Needing to escape Los Angeles for a few hours, Judy and I took the Amtrak Surfliner to San Diego and back on Saturday. During a break from walking the Gaslamp Quarter and riding the light-rail trolley around town we met a waitress who is moving to Sherman Oaks for a job. She joked about renting a place near the L.A. "River" and asked what's the deal with all the concrete. I was enjoying the day too much to get into a history discussion, but had to laugh when I received an email today from Jay Babcock, founder of the late Arthur magazine. I wondered what the waitress would make of it:

Subject: Large carp are mating/spawning now in the Atwater area

A friend first saw them Friday, March 30 around 11 am, in the hundreds, flopping in groups, splashing and mating in the shallows of the River about a hundred yards south of the Hyperion bridge. He called me, I called Lewis MacAdams from FoLAR, and we all went down there to see what Lewis said was **the first-ever reported sighting of this activity in the LARiver**. Absolutely amazing sights. They were going at it again Saturday and again today.

The photo looking downstream from the Hyperion bridge was shot in April 2005 by Mr. Walking in L.A.

Also: New 27-minute documentary film about the river.

Photo: WalkinginLA.com