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A particular feature of LA and SoCal is that it was well settled and the car culture was in full swing before the freeways really arrived. An artifact of that is the freeways were, mostly, essentially laid on top of all the existing transportation and transit infrastructure.
So much of the original roads, and the communities served by them, still exist. Most of what we’re considered highways in the past are now major boulevards with stop lights at every intersection, while the nearby freeway is laid on top of the original traffic grid and neighborhoods.
This is part of LAs notoriety for its “shortcuts”. As folks jump off the congestion of the freeways onto the local streets. An ability now obsoleted by modern navigation apps.
Lived here most of my life. LA is not kind to its past. We tear down the old to make way for the new all the time. But they can’t flatten all of it, several active history and preservation societies doing their work. Some wins, some losses.
But a lot of TV show’s were filmed here, and act as an ad hoc window to the past. I like watching shows like Colombo, and looking up the locations they used. (Colombo’s suspects lived in some VERY expensive homes.)
Similarly, in my neighborhood are brand new homes behind a 40 year old church that sold their backlot to a developer. But the church is across the street from a 100 year old farmhouse. Barn and all. And there’s a mix of others nearby.
Outside of the Master Planned communities of Southern OC, there’s still a lot of this interface of old and new all around SoCal.
Perry Mason had some good traffic tips too.
I think the SNL skit, The Californians, is supposed to be derogatory to Los Angelenos but we love it because we love checking the traffic math in shows.
There's that famous story about Bette Davis, when asked what advice she'd give young actors and actresses she said, "Take Fountain."
The "traffic math" checks out ? Good to know !
The freeways just helped cement the well established development pattern established by the pacific electric.
> An ability now obsoleted by modern navigation apps.
Toggle "avoid highways" in the settings.
During summer I took a longer roadtrip through Southern California and into Nevada/Arizona. I tried to stay of major freeways as much as possible mainly because I think their boring and make me really tired (a thing that I also happens from time to time when driving my usual German autobahn but usually not during mid day!).
So my trip lead me to stay a night in Palm Springs. From there I headed out to Las Vegas. I wanted a stopp near Barstow to visit Peggy Sue’s Dinner one more time with my family. My Navigation wanted me to take the route via San Bernardino but I saw an alternative route on the map via Yucca Valley. Man that was such a good decision. The Highway 247 makes a beautiful turn through the Johnson Valley. I made a point to use shorter D Tours on the whole trip like using state Route 66 in Arizona instead of the shorter 40 to Flagstaff and back to Vegas.
Great choice of detour. I lived in Yucca Valley off of 247 for a little while and still get opportunities to visit from time to time. Highly recommend checking out Joshua Tree if you get the chance.
I came from Joshua Tree and was on the way to Grand Canyon.
The Subtitle "There’s history around every curve on the back roads between Los Angeles and Los Olivos, a 100-mile route that meanders through mountains, canyons and star-studded enclaves." bothers me.
First thing the author started in Calabasas, which is on the edge of Los Angeles County and a significant distance from the City of Los Angeles.
Second, this region in particular - between say, Malibu and San Luis Obispo is notable for its general lack of freeways. There are two in that general vicinity the 118 (east/west) and the 101 (north/south). The reasons for that are complex, but largely because they only started to develop only after Los Angeles was done with its freeway building craze - and freeways are not politically popular - particularly in that region, which is either agriculture or wealthy enough to want no change to the area. Freeways still bring development.
That all said, when I have the time, I always take the two lane highway, just to see what there is to be seen - America is so much prettier and more diverse than the gas stations and food places near the freeway exit, go out and explore, there is a whole world - often in your back yard, that you didn't even know was there.
> First thing the author started in Calabasas, which is on the edge of Los Angeles County and a significant distance from the City of Los Angeles.
This is wrong. The city of Los Angeles is right up next to Calabassas. Most of the San Fernando Valley is actually the city of Los Angeles, regardless of what people put on their postal address.
For example, Woodland Hills is part of the city of Los Angeles.
I didn't say from the edge of Los Angeles, but from Los Angeles.
As a native when someone tells me they live in Los Angeles, that means Los Angeles, no one from San Pedro or The Valley would tell you Los Angeles.
I grew up near Long Beach, but I live in Fort Worth now, when I first moved to Fort Worth, I settled in the furthest east portion of the city near DFW airport, so I'd tell folks I lived in Euless or Irving, even though I had a Fort Worth address, because if I told them Fort Worth they think, something west of 820.
As someone who grew up in North Hollywood and lived there for 30 years, I’m not really sure how you came to your conclusion. You might tell another local you’re from Pacoima, but someone from Ohio doesn’t know what or where that is. You’d tell people in general you’re from Los Angeles. I certainly do.
