I could fix her
They actually call it a river? I thought that was a joke I'm gonna be sick
She used to be beautiful then LA got to her
It is important to remember that, before channelization, Los Angeles used to flood catastrophically every 10–25 years. Indeed, the "river" was always less a river than much of the city's land was a flood plain. The river's course would shift, sometimes dramatically, with each flood.
In order to have a modern city, built to the edge of the waterway, channelization was more or less necessary. And, indeed, most cities with a river running through their center have channelized them to some extent.
The difference in Los Angeles is that the average flow through the River's channel is extremely low. Almost all of the water in the L.A. River on any given day is either treated wastewater/sewage, industrial discharge, or run-off from watering lawns. Without those sources, it would be more or less absolutely dry most of the time.
On the other hand, on the rare occasions when the city does get significant rain, a tremendous amount of water suddenly has to be dealt with. Now, the wisdom of quickly ushering it all out to sea as quickly as possible through a concrete chute is certainly questionable. But the city also couldn't just make the whole channel "natural" again (whatever that means) without dire consequences — especially as climate change makes weather patterns all the more extreme.
There are various plans to make the L.A. River more inviting, aesthetically pleasing, useful for recreation, and capture more of the water that flows through it. But if your idea of what a river is "supposed" to look like is the Seine or the Thames, the ecology of Southern California simply will never, ever, ever allow for that.
On the other hand, it is sunny and 75°F (24°C) for 4/5 of the year here, so 🤷
