I have always thought that L.A. is a motor city that developed linear downtowns.
I've driven in L.A. probably three times. I'm a slug in L.A.
The main thing I despise about America now is driving on the freeways.
Between a quarter and a third of Los Angeless land area is now monopolized by the automobile and its needs-by freeways, highways, garages, gas stations, car lots, parking lots. And all of it is blanketed with anonymity and foul air.
One of the first things a British visitor to Southern California discovers is that he must have a car. Freeways. Bad public transport. I took driving lessons.
A lot of times, L.A. is desaturated, and cement and freeways, and downtown.
Two wrongs don't make a right. No, but three will get you back on the freeway!
Our engineering departments build freeways which destroy a city or a landscape, in the process.
I don't do freeways.
Coming from L.A., rush hour from 8 to 10 and from 3 to 5 on the freeways. Everything was so congested. Indiana, there's never any traffic. People are warm and nice. People are warm and nice in California, but you never know. You might run across Sirhan Sirhan the next day in L.A.
If you spend any time in Los Angeles, there's only one topic of conversation.
I know so much about Los Angeles. I grew up here, I was born here, I loved it, and I reported on it.
It's time now to rent a car, roll down the windows and prepare for your first big thrill: the freeways. They're so much fun they should charge admission. Never fret about zigzagging back and forth through six lanes of traffic at high speeds; it erases jet lag in a split second. You're now heading toward Hollywood, like any normal tourist. Breathe in that smog and feel lucky that only in L.A. will you glimpse a green sun or a brown moon. Forget the propaganda you've heard about clean air; demand oxygen you can see in all its glorious discoloration.
