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Los Angeles Plays Itself

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Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#61

Post by nosuchthing »

christianbryant wrote: post #58

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey. Lived on a boat, in apartments, in houses. Commuted 2 hours one way, 1 hour the other, and then 10 minutes max each way. I love L.A. - every facet of it, top to bottom, rich to poor, chilled to stressed. But there are more L.A.'s than two. Los Angeles is a bona fide s…

Aldous Huxley's essays on Los Angeles are easily the best pieces that still ring true to this day.

[1] (Linking to Huxley's essay on the Southern California desert, as I find it the most thoughtful and universal reflection on how to live amongst any environment) https://danassays.wordpress.com/collected-essays-by-aldous-h...

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#62

Post by rogerbinns »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #42
rogerbinns wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a Brit who now lives in the Bay Area (~400 miles, 5 hours drive north of LA). What really chews your soul is sitting in stop and go traffic. Journeys with lots of motion seem to pass by quicker as you are actually doing something and the scenery, cars etc around you are constantly changing. But when you are driving in that stop go traffic that feels comparable to walking speed, with the same cars around you, and…

I was born in the bay, I now live in LA. What you experience for traffic in the bay is heaven compared to LA

Indeed. I saw a report somewhere claiming that Bay Area traffic lags LA by about 20 years, but don't have the experience to judge that.

I was shocked on one trip to LA driving at 1am, in a two lane wide car pool lane, and experiencing traffic almost as dense as rush in the Bay Area!

Then again the non-highway streets seem to have a traffic light system geared to no movement. It is beyond annoying sitting at lights where nobody is moving.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#63

Post by hyperbovine »

gtani wrote: post #5
Tenoke wrote: post #2

>She refers to their relationship as long-distance. It takes her an hour to get to where he lives, so she stays for three days at a time, then comes home for one or two. I assume this isn't a typical reaction? I live in London, and if it takes me an hour to get somewhere, I consider that fairly reasonable. Is it actually common for people over there to consider an hour journey as something extraordinary?

I had a friend in Santa Monica ask me a few years back if i wanted to get a burrito, so we get in her car, get on the 10, the 405, and another freeway towards downtown. After driving 40 minutes, i ask her, "are we getting close?", she says, "of course, don't be so impatient"

Hate it to break it to you but you drove by at least 30 equally good burrito shops on your way there. If there is one thing I see no point in driving long distances for in Southern California, it's Mexican food.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#64

Post by gammarator »

christianbryant wrote: post #58

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey. Lived on a boat, in apartments, in houses. Commuted 2 hours one way, 1 hour the other, and then 10 minutes max each way. I love L.A. - every facet of it, top to bottom, rich to poor, chilled to stressed. But there are more L.A.'s than two. Los Angeles is a bona fide s…

checking out a book from each decade going back to 1930

Even better is the anthology "Writing Los Angeles", which excerpts writings from the 1880s to 2000: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Los-Angeles-Literary-Anthology... It really brings out how the competing cultural narratives of LA as paradise and LA as near-apocalyptic wasteland have co-existed since the beginning.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#65

Post by JoshTriplett »

jamra wrote: post #53
JoshTriplett wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your sensibilities and what you're used to, but personally, I consider an hour exceptionally long. For me, it takes roughly 20 minutes to get into the nearest major metropolitan area by car, or 30 to an international airport. Almost anywhere we'd regularly travel to or run an errand to is within 5-10 minutes; more unusual destinations are within 15-20. An hour is what it would take to drive to the ocean or…

Some people don't have great options about where they work. I personally would not move close to downtown LA if I worked there. I'm more comfortable in a safe suburb, but the good jobs are in Santa Monica. At one point, I drove about 80 minutes to my University and about 60 minutes back to work, which was by my home. If I got lucky and there was no traffic (rare), it was 45 minutes. You get used to it, but it's not s…

Sounds like California and its traffic might be a large part of the problem.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#66

Post by vithlani »

andyjdavis wrote: post #38
JoshTriplett wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your sensibilities and what you're used to, but personally, I consider an hour exceptionally long. For me, it takes roughly 20 minutes to get into the nearest major metropolitan area by car, or 30 to an international airport. Almost anywhere we'd regularly travel to or run an errand to is within 5-10 minutes; more unusual destinations are within 15-20. An hour is what it would take to drive to the ocean or…

>There are people who commute for an hour, and who select a place to live knowing they'll have to commute for an hour, despite having options within 5-10 minutes. I can't even begin to fathom why someone would do that, and waste 10 hours of their life every week for years. I am from Perth, Australia and people voluntarily driving for upwards of 30 minutes each way is extremely common with 1 hour not being all that un…

This is becoming increasingly true for all major Australian cities.

