We all know that Los Angeles is known for its car culture and expressways but, today I was really thinking about what the streets of LA show me. The streets give us a moment to interact with other Angelinos either it being stand still bumper to bumper traffic in front of us, crotch rubbing on the bus behind us, or a lifted pick-up truck racing beside us down 6th St. We all have our own experiences on these streets and sometimes they're good, sometimes bad, and most of the time whatever.
The streets literally bring us together from different parts of the city. They work into our lives, changing minute by minute and being useful during one part of the day and completely annoying at another moment. Taco trucks line up on them and the street becomes a parking lot for a mobile restaurant. I use them to ride my bicycle for hours and I actually love roads when they lack cars and are freshly asphalted. Other times I dread the road like it is on Virgil by Beverly right now, totally stripped, rutted, and piled up with asphalt debris but, still being used.
We all have our own ways of interacting out there. Lately I've noticed that traffic has been lighter. I don't know if this is because, a) more people are car pooling and using alternative transportation or b) less people have jobs to go to. I think it's the later. Times are getting strange. I think we all sense that and from the streets you can gather a lot. You can drive through downtown LA south of Los Angeles St. and see the homeless. Not just cracked out drug addicts but, entire families strolling along and finding a place to rest. These streets show us what's going on. We all live our lives under different roofs and we all come together on those expressways, pot holed stretches of Wilshire, and in our neighborhoods lined with broken toilets.
With a nod to Yirko I now leave you with the Pet Shop Boys, enjoy.
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2 comments:
great thoughts. and I know exactly where you're talking about on Virgil -- in fact, just last night I was thinking about how much that stretch sucks right now.
Traffic has been amazingly light for sure and it's been pretty dreamy. Some days, I could almost see the dream that LA developers had in mind - only a few cars on the highway, all whizzing into the future.
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