oasis

"This was the first time I realized what an enormous task it was to take a piece of desolated desert and turn it into a blooming oasis," Zer writes.

“It’s a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city,” Willard Beasley said.

Eventually, we heard whispers of a respite from all the stats, an oasis of peace:

Instead of avoiding it altogether, the singer-songwriter, better known as Girl Ultra, frequently faces the streets’ madness to reach what she calls her “oasis” — a small studio atop one of the area’s artist compounds.

This oasis, part of the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, is one of the few spots where the Los Angeles River isn’t straitjacketed in concrete, allowing it to flow unencumbered through a thriving riparian forest.