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Rapid Nostalgia

MFA Thesis


Rapid Nostalgia № 007: “Sixth Street Bridge from the Los Angeles River”





Living between 4th and 6th Streets in the Arts District at the time, the 6th Street Bridge was always a looming nearby me, noir behemoth that felt like a temple to film. How often did I recognize it’s underbelly in a Batman movie, a spy thriller? When it was decided that it must come down (concrete failings and all), its abscence was disorienting. Whole streets that once had the bridge to frame it suddenly were exposed to the barren sunlight.

For the seventh zine in the series, I played with the idea of a fold out poster, inspired by the bridge’s silver screen impact. No longer was my neighborhood going to be used as a stand in for gritty city scenes—these areas of Los Angeles were being scrubbed away, even if they were seismically unstable and posed a huge threat to human life. Or whatever.

The demolition of the predecessor bridge was due to serious structural issues, including several large cracks, resulting from the high alkaline content of the concrete composition, due to architectural unsophistication. As a result, concerns over the structure's seismic instability outweighed its historical status, leading to its closure for demolition and replacement in January 2016. The new replacement bridge was completed six years later and opened on July 9, 2022.

By June 13, 2024, wire thieves had stripped out 38,000' of copper wiring powering the bridge's LED lighting system, leaving it entirely darkened.







The name of the zine comes from the official name of the bridge: “Sixth Street Bridge from the LA River,” which I found to be humorous to even have to list on the Wikipedia page. Even the page itself is titled “Sixth Street Viaduct” but everyone just says “the Sixth street Bridge” aloud—and the 6th St Bridge if you want to type it out. And, in writing this page, I realized that apparently I didn’t like how “LA River” sounded when designing this zine and gave it yet another designation, choosing to spell out the entire city’s name. Let’s call it creative liberty, shall we?
AKA 6th Street Bridge aka Sixth Street Viaduct aka Sixth Street Bridge from the LA River.












The 6th St. bridge inspired several art prints as well, as it was such a jarring change to my neighborhood in the Arts District. 


A true shift in reality— 
a temporary reverse scar across the earth.






Of course, there is a new 6th Street Bridge, so this zine needs an update. Take a look at more recent Street Views:


Jan 2022


Jul 2022, during Ciclavia



Jan 2023




Explore more projects from my MFA thesis, Rapid Nostalgia






❸ After graduating Otis College of Art and Design, Rapid Nostalgia lives on. This image is a design rendered to look like a risograph print, a series of postcards depicting the various cold war era emergency sirens that still stand around Los Angeles today.

❹ The first edition of How to Give Your Work Away for Free, by Matthew Manos, featured a book sleeve that folded out into a small poster.