Los Angeles' Internal Tussle
The geography we know as Los Angeles was initially marketed as the land of plenty. A landscape not yet dominated by the steel and concrete edifices commonplace in the recognized urban metropolises of the time. A place of climate perfection, natural beauty, and topography best traversed in an automobile.
The automobile became the culture; a mode of transportation; a badge of class and stylistic identity, almost fashion, - engrained in our minds as identifiable as the vision the palm trees bookending the streets and iconic thoroughfares.
The realities of urbanization have taken hold and Los Angeles struggles to accept a new identity.
On one hand there are those who wish for LA to retain or somehow return to its storied past. On the other, some might say, literally and figuratively, perhaps that said “train has left the station”.
The tussle between LA’s auto culture and its arduously methodical struggle to urbanize is on complete and full display at the corner of Van Nuys Blvd. and Oxnard St. where, at Auto Row surrounded by Dodges Kias Hondas and Chevys, LA Metro diligently constructs one of the SFVs most important public transit nodes; the intersection of the East Valley Light Rail and the Orange (G) Line. No stores at the transit stop. Just cars for sale!
The auto and its constituencies (both cultural and profit driven) will fight for transportational supremacy until the bitter end and it will be an ugly and painful fight to the bottom…. Likely lasting generations to come. Tens of thousands of units slated to be built with zero parking will ensure that an auto centric life will become unbearable in due time… For many, that time has already come.
I will leave with one thought and that is to successfully dwell in this City one must live where they play and work. Plan now.
