Ballona Creek (pronunciation: "Bah-yo-nuh" or "Buy-yo-nah" ) is an 8.5 mile channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse begins in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles, flows through Culver City and Del Rey, and passes the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Preserve, the sailboat harbor Marina del Rey, and the small beachside community of Playa del Rey before draining into Santa Monica Bay. The Ballona Creek drainage basin carries water from the Santa Monica Mountains on the north, from the Baldwin Hills to the south, and as far as the Harbor Freeway (I-110) to the east. Before colonization, 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. In 1982, film critic Richard von Busack, a native of Culver City, described the channelized creek as "a cement drainage ditch indistinguishable in size and content from the Love Canal."

Watershed and course

The Ballona Creek watershed totals about 130 mi2. According to a 1948 report in the Venice Evening Vanguard, "The total area drained by Ballona Creek consists of 86 mi2 square miles of coastal plain and 74 mi2 of foothills and plain range from sea level to 250 ft and in the mountains from 250 ft to 1550 ft. The average gradient of the valley floor is about 20 ft/mi and that of the canyon channels is about 200 ft/mi. The longest distance at any given time taken by the water in this drainage system is 17 miles." Before most of Los Angeles' watercourses were buried underground, Ballona Creek drained the whole of the west Los Angeles region and fed directly from a chain of ciénegas and lakes that stretched from the Hollywood Hills to the Baldwin Hills. The major tributaries to the Ballona Creek and estuary include Centinela Creek channel, Sepulveda Creek channel and Benedict Canyon channel; most of the creek's natural minor tributaries have been destroyed by development or paved over and flow into Ballona Creek as a network of underground storm drains. Ballona Creek watershed climate can be characterized as Mediterranean with average annual rainfall of about 409 mm. Land use in the watershed consists of 64 percent residential, 17 percent open space, eight percent commercial, and four percent industrial. The flow rate in the creek varies considerably, from a trickle flow of about 14 cuft per second during dry weather to 71400 cuft per second (see cubic meters per second) during a 50-year storm event. Note: In Los Angeles County, the "water year" is measured beginning October 1 continuing until the next September 30, rather than by calendar year. Natural channels remain at some of the headwaters of Ballona Creek tributaries, while the lower portion of the stream is encased in concrete channels "either rectangular" in the east or "trapezoidal" toward the west; to the west of Centinela Avenue the bottom of the creek is unpaved and subject to tidal influence.

Tributaries and drains

Many of these run wholly or partially underground in storm drains that empty into the creek.

Additional watershed elements

According to a report from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, other contributing elements of the contemporary watershed, besides the major tributaries, are Baldwin Hills Park, Del Rey Lagoon Park, Ballona Lagoon Marine Preserve, Grand Canal, the Venice Canals, Ballona Northeast (Area C—State lands), Bluff Creek and Ballona Wetlands, Marina del Rey (including Marina Del Rey Wetland Park), and Oxford Flood Control Basin. Ballona Wetlands, Del Rey Lagoon, Ballona Lagoon and Oxford Basin are connected to the Ballona estuary through tide gates. The Ballona watershed is estimated to have roughly 35 percent impervious surface, which affects rainwater infiltration and groundwater recharge. There were at least 41 natural springs mapped in the Río de La Ballona watershed before development. A waterway called Walnut Creek once arose near what is now the L.A. Coliseum at Exposition but it was destroyed by the 1930s flood-control engineering. A 2011 study determined that as little as two percent of Ballona's water may now come from underground springs, meaning that 98 percent of the creek's flow consists of various forms of runoff throughout the watershed.

Crossings

From northern source to southern mouth (year built in parentheses): Several of these crossings existed as “small wooden bridges” of unknown age before they were replaced in the 1930s by WPA infrastructure projects. An “old wooden bridge” was in place on Overland before 1928. A 1900 railway map appears to show Ballona Creek crossings at Inglewood, Higuera, and La Cienega and a crossing between Alla and Alsace stations.

