By Carren Jao
FROM: KCET.org

Without Lewis MacAdams, an avowed poet, Los Angeles might have completely forgotten the river that birthed the city. “There would not be a movement to save or restore the L.A. river without him,” said Joe Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “He was able to provide some romance, some poetry, some vision that you didn’t see.”

Through his eyes and with his imagination, Angelenos re-awakened to their latent memories of the historic river Spain’s Gaspar de Portola “discovered” during his explorations in 1769. Inspired, they are now creating for themselves a vision of a waterway that would carry Los Angeles into a lusher, more naturally connected 21^st century.

Nobody rises to Lewis’ level of gravitas. It mixes the visionary with irreverence for authority, but in a way that’s also politically skillful, so that he was able to get things done and change people’s minds,” said Sean Woods, former superintendent of California State Parks, Los Angeles Sector, and now chief of planning for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

After more than three decades of work on the Los Angeles River, MacAdams leaves behind a legion of Los Angeles River advocates, significant victories on Los Angeles River-related projects, but most of all, a legacy of the power of art to drive politics. MacAdams passed away from complications from Parkinson’s disease April 21 at the age of 75. He is survived by his brother Alan, his sister Kathy; his sons Ocean, Will and Torii; his daughter Natalia; and his companion, Sissy Boyd.

Born in San Angelo, Texas, in 1944, MacAdams always straddled the world of politics and poetry. His parents were both politically inclined, and his time in New York “included advocating for civil rights as well as sleeping on people’s couches, following poets around.” Read Rest of Article Here