There is no new housing stock being built within 30 min drive distance from major work hubs. This in turn induces fierce competition for housing within that zone, with purchase for people with a normal income pretty much out of the question. This forces moving to outer suburbs, which can mean anything from 45min-1.5 hour drives each way or an equal amount on public transport.

The government willfully ignores this problem as more people on roads means more tolls, more tax from petrol, more tax from cars and their maintenance expenses, more income from greedy builders building sub-standard houses in the suburban sprawl -- and more of the population wasting their precious time in the needless daily grind rather then spending time with their families and doing things that would make them happier. The last bit enables scummy politicians and bureaucrats to get away with outright stealing and abuse of public funds as people simply have no energy or time to question them.

For example:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/one-in-four-home-builds-do...

How could school funding be stolen like this? Because parents have no time or energy to question and scrutinize their local schools administration.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/one-in-four-home-builds-do...

Why are housing builds "dodgy"? Because there is no regulation and builders get away with murder. Also means you the consumer ends up spending more to fix it.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#67

Post by calinet6 »

christianbryant wrote: post #58

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey. Lived on a boat, in apartments, in houses. Commuted 2 hours one way, 1 hour the other, and then 10 minutes max each way. I love L.A. - every facet of it, top to bottom, rich to poor, chilled to stressed. But there are more L.A.'s than two. Los Angeles is a bona fide s…

I grew up both close enough and far enough that I always hated LA—hated going there, hated the traffic, the city busy-ness, the randomness and amorphousness that was both easy and difficult to describe.

I hated it so much so that I began to love it. It reminded me of a person: human, flawed, honest, complex, paradoxical, somehow both ignorant and wise at the same time—and fundamentally alive and beautiful and generally happy in spite of it all. Some would say it lacks perspective, but I do think it has one. And it has such a personality, and knows itself. I've lived in cities without much of a personality, and I think knowing LA has helped me see that clearly. I miss it, for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#68

Post by andrewf »

andyjdavis wrote: post #38
JoshTriplett wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your sensibilities and what you're used to, but personally, I consider an hour exceptionally long. For me, it takes roughly 20 minutes to get into the nearest major metropolitan area by car, or 30 to an international airport. Almost anywhere we'd regularly travel to or run an errand to is within 5-10 minutes; more unusual destinations are within 15-20. An hour is what it would take to drive to the ocean or…

>There are people who commute for an hour, and who select a place to live knowing they'll have to commute for an hour, despite having options within 5-10 minutes. I can't even begin to fathom why someone would do that, and waste 10 hours of their life every week for years. I am from Perth, Australia and people voluntarily driving for upwards of 30 minutes each way is extremely common with 1 hour not being all that un…

Infill also mean's Perth's roads are far busier than before. My dad commuted from Bateman to Fremantle for 30 years; the same morning journey easily takes twice as long as it used to.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#69

Post by calinet6 »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #65
jamra wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people don't have great options about where they work. I personally would not move close to downtown LA if I worked there. I'm more comfortable in a safe suburb, but the good jobs are in Santa Monica. At one point, I drove about 80 minutes to my University and about 60 minutes back to work, which was by my home. If I got lucky and there was no traffic (rare), it was 45 minutes. You get used to it, but it's not s…

Sounds like California and its traffic might be a large part of the problem.

They're certainly related.

If the economy has any rightness in it at all, it has shown us that California is valuable. People put up with all manner of hardship just to carry out their lives in that location.

Traffic is an effect of that value. Of course, people are not perfectly mobile, and many things tie people to particular geographies and commutes; but in general people still move to California and prioritize the value of the location over commute time.

Re: Los Angeles Plays Itself

#70

Post by calinet6 »

gtani wrote: post #5
Tenoke wrote: post #2

>She refers to their relationship as long-distance. It takes her an hour to get to where he lives, so she stays for three days at a time, then comes home for one or two. I assume this isn't a typical reaction? I live in London, and if it takes me an hour to get somewhere, I consider that fairly reasonable. Is it actually common for people over there to consider an hour journey as something extraordinary?

I had a friend in Santa Monica ask me a few years back if i wanted to get a burrito, so we get in her car, get on the 10, the 405, and another freeway towards downtown. After driving 40 minutes, i ask her, "are we getting close?", she says, "of course, don't be so impatient"

That's why people deal with traffic in LA. People there really do value time differently. Just living is pretty darn good—your time doesn't have to be for something, it is what it is, and you enjoy it. Stereotypically, 'going with the flow' is not too far off.

That's the perfect California response and it contains significant cultural wisdom that answers many confusions in this thread.

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