Ecology and conservation

Pollution

Dry weather urban runoff and storm water, both conveyed by storm drains, are the primary sources of pollution in the riverine coastal estuary. Since Ballona drains about 126 sqmi of surface area and thousands of street gutters, freeway runoffs, and industrial overflows, its highly toxic waters constitute the most serious source of pollution for Santa Monica Bay. "A new city sewer line in the 1980s alleviated some, but not all, of the problem." The urbanization of the watershed, and associated with it the pollution of urban runoff and stormwater, has degraded the water quality in Ballona Creek and its estuary. Ballona Creek is listed by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board impaired for fecal coliform, heavy metals, and pesticides. The litter flows into the creek require constant cleanup by the County Department of Public Works and volunteer teams. Fifty bags of litter, including diapers, syringes and a car bumper, were removed from Ballona Creek on Coastal Cleanup Day in 1988. Two abandoned live kittens along with 67000 lb of dumped garbage were removed in 2002. Nets and booms strung across the end of the creek attempt to catch as much litter as possible before it enters Santa Monica Bay. "Grocery-store carts and trash litter [Ballona Creek], joined by flotillas of foam-plastic cups after rainstorms." Another observer described the general state of the creek in 2021: "What little water there is flows heavy with trash and the rainbow glints of motor oil…Graffiti lines every overpass. Water, flowing from god-knows-where above, leaks yellow-green across the street. Mountains of collected dross mark an impromptu home… This place has a sort of decaying beauty, like the moody ruins of a romanticist oil painting. As the miles roll by nature slowly returns. Brush lines the creek, and I catch a pelican diving into the water mid-flight."

Trash Interceptor

LA County Public Works deployed an Interceptor Original, a solar-powered, automated system made by the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup, near the mouth of the creek in October 2022. This is the first Interceptor Original installed in the United States, and the second of the third-generation Interceptor Original to be deployed globally. Until the system was put into place, it was docked with the United States Coast Guard in Long Beach, California. One boom on the device was damaged in the 2022-2023 storms but the main unit was not damaged. The trash interceptor completed its two year pilot program in October 2024 and was considered a success, capturing nearly 124 tons of total material, 2,738 pounds of that being recyclable material. The system will be removed from the river to undergo maintenance and upgrades, with a plan to reinstall it in time for the 2024 winter storm season.

Habitat

The watershed as a whole, which stretches from the Skirball Center to Griffith Park (south of the SM Mountains ridgeline) down past Echo Park to south Los Angeles, then back past the Baldwin Hills, over to the coast between Ocean Park and Playa Del Rey, supports an estimated 3,000 species of flora, fauna, and fungi. All told the Ballona watershed hosts over 300 bird species, seven amphibians, 30 kinds of reptiles, almost 40 mammals, more than 200 kinds of fungi (including lichens), more than 100 arachnids, and at least 1,000 insects. The creek and wetlands are specifically recognized as an "Important Birding Area" by the Audubon Society. As far as the creek proper, the best birding opportunities are usually west of Lincoln Boulevard. Urban coyotes and a small population of venomous southern Pacific rattlesnakes live alongside the creek; exercise due caution to protect both the wildlife and visiting humans. According to a 2003 assessment, "Less than one percent of the plant cover observed along the Ballona Creek could be classified as native species." Bottlenose dolphins, harbor seals and California sea lions are occasionally spotted downstream. In 1953, a 350 lb sea lion made it 3.5 mi upstream before it got bogged down; the lost pinniped was lassoed by rescuers and returned to the Pacific.

