Machado Lake

Two landmark Los Angeles lakes will be cleaned up and restored with bond funding approved Wednesday by the City Council. On a unanimous vote, the council allocated $58 million in Proposition O money for six water-quality projects, including $23 million to begin the cleanup of Echo Lake, north of downtown, and Lake Machado in Harbor City. The council also set aside an additional $178 million for future phases of the two lake projects.

A 6 1/2 -foot alligator believed to be Reggie -- the elusive reptile that has been the subject of a closely chronicled "gator watch" since being illegally let loose in 2005 -- was captured and subdued by city workers Thursday afternoon on dry land beside Lake Machado in Harbor City. The creature, after being wrestled down and tied to a gurney, was whisked off to the Los Angeles Zoo for a brief physical and quarantine for 30 to 90 days. The Reggie adventure was capped by an almost O.J.

Reggie the alligator -- last seen in public in May, when he was captured at a Harbor City lake -- made his debut at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday, with many of his fans there to cheer him on. Nearly 150 people, many decked out in alligator hats and Reggie T-shirts, crowded around his enclosure awaiting the big event, craning for a view over a line of news cameras. Many visitors had arrived from Harbor City on buses arranged by City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

Like the best creature tales, this one begins with something lurking in a lake. The story has been unfolding in Harbor City, just north of San Pedro, where people have packed into Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park for three days. They scan the water for a glimpse of what authorities believe is a spectacled caiman, a crocodile cousin from Central and South America.

A new crew of wranglers has rolled into town, intent on nabbing the 7-foot alligator that has been lurking in Harbor City's Lake Machado. But the result Tuesday remained the same: The alligator was still on the loose. The hunt resumed late Monday after the four-man team flew in from Florida and offered to do the job for free, with expenses such as travel and lodging paid by the city.

Old Bob, a 4-foot-long, 100-pound alligator snapping turtle, was a local legend for years before repairs to Fullerton's Laguna Lake dredged him up last September. A monitor lizard appeared several years ago in a dam pond near Yuma, Calif., but was never captured. Now an alligator in Harbor City's Lake Machado has alternately thrilled and tantalized a growing crowd.

The alligator remains on the lam, but the alleged alligator dumpers have been snared. Two San Pedro men -- one a former Los Angeles police officer -- were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of allegedly dumping an alligator into Lake Machado. For two weeks, the creature has eluded self-styled gator wranglers from Colorado and Florida. The gator's name is Reggie, and he grew too big for his backyard jungle.

Three weeks after fleeing Hurricane Katrina, one New Orleans evacuee took up a new home Saturday -- next to an alligator-infested park lake in Harbor City. Storm victim Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn pledged to camp next to Lake Machado until he could track down an urban gator that for more than a month has given the slip to professional alligator hunters.

A day after being tapped to track down an urban alligator in a Harbor City lake, a New Orleans evacuee was taken off the job Sunday after city officials determined that he had no liability insurance and no known credentials. Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn had been invited Saturday to join the effort to capture the alligator named Reggie just a week after arriving at a Los Angeles shelter for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Gator wranglers from Florida have quit their search for an elusive 7-foot alligator in Harbor City's Lake Machado after they were publicly ridiculed by a Hurricane Katrina evacuee brought in to help nab the reptile. Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn described as "retarded" the methods used by the wranglers from Orlando-based Gatorland. He made his comments Saturday after being escorted by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn to the park where the gator, dubbed Reggie, has lived for at least two months.