Mulholland Memorial Fountain
The man who brought Los Angeles its water had one morning he could never take back.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
Tony Harnischfeger called the head of the Los Angeles water system because the water leaking from his dam was muddy. He was the keeper of the St. Francis Dam, in a canyon about forty miles from here. It was the morning of March 12, 1928. The man he called was William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant who had started out as a ditch tender and taught himself engineering. Fifteen years earlier Mulholland had brought the Owens River to this city and told the crowd, "There it is.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Corner of Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Feliz. The city's water department has taken the fountain out of service for restoration, so expect it to be dry and possibly fenced for construction. The story works from the sidewalk.
Sources
- Homestead Museum, Mulholland at the coroner's inquest
- PBS SoCal, The Flood: St. Francis Dam disaster
- PBS, Lost LA: When the St. Francis Dam collapsed
- PBS SoCal, The Mulholland Memorial Fountain
- Water and Power Associates, Mulholland monuments
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Fountain restoration project
- Wikipedia, William Mulholland
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