The Spring Street River

Eric Richardson

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I think a water main must have burst this afternoon around this building on the west side of Spring, just south of 4th. I was biking from City Hall to USC for class around 6:40pm and stopped to gawk at this water shooting out of the sidewalk and across three lanes of traffic.

I don't know that you really get a sense from the photo just how much water was coming out of this sidewalk. It was gushing with force. The fire alarm in the building started going off soon, likely set off by the drop in water pressure. I'm not sure how long the break lasted, but it couldn't have started much before I got there.

I got my comeupance when a car drove by in the near lane and sprayed me with a nice sized wall of water.