Friends of the Los Angeles River founded by Lewis MacAdams, Pat Patterson, and Roger Wong
FoLAR is the first organization to explicitly advocate for habitat restoration and public access on the Los Angeles River. The group’s first La Gran Limpieza/Great River Clean Up is held in 1988.
RELATED STORIES

River Playground
“My dad worked the graveyard shift, so my mom took care of us, but my mom was busy oftentimes at the sewing machine meeting her deadlines. We got to go play when we didn’t have to support her.” Helen Leung cherished the moments when she and her sister were given free reign to explore the…

Memories of a Neighborhood
Bobby Arcos grew up on a quiet street in Atwater in the 1970s — before it was known as Atwater Village. Around his childhood home on Glenhurst Avenue, he recalls the smells of the old Van de Kamps bakery, 50 cent ham and cheese sandwiches from Vince’s Market, and playing football, and baseball at John…

A Dream Turned Reality
Since she was a little girl, Micaela Solís has always had to be independent. Originally from Puebla, Mexico, the experiences and lessons she learned during her childhood have deeply impacted her current role as small business owner. Growing up, she learned about the importance of punctuality, being serviceable and attending to the needs of others,…

Oro
“In Guatemala, green coffee beans are called oro — gold — because the Europeans and people who bought the coffee were paying in gold coins.” Having long been fascinated by the coffee traditions of his mother’s homeland, Yancey Quinones opened Antigua Coffee Roasters in 2005 in El Sereno. Later, after an opportunity arose to relocate…