In some good news for urban kayakers, a section of the Los Angeles River has opened to public recreation for the first time in 80 years. The river, which runs through the nation’s second-largest city, had been closed to the public after devastating floods in the 1930s, when it was turned into a flood-control channel. The 2.5-mile section, called Elysian Valley, is home to waterbirds and has views of the San Gabriel Mountains.

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