Holiday Traditions
This December holiday is known as the “Festival of Lights.”
What is Hanukkah?
This African American cultural holiday celebrates unity, creativity, and community across seven principles.
What is Kwanzaa?
FoLAR was founded in 1986 by this poet-activist who imagined a greener future for the river.
Who is Lewis MacAdams?
The Los Angeles River flows into this body of water.
What is the Pacific Ocean?
This 1978 musical’s iconic car-race scene was filmed in the LA River’s concrete channel.
What is Grease?
Santa Claus is based on a real historical figure who was a bishop in this country.
What is Turkey? (St. Nicholas of Myra)
The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs in this month.
What is December?
FoLAR’s biggest public program each Fall mobilizes thousands of volunteers to remove trash from the river.
What is the Great LA River CleanUp?
The river spans approximately this many miles from its headwaters in Canoga Park to Long Beach.
What is 51 miles?
This 1991 action film featured a dramatic motorcycle chase through the Los Angeles River’s concrete channel.
What is Terminator 2: Judgment Day?
This plant became tied to Christmas after a 19th-century U.S. ambassador popularized it; it’s actually mildly toxic to pets.
What is the poinsettia?
This ancient Persian celebration honors the rebirth of the sun and is still celebrated today on the winter solstice.
What is Yalda (Shab-e Yalda)?
In 2026, FoLAR celebrates this milestone anniversary.
What is the 40th anniversary?
This species of bird, often seen along the soft-bottom Glendale Narrows, has a distinctive yellow breast and long tail.
What is the yellow-rumped warbler
Before colonization, the river supported villages of these Indigenous people, whose descendants still steward the region.
Who are the Tongva (Gabrieleño) people?
This major winter holiday celebrated across East and Southeast Asia marks the beginning of the lunar calendar and is associated with family reunions, red decorations, and symbolic foods.
What is Lunar New Year?
In Japan, families traditionally eat this food on Christmas Eve thanks to a wildly successful marketing campaign.
What is KFC (fried chicken)?
FoLAR’s headquarters is located at this public park along the Los Angeles River, operated by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
What is the LA River Center and Gardens?
The soft-bottom stretches of the river exist because the ground here contains this type of natural feature that made concrete lining impossible.
What are artesian springs?
This federal agency controls much of the river’s infrastructure due to a catastrophic flood in 1938.
What is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?
The modern image of Santa wearing red and white was cemented by this company’s 1930s advertising campaign.
What is Coca-Cola?
In this Scandinavian country, families leave out porridge in winter to appease a mischievous household spirit called the nisse or tomten.
What is Norway or Denmark?
FoLAR played a central role in the community visioning process for this major site in Northeast LA, home to the future Paseo del Río.
What is Taylor Yard?
This endangered fish species once native to the LA River is part of ongoing habitat restoration conversations.
What is the Southern steelhead trout?
The Los Angeles River begins at the confluence of these two streams in the Canoga Park area of Los Angeles before flowing southeast toward Long Beach.
What are Bell Creek and Arroyo Calabasas?