[OT] LA people?

[noisetonepause]

So I'm just watching a documentary on electric cars and there was a shot of a road with a billboard that said 'Making sure nobody walks in LA' visible... does that ring a bell? What's it for? Is it a pun or a joke of some sort? Or is it just what it says?

The reason I ask is that I personally walk almost everywhere and see walking as a Good Thing, what with impending beer gut and such... is walking connected with some sort of social stigma there? Or what?

[jesso]

When you walk in LA, people think your either homeless or insane, and the cops look at you funny too.
If you jog, its normal, but everyone drives everywhere.
Wierd.

[fatrabbit]

So I'm just watching a documentary on electric cars and there was a shot of a road with a billboard that said 'Making sure nobody walks in LA' visible... does that ring a bell? What's it for? Is it a pun or a joke of some sort? Or is it just what it says?

The reason I ask is that I personally walk almost everywhere and see walking as a Good Thing, what with impending beer gut and such... is walking connected with some sort of social stigma there? Or what?

I noticed your location is Denmark, and you guys seem to have a good (public) transport network. There was a feature recently on TV about Copenhagen and how it had good links like that (it was about town planning), and how cycling is important and is well integrated.

I've never been to LA, but i'm sure it's very different (town planning wise, plus everyone in America seems to have a car). Plus it's probably a cultural thing (linked with town planning).

[noisetonepause]

So I'm just watching a documentary on electric cars and there was a shot of a road with a billboard that said 'Making sure nobody walks in LA' visible... does that ring a bell? What's it for? Is it a pun or a joke of some sort? Or is it just what it says?

The reason I ask is that I personally walk almost everywhere and see walking as a Good Thing, what with impending beer gut and such... is walking connected with some sort of social stigma there? Or what?

I noticed your location is Denmark, and you guys seem to have a good (public) transport network. There was a feature recently on TV about Copenhagen and how it had good links like that (it was about town planning), and how cycling is important and is well integrated.

I've never been to LA, but i'm sure it's very different (town planning wise, plus everyone in America seems to have a car). Plus it's probably a cultural thing (linked with town planning).

Oh, yeah, definitely. Out of my ten closest friends from high school, only one has a driver's license - and he got it cos he was going to America with two of his friends to drive from New York to San Francisco... And public transportation is, as you say, quite easy to use here, and there are lots of bikes here as well... I'm just surprised that walking is actually seen as odd... I mean, it's such a natural way to get around?

[longjohns]

I'm sure it is a joke, though.

Like that Steve Martin movie where they get in the car to drive to the next door neighbor's house

[hambone1]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

[ground_control]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

Don't rub it in.

@ the OP, yeah the "nobody walks in LA" thing is a pretty long-running joke about this town. Basically, the city is so sprawling and, for various (largely political) reasons, public transport is so rudimentary that by and large most people are forced to drive most places. This has fostered a culture where people are in love with being in their cars, not least because we spend so much time in them that we'd better like it.

I heard a statistic a while ago that the average LA driver loses a couple of days worth of time each year sitting in gridlock.

So it's a little more complicated than just that we don't like to walk, not that that's what you were implying.

J

[stale bread]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

can you think of any reasons not to be embarassed to be american?
I missed those in all of your post.

[Tone Deft]

LA is just one big ass suburb with a city in the middle. The standard is 'everything is a 20 minute drive away', like the movie swingers, everyone drives themselves from bar to bar in a caravan (don't know how true that is but it's a funny scene.)

Walking In LA - Missing Persons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tqktM70Lzs

and yeah, that billboard in LA story, funny stuff.

[Thinktanx]

I live in LA. Walk everywhere, all the time. Drive a few days a week. But I work from home a lot. If that weren't the case, I would have to drive more. There is no public rail transportation here to speak of because General Motors, Firestone tires and Exxon Mobil (by different names in those days) essentially shut it down.

Currently, the Metro really only goes from downtown out to Pasadena and South. They are attempting to resurrect the rail system on the west side as we speak using the old tracks that still exist in several areas.

The first phase of the Expo line, a Light Rail line from Downtown Los Angeles to a temporary terminus near Venice and Robertson Blvds. in Culver City started in 2006, with an estimated completion date in 2010. The line mostly follows the right of way which the Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line used. The stated intent of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is that the line eventually be extended westward to Santa Monica, again mostly along the existing right of way with the possible exception of going through the commercial strip of Venice Blvd.

It's a start, at least.

[ewistrand]

When I lived in SoCal back in the late '80s, I lived in Riverside. If I were to rely on public transportation and was working in LA, I'd have to leave at 5 AM to get to LA by 9 (about 55 miles); there were three runs into LA and back per day.

A couple interesting facts about the automobile and LA;

1) there's more cars registered than there are people
2) if every car registered in LA County were out on the road at the same time, there'd be complete gridlock. There's more cars than roadway to drive them on.

ew

[iamnotcool]

I live outside of LA and it's virtually impossible to walk or use public transit conveniently. A walk to the store typically takes about 30-40 minutes in any direction, not to mention that it's suicide to undertake such a mission in the summertime.

Bus service is a joke. I used to ride the bus all the time, and because of our service's asinine schedule, you can really only expect to ride it monday through friday, before 7 pm. Most busses will stop running around 9:30 pm here, and even earlier on the weekends, which means any sort of night outing will involve driving. I still can't comprehend why the local city governments don't require busses to run in the late-night / early morning hours, as it would cut down the amount of drunk drivers on the road. Sure would beat paying for a 30-mile cab ride.

[debu]

It depends on what neighborhood you live in, I lived in Venice beach for years and walked or biked EVERYWHERE all the time. I only occasionally left the neighborhood though. Also lived Hollyweird for a couple, and that was a dangerous joke to try to bike to my office, and just too spread out to walk.
That city has the strangest public transpo system I've seen anywhere.

[beats me]

It's not just LA. There are a lot of cities like that and I think it depends on if the city built upward or outward. If you live in places like New York or San Francisco where they built upward then there are plenty of places to walk to. If you live in a city that is all sprawled out or in the suburbs you could walk but there is nowhere to walk to. It's just blocks and blocks of houses. I would gladly kick my neighbors out so we could tear down their house and build a bar but that isn't going to happen.

[pilcrow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tqktM70Lzs

Heh. Thanks for the blast from the past. Dig Dale's Jiffy-Pop bra. Some top-notch players in that band, though. That little squeak she does on the choruses goes right up my spine, and not in a good way.