Devil's Gate Dam is one of the oldest dams in California built to provide flood protection for the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Los Angeles…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Located on a basin below NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Devil’s Gate shares a spooky connection with one of the Laboratory’s eccentric founders - Jack Parsons…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler - Shot on expired 800 spd film…
Devil’s Gate is a 100 foot gravity arch dam built of concrete, and was constructed between May 1919 and June 1920…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The original capacity of the reservoir was 4,601 acre-feet, and the spillway’s original elevation was 1,054 ft…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler - Shot on expired 800 spd film…
The Dam is built at the narrowest section of the Arroyo Seco - which means “dry stream” in Spanish. Explorer Gaspar de Portolà discovered and named the stream during his 1769 expedition…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The Arroyo Seco is nearly 25 miles long beginning at Red Box Saddle near Mount Wilson, flowing past the Rose Bowl, ending at Elysian Park where it flows into the Los Angeles River…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler - Shot on expired 800 spd film…
Devil’s Gate was named after the horned profile rock formation - a “Devil” - that the Tongva Indians believed had a connection to the Coyote Spirit…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The Tongva Tribe believed water running through the gorge sounded like laughter…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler - Shot on expired 800 spd film…
Rocket Engineer Jack Parsons was a member of Aleister Crowley’s “Thelema” occult movement, and frequently performed magic rituals, as well as rocket experiments in the area of Devil’s Gate…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Many visitors say Devil’s Gate is haunted, and nearby residents have witnessed modern occult rituals in the area…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Noted in the in 1860’s, the Arroyo Seco was known for severe flooding, but a 1914 flood that destroyed 10 bridges, 30 homes, and killed 43, motivated the construction of the Dam…
Photograph by Adam Chrysler - Shot on expired 800 spd film…