The office of Gehry Partners was enlisted by River LA to master plan the 51-mile Los Angeles River.

For the majority of its 51 miles, the Los Angeles River winds through the metropolitan area in a concrete flood-control ditch—a setting better suited for chase scenes in films like Grease and Terminator II than, say, a picnic lunch.

For what may be a brief moment in Los Angeles, planning is hot. Measure S, the slow-growth, anti-development initiative, failed at the ballot box but succeeded in one very big way.

Los Angeles leaders Friday hailed the close of escrow on nearly 42 acres of property key to the city’s plan to revitalize the Los Angeles River.