The great city of Los Angeles is one of the most social and the second most populated place in the United States, trailing New York City only. Although the City of Angels is infamous for violence, gangs, and drugs, it is home to some of the greatest attractions and tourists sites. Venice beach for one is famous for its boardwalk, a two and a half mile promenade jammed with walking, skating, and cycling pedestrians. Santa Monica beach of course is known for its attraction based pier that extends several hundred feet into the ocean, making it a perfect fishing location. The list goes on and on, ranging from L.A. Live to Universal Studios City Walk in Hollywood. All the places listed above have many things in common but above all they all share one special destination, into the history book. The death of Los Angeles is near and unless certain changes are implemented, Los Angeles will come to an anti-social doom. The tragic demise of Los Angeles is inevitable due to their unique car culture which de-socializes Angeleno’s. Everyday the number of automobiles on the road increases, hence more and more people avoid walking and using public transportation.
With advances in technology and better structural abilities, engineers have been able to design and construct more complex freeways all over Los Angeles. Literally freeways run across the entire city, several of which are interconnected, metaphorically speaking they are the veins of Los Angeles. If it was not for the flow these veins produce, there would be chaos everywhere and it would be almost impossible to arrive to ones destination punctually. Ironically speaking, what is keeping L.A. alive is what eventually will kill it. Due to the efficiency and time saving of taking the freeway Angeleno’s are driving their cars more than ever. The problem with this trend is that it is keeping people from socializing on an everyday basis. Some people get in their car in the morning, go to work, and then drive straight back home, never really interacting with society, well except in the workplace (which does not count). An individual is not him or herself when operating a vehicle, especially in exasperating situations, most commonly a traffic jam. Everyday residents of Southern California have to deal with the extremely irritating traffic, especially during peak hours, which occur several times per day. Therefore under such pressure, the behavior and mannerism of some people tend to change and not in a good way, causing them to drive recklessly. Instead of having a pleasant and healthy walk, most drivers are cursing the world while trying to reach their destination as soon as possible. The highways are the ones keeping Los Angeles together, take them away and the city will collapse, improve them and the city will collapse. A better more social form of transportation is imperative, a powerful transit system needs to be implemented.
Empty Streets of L.A.
If people living in Los Angeles continue to strengthen the Angeleno car culture, traffic and the social life will only get worse. In the near future there will be no such thing as walking in the streets, no pier nor boardwalk to socialize in, and it will all be outlawed. “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury exemplifies just how bad Los Angeles will be a few years from, as outrages as it sounds, it is indeed possible. In the story Leonard Mead, the main character, is out on his usual walk for leisure when he is suddenly stopped by a pair of scrutinizing police officers. When asked why he was out in the streets, Mr. Mead sincerely replies he is only walking, but since Society has transformed people into anti-social creatures, he is arrested literally for finding pleasure in walking. As of now the streets in Downtown Los Angeles are filled with busy speed walking pedestrians, it is already apparent that people only walk because they absolutely need to. One of the biggest reasons why Southern California residents are starting to neglect walking and other social activities is because there is no time. Angeleno’s live on the move, there is always something to do and our own unique culture wants it done fast, clean, and easy.
With an incredible population, comes great responsibility, failure to attend to these accordingly may be devastating for the residents and the city itself. Therefore New York City officials have repeatedly pushed for a strong transitive system, in order to keep order, not only in the streets but in the subways, metros, and tunnels. Both Los Angeles and New York house millions of people and have serious traffic issues, the difference between these cities is that only Los Angeles is heading towards de-socialization. Unlike Los Angeles, New York City has a top of the line transit system, they seriously have several ways to get their residents where they want to go in a timely manner. The best part is that their transportation methods do not rely on vehicles so heavily, interestingly enough vehicles are not the top method for New Yorkers. Hence public transportation is a huge key factor in keeping N.Y. a lively social place, people travel together, wether they talk or not, it is better than pissed off road raging individuals. Los Angeles has a lot to learn not only from New York but from other cities around the world that push for a powerful transit system.
According to Yui Kwon, the host of the PBS t.v. series “America revealed”, “L.A. Has more cars than any other county in America...12 million of them” such a perplexing concept to grasp when considering the fact that the population of Los Angeles, according to google, is at about 3.5 million. That means there are almost four time more cars in Southern California than people! As shown in the brief but insightful video above, Los Angels was a very social community 100 years ago. Street cars were the number way to travel back then and from the footage, it can be inferred that there was quite an amount of conversations going on in there. At that time L.A. was home to the largest rail network in the world, but expansion came to a screeching halt in the 1940’s when plans suddenly changed into building freeways that would literally cut Los Angeles into pieces. Like Kwon mentions “L.A. was left with the worst of both worlds, devastated neighborhoods, and an incomplete freeway system” due to the fact that the initial plan was never completed, not all the promised miles of freeway were constructed. The reason for why this matters is because not only are freeways one of the reason Los Angeles is near its end but also because such a fail plan makes the time for doomsday come faster. Which means that everyday more drivers become victims of traffic, hence their personalties change into distressed independent Angeleno’s.
Future L.A Traffic Jam?
With so much traffic in Los Angeles, some people do not even attempt to travel or come out of their house, due to the stress they will encounter. Not only are cars/traffic de-socializing avid drivers but people without a car and stay at home individuals are also being affected. When a person enters their vehicle they are shun out from the rest of the world, they become isolated in their own personal space, for some such a feeling may be welcoming. Angeleno’s are part of a fast paced culture, so when behind the wheel the number one priority for some is not safety but speed. Cars have become an aspect of one's identity, most people do not dare to even think of a world without their car, it is no longer a want but it has transformed into a necessity. Southern Californians have become accustomed to their automobile, they cannot live without it and they are willing to give up anything to keep such a luxury, even their sense of belonging, a theory championed by Abraham Maslow and his theory, hierarchy of needs.
It is obvious there is not enough freeways to accommodate all the cars in L.A. therefore like the clip above suggested the city of Los Angeles needs to continue to fortify the Transit System. More railways need to be build, more bus lines need to be offered, more subways need to constructed, and above all freeways should be restructured and repaired. The first step to salvation has commenced, there is already blueprints out there being drawn up for an impeccable system of public transportation. Next, the great city of Los Angeles needs to implement these actions as soon as possible because the more time passes the greater the casualties. In the end when Los Angeles strengthens all these different of types of transportation methods, freeways will once again be a supplement in the system and society will rejoice as a whole, making L.A. one of the most social places in the world.
Los Angeles Socializing!
Work Cited
Bradbury, Ray. “The Pedestrian.” Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology. Ed. David Ullin. New York: Literary Classics, 2002. Print.
Mathes, Eugene. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a Guide for Living." Journal of Humanistic Psychology 22 (1982): 97-98.
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