Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 4, 2008
The most spectacular illegal fireworks show every year is on the LA River, best viewed from the surrounding hills. The ultimate year was 2001. Tons of illegal fireworks lasted well past midnight. The acrid stench of gunpowder in the air lasted for most of the following day. Last year, a few nights before the 4th, illegal fireworks set some Arundo donax on fire right around Newell Street in the LA River. Gentrification and the sliding economy has reduced the spectacle, but it's still a scary good show.
