Sepulveda Dam

Located in Los Angeles, California, the Sepulveda Dam is a project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, built in 1941 to control winter flood waters along the Los Angeles River. It is located approximately 8 miles east of the river's official starting point in the San Fernando Valley.

Behind the dam, the Sepulveda Basin is home to several large recreation areas and parks, a model-aircraft field, Japanese gardens, a wildlife refuge, a water reclamation plant and an armory.

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:

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"
"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)
Grease, during the race scene.
"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. MattSerj

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 Balboa Blvd. section is frequented by soccer players and observers, which can make cycling tedious.

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

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