In the spring of 2002 the Huntington Library in Los Angeles held

a conference the theme of which was “Los Angeles: nightmare or

paradise?” The day of the conference dawned so blue, balmy, and

glorious that there could hardly have been much uncertainty about

the answer to this question, especially among the affluent urban

scholars in attendance. By the middle of the meeting, however,

the conversation had become less complacent and had turned

to the question of “whose urban nature?” Discussion focused on

how access to urban parks varied by race and class. Despite this

outbreak of intersubjective sensitivity, only Lewis MacAdams-

not an urban scholar, but rather a poet fighting to restore the Los

Angeles River-had mustered up the courage to mention that

maybe the four-leggeds, no-leggeds and wingeds needed space in

the city too. The notion of the city as solely human habitat had, once

again, trumped a more inclusive vision for the metropolis.