I always wanted to capture these tunnels but never had the opportunity until recently. The tunnels are located near Elysian Park and are part of the 110 freeway that connects Downtown LA with Pasadena. The entire area is not considered very safe but there are many good spots to capture the traffic, therefore I took the risk three times. Twice during the day and once at night.
This portion of the 110 freeway was featured in the Steven Spielberg film “Duel” (1971). I guess graffiti and vandalism were not very popular in Los Angeles back then because the tunnels look very clean in that film.
Every single time I go to a place like this in LA I find a lot of trash, rotten food, and plastic bottles everywhere. This attracts rats and other animals so I always wear boots and gloves as a precaution.
There is no easy parking around. Take into account that if you go there you will find yourself in the middle of a big residential area that is always packed with cars. On top of that Dodger Stadium is near so if you want to take some photos of the freeway and/or tunnels when there is a ball game just forget about it and come back either after the game or when there is no ball game at all.
And if the name sounds weird to you, “Arroyo Seco” means “Dry Creek” in Spanish.
Ralph.
