The joy of of zipping across the open Southland in a beloved automobile was long part of the LA lifestyle and identity.
The joy of mobility — of zipping across the open Southland in a beloved automobile — was long part of the LA gestalt. The architecture critic Reyner Banham even wrote, back in the 1970s, “the language of design, architecture, and urbanism in Los Angeles is the language of movement. Mobility outweighs monumentality there to a unique degree.”
But in recent years that feeling of freedom on wheels has gone, and been replaced by a sense of being trapped in the gridlock borne of the popularity of LA’s mobile lifestyle.
So now the region is going back to the future and reinstating a network of commuter trains, local light rail and buses; and biking is on the increase. But however essential these modes of transit are, can they exert the same ineffable sense of sizzle as riding in a cool car on the open freeway?