History

A reported Tongva-language (Takic subgroup of Uto-Aztecan) placename for the Ballona estuary and wetlands was Pwinukipar, meaning "it is filled with water". An alternative historic Spanish-language place name for the creek reported in the GNIS is Sanjón de Agua con Alisos, which roughly translates to “water ditch with sycamores.” (Aliso is the North American Spanish language word for Platanus racemosa, or Western sycamore, a landmark water-loving, river-bank tree species native to the area. Watercourses or irrigation channels called zanja, zanjón or sanjon are noted throughout southern California and the American Southwest generally.) Ballona Creek was a picturesque natural waterway fed by runoff. The creek collected the water from ciénegas and the rains. Its banks were lined with sycamores, willows, tules, and other trees. This natural bounty attracted the earliest known human inhabitants of the region, the Gabrieliño-Tongva Indians, the indigenous people of the Los Angeles region. For at least 3,000 years, the pre-Contact Tongva lived in the area encompassing the Ballona Creek floodplain and the Westchester Bluffs. These indigenous peoples left a large burial ground near the region along the southwest corner of the Ballona Wetlands near the village of Guashna, alternatively spelled Washna. The records of the San Gabriel Mission record recruitment of Tongva from a group of settlements named Washna (also referred to in some historical and scholarly sources as Saa’angna) near the mouth of Ballona Creek. Before the Spanish conquest, Washna was probably the most important Native American center for trade between the mainland and Catalina Island. The Spanish Portolá expedition camped at the headwaters of Ballona on August 3, 1769. At the time of Spanish settlement, Ballona Creek was a distributary of the Los Angeles River. However, the flood of 1825 changed the course of the Los Angeles River, and Ballona Creek became a distinct waterway. Around 1820, a mestizo rancher named Augustine Machado claimed a 14,000 acre Mexican land grant that stretched from modern-day Culver City to Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. Ballona Creek and Lagoon are named for the Ballona or Paseo de las Carretas ("wagon pass") land grant, dated November 27, 1839. The Machado and Talamantes families, co-grantees of the rancho, heralded from Baiona in northern Spain. In the 1840s, Francisco Higuera's adobe was "close enough to La Ballona Creek for Francisco's nine children to swim in the clear waters of the stream with its fine sandy bottom." From 1861 to 1862 the creek was home to an U.S. Army staging ground. Several soldiers posted to Camp Latham described the local vistas, including "Charley" in May 1862 in the Trinity Journal: "After a walk of seven hours the main body of the detachment reached Camp Latham, and no one who has ever been here can deny but that it is the finest-situated camp and drill ground in the State. The camp is situated on an eminence, one hundred yards from which flows a beautiful stream of sparkling water, about the size of main Weaver Creek, lined with a dense grove of sycamores, and in the immediate vicinity of camp is a pretty grove of willows, planted tastefully by an old Spaniard, and which is beginning to form a pleasant retreat for the inhabitants of the neighborhood, and the troops at this point." In 1886, a California state report described Ballona and Centinela creeks: Circa 1890, the renowned Machado ranch stables were located "a few hundred feet across the Ballona bridge on Overland Avenue." A 1912 advertisement for homes in the “Washington Park subdivision” along the creek said, “Ballona Creek is a swift-running little stream, fed by springs, and carrying plenty of water all the year. It divides in Washington Park, making a picturesque little island.” In addition to other festivities organized by real-estate brokers to drum sales in the new development, “A free luncheon with hot coffee was served on Ballona Island, the wooded island in Ballona Creek.” The ranch land along the creek was put into agricultural use alongside new small towns such as Venice (est. 1905) and Culver City (est. 1917). In 1928, one writer observed, “Gradually Rancho La Ballona began to develop and people began to build. The ranches were subdivided until Rancho la Ballona became a rich valley of beautiful homes with people coming from every State until it reaches the portions of today.” Photos of a flooded Jefferson Boulevard appeared in the newspaper after a major storm in December 1931; authorities told reporters that Ballona Creek’s peak flow “more than 7000 second feet” went through the channel. Deadly floods in 1934 led officials to temporarily close “small wooden bridges spanning Ballona Creek” to limit potential danger to civilians. The crossings were at Burnside Avenue, Redondo Boulevard, Thurman Avenue and Venice Boulevard. Much of the above-ground section of the creek was lined with concrete as part of the flood-control project undertaken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers between 1935 and 1939. Two laborers, Tony Rizzo, a 44-year-old father of six, and Barney Porres, 24, were killed by a mudslide in the channel in 1937. Two other men were injured. A coroner’s jury found that “lack of proper precautions” by flood-control management team were to blame. A contract was awarded in 1946 to extend the stone jetties an additional 550 feet “to deflect ocean currents to prevent beach erosion.” The tributaries were channelized in the 1950s. Centinela Creek’s course was set in parallel to the route of Interstate 405 and the then-forthcoming Marina Freeway. The channelization of the creek is part of the larger human reorganization of southern California hydrology, “some of the oldest and most extensive water redistribution projects in the United States.” When the Baldwin Hills Dam broke 1963, the Ballona Creek Channel carried the flood of water and debris safely to the sea.

Recreation

The Ballona Creek Bike Path, which extends almost 7 miles from National Boulevard in Culver City to Marina Del Rey, is a popular fitness track. Running along a combination of existing flood control service roadways and purpose-built paths, it is a fully-grade separated trail permitting cyclists to ride the entire length without signals or road crossings. However, the path is closed during major rainstorms as portions running beneath bridges are often fully submerged when water levels are high. More than 30 species of fish are present in the Ballona Del Rey harbor and Ballona estuary. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust offers a free, full-color, online booklet “A Guide to Fish Found in the Lower Ballona Creek and the Ballona Wetlands.” The Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors permits licensed fishing at the north and south jetties; licenses can be purchased at nearby shops (West Marine, Marina Del Rey Sportfishing or Del Rey Landing). The Ballona Creek jetty is “a good spot for kelp bass, sand bass, and mackerel.” Due to the contaminated nature of the creek ecosystem, warnings are often posted of species of fish which are unsafe for human consumption. In 1950, an upstream reservoir was being drained by Los Angeles, and “Bass and blue gill, stocked in the reservoir, ran down storm drains and into Ballona Creek.” The Culver City Chamber of Commerce and Hughes Aircraft Rod & Gun Club erected a temporary dam to trap the fish and threw a fishing contest for local kids. (No adults allowed.)

In popular culture

The Little Rascals of Hal Roach’s Our Gang used Ballona Creek as a filming location for shorts like “Fish Hooky” (1933). In the 1997 movie Volcano, Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) destroys a 20-story apartment building in a controlled demolition in order to divert a flowing river of lava into Ballona Creek and thus into the Pacific Ocean.

Gallery

Sources