Within the sprawl it’s important to share the neighborhood, lest you keep someone guessing on which of the 43 miles of Sepulveda Blvd you’re referring to.
Even Disneyland, which is very solidly in Orange County, is “in Los Angeles” to non locals. This gravitational pull lead to the silly renaming of the Angles baseball team to “Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim.” This is roughly as silly as moving the Mets to New Jersey and naming them, “The New York Mets of Hoboken.”
A lot of Los Angeles’ neighborhoods are exactly that. The names come and go with whatever planning mechanisms exist. North Hollywood was formerly “Lankershim” after the founding company and before that “Toluca.” Functionally “North Hollywood” was a marketing campaign for the area due to the rise of the completely non-bordering Hollywood. At most these neighborhoods get to form councils to promote the area. They have little authority and autonomy outside of helping grow a farmers market here and a cultural event there.
This is a definitely learned response. Growing up in northern Palm Beach County, we never described ourselves as being from Miami. It was far away! And expensive! ¡Y solo podemos hablar un poco de español! But after traveling here and there for work and giving long explanations of where I was from — "oh, [town]? Where's that?" "It's about an hour and a half north of Miami" — I just gave up. I'm from Miami. I had no choice in the matter.
And when I went to Italy, I was from Miami. "Oh, I've been there. It's very nice."
I think most people in most places scale their responses based on to whom they're speaking. I grew up about in the greater metro area of a large northeastern city. Now I live across the river from said city, technically a different city but still part of its urban core.
In both cases when describing where I live to a local I use the actual location. When talking to someone further away I default to the city name. If they then express some reason why they may know the area a bit I zoom in to my location.
> As someone who grew up in North Hollywood and lived there for 30 years, I’m not really sure how you came to your conclusion. You might tell another local you’re from Pacoima, but someone from Ohio doesn’t know what or where that is. You’d tell people in general you’re from Los Angeles. I certainly do.
Yeah, but to people within southern California, we would expect you to say you are from The Valley.
This seems opposite of the Detroit area where anyone in the Metro Detroit/Tri-County area (over 200 municipalities) will say they are from Detroit.
Maybe because every person worldwide who watched a couple of movies or series knows at least one LA neighborhood by name and zero for Detroit ;)
Where would you tell someone from Michigan where you're from?
As a native when someone tells me they live in Los Angeles, that means Los Angeles, no one from San Pedro or The Valley would tell you Los Angeles.
As a native of Los Angeles, when someone tells me Los Angeles, that means they live somewhere south of Ventura and north of San Diego. I've had other SoCal natives tell me LA when they actually live in Pasadena, or Long Beach, or Irvine, or Chino Hills, or Rancho Cucamonga, or a plethora of other cities that aren't even in LA County. LA natives don't usually start with their neighborhood unless it's contextually appropriate to the conversation, such as when talking to another LA native/local who would actually understand the geographic reference. Outside of a few well-known neighborhoods like Hollywood, non-Angelenos wouldn't know what you're talking about if you said "San Pedro" or "Boyle Heights."
On a pedantic note, "the Valley" usually refers to San Fernando Valley if you're in LA County, but is also used to refer to Santa Clarita Valley by locals there, and to San Gabriel Valley if you're east of LA in Pasadena, San Bernardino County, or Orange County. In Ventura County, "the Valley" means Simi Valley.In Riverside County, "the Valley" refers to Jurupa Valley and Moreno Valley depending on which side of the county you're in. Using "the Valley" to refer exclusively to San Fernando is a Hollywood thing and signifies that the speaker is either from San Fernando Valley (which is usually already apparent from their accent) or isn't an LA native and doesn't know any better.
As an Orange County native who spent some years living in Los Angeles, people from Long Beach, Irvine, Chino Hills, or Rancho Cucamonga saying they are from "LA" is ridiculous and shouldn't be tolerated or encouraged lol
I mean San Pedro is also part of the city of Los Angeles. LA is basically an hour away from LA.
“Everything in LA is either twenty minutes or two hours away” as the saying goes.
I moved to Atlanta pre-pandemic and I’m still amazed that some people won’t drive 15 minutes to come visit me. I live “outside the Perimeter” (we have a ring freeway) and culturally it’s as if I live in Lancaster and they’re coming from Downtown LA. Acquaintances originally from New York and Miami have noted the same thing and we all get a huge laugh out of it.
As a former LA resident: Yup.
We might put down more specific towns and cities for our street address, but geopolitically the whole damn region is Los Angeles.
