepulveda Basin, organization website
• Friends of Lake Balboa, organization website