I have the opposite experience - now sure, maybe to your cousin from Cedar Rapids.
If I'm taking to another Californian, I'm not gonna tell them Los Angeles, I'll tell them Long Beach, if I'm talking to a Southern Californian, then that becomes Los Alamitos.
Are you sure you're an LA native?
Los Alamitos is not in Long Beach. It's not even in the same county. It's in Orange County, and most locals would say they are from Anaheim, aka the home of the world-famous Disneyland.
Especially when you were growing up, Los Alamitos locals would not have said they were from Long Beach, since Long Beach had a huge crime problem back then nobody would have voluntarily associated themselves with that cesspool.
You’re basically just saying to locals what part of LA you’re from, but everybody knows LA is basically considered the whole county of LA (and yes, Calabasas is also part of LA County). I’ve lived in Calabasas and I always considered myself to be living in LA.
Many of Raymond Chandler’s works take place in a California before freeways and megacities. It’s interesting to read about what was then rural LA and is now just another built up urban area.
Here’s a relevant documentary about Chandler’s relationship to LA: https://youtu.be/-MYY4CxG_GQ?si=4soVWY0UOwQMUwaR
In the UK a lot of the old coach roads make for nice drives through country villages - often with lovely coaching inns on the way. Good for cycling too. I recommend the A2, the A10 and especially the A4 through Malborough and Chippenham.
Something tells me there are 100x as many cute country villages in the UK as there are in the US. Here if it's not a big city, it's a depressing shamble. The exceptions are insanely expensive retreats for the rich.
New England has many absolutely charming small towns, especially in the fall. North and South Carolina have utterly charming small beach towns, not to mention all the lovely towns along the Blue Ridge parkway. Louisana coastal towns have some of the most terrific seafood you can find in tiny little shacks that look like they might blow away.
The country is full of places like this. Sure, there is blight and both urban and rural decay, but there is also much to like.
This. When I turned eighteen my grandparents took me on an autumn driving tour of New England to visit the haunts of my favorite writers, get a real lobster roll, etc. It was so nice to see the coziness and warmth- charm was the right word for it.
Maine and Vermont are all small towns and they’re all cute
If all I'd ever seen is rednecks in pickup trucks picking up milk from the gas station, I guess I'd think it was cute.
Visit a hamlet in the UK some time, tell me what you think then.
I'll second this. Vermont was extremely charming when I drove back roads one summer. Another wonderful drive was the 1A up coastal New Hampshire, all the buildings and infrastructure were quaint and humble.
It was probably Maine (or Massachusetts). In New Hampshire we probably only have a few miles of 1A that is like this (Rye). It is basically the beach, Rye, then you hit Portsmouth and you are in Maine.
Driving along the coast in Maine would be a really long trip
I live in a small town in NH. In our part of the state it is all small towns. Western Mass is also all small towns.
You don't seem to have traveled a lot in the US.
Ya caught me. My 15 years of road trips across the US, moving across multiple states, and frequent visits to the UK have made me ill-equipped to comment on the state of US cities and villages. Dang. I thought I could get away with it too.
That is not my experience at all. There are so many small towns studded along the highways and back roads. They're perfect for a romantic getaway or a weekend trip with the family. Fun activities, active downtowns, accomodations for all budgets, etc. Truly a lovely thing.
California especially has a large number of these.
The coasts tend to have lots, e.g. New England and along California SR 1.
Freeway "culture" is SoCal is something that absolutely fascinates me.
Prefacing each freeway number with "The"
Sigalerts
short cut culture - they are like secret snow skiing powder stashes
Hollywood definitely contributed to this with shows like CHIPS and movies like "Speed" - it's interesting how life in SoCal really does revolve around freeways more than anywhere else in the United States.
> Prefacing each freeway number with "The"
SoCal had the first freeways, and they weren't numbered back then. They were named after the areas they traversed, such as "The Arroyo Seco Parkway" or "The San Diego freeway" and so on. When freeways started to get built nationwide the naming convention was changed to a numbering system, and California adopted it to go alongside the existing names (we still have the freeway names on most of our signs).
So in reality, California adding "The" to the front was always correct, every other state is just doing it wrong :)
"The" is a south-CA thing, in the SF Bay Area, it's "101" and "280" and you can spot the interloper when they say "The 5"
Correct. At my last company I was outed by a colleague as being from Southern California when I visited our office in the bay area because I told them I took "the 280." Was kind of funny because I had never thought about it before that.
Another freeway-revolving city must be Houston but for the opposite reason because they engineered a truly massive multi-ring hub and spoke setup. Getting anywhere requires it given how spread out the city is and how hot and humid/rainy it gets.