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Can you give some examples of this pre 1950s los angeles that you wish you lived in? I'm trying to find photos or accounts, but most of them seem to be people

Can you give some examples of this pre 1950s los angeles that you wish you lived in? I'm trying to find photos or accounts, but most of them seem to be people talking about or showing off how happy they are about having their own cars. Los Angeles has busses that go absolutely everywhere, and even has a subway system, and yet people happily pay tens of thousands of dollars to own their own car so that they can go wherever they want. I've never heard of somebody intentionally selling their car to take public transportation instead, certainly not in an American city. People take public transportation because they can't afford a car.

KittenInABox 3y ago
A friend of mine who lives in los angeles made a sad laugh when I complained "ugh, my subways are 12 mins apart". So I suspect public transport in los angeles forces people into cars because the other options suck.
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  So there is some non existent idealized theoretical public transportation system you are imagining that is better than having my own transportation system that takes me wherever i want whenever i want and with whoever i want?
  - KittenInABox 3y ago
    Yeah, actually. I want to be able to read, study, catch up on work, get wasted with friends, nap, and not worry about insurance, parking, or killing anyone. All for cheaper than gas, repairs, tires, etc.
    - thepasswordis 3y ago
      Yes that sounds great. Maybe each of us could have our own dedicated self driving waymo? As it exists now, however: public transportation is terrible, and having a personal vehicle to take you where you want safely is universally preferable.
      - sanderjd 3y ago
        I didn't want to make assumptions, but as I've read more of your comments, I've found it increasingly implausible that you have ever traveled outside the US. If that's right, you really should do that sometime! It is useful to have a broader perspective on how the world lives.
        thepasswordis 3y ago
        Hey man if you wanna compare passports let’s go for it! In the meantime: google image search photos of some of the Indian commuter trains I’ve ridden on and ask yourself why everybody with even a tiny bit of money hired a private driver. Your comment about “broader perspective” is insulting, and I guarantee you that my perspective is quite a bit broader than “traveled to some glorified Disney land parks in Western Europe.”
        BytesAndGears 3y ago
        These things that you call Disney land parks, are where I’ve been living for the last year. It’s not Disneyland at all, though, since there is a bustling and productive economy (that I work in), even in the cities with minimal tourism. Actually some of the nicest walkable neighborhoods that I’ve visited since moving here, I was the only tourist that I saw. If you’re genuinely curious, I’d love to give you more information about my city (as an American that moved to Europe). Let me know. But I have 5 grocery stores within a quarter mile of my home, I take public transit and bike for all of my daily errands, and haven’t driven a car once since moving here. I see my friends whenever I want, often by either walking or taking transit depending on distance. Just last weekend, I took a train to another city to buy a new racing bike, and took the train most of the way home before riding it the last mile or two. It was easy, and I went all the way to a neighboring town to shop for it (since they had a model that I wanted to try). You can minimize it by calling it a glorified Disneyland park, but then you’re basically just skipping over the hundreds of millions of people who work non-tourism jobs (engineering, law, business, farming, medicine) and live within these generally well designed places.
        sanderjd 3y ago
  - tyg13 3y ago
    Just because you haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist; in much of the world outside of America, public transport is not unpopular. And your own transportation system is vastly inefficient in the task of getting you and thousands of other people where they need to go. In a world where people's destinations are wildly divergent and travellers are few, cars make more sense. But when you see a clogged interstate filled with cars all mostly going to the same or similar destinations, whose occupants could easily fit into a couple of buses, you start to see the logic behind public transportation.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
> Can you give some examples of this pre 1950s los angeles that you wish you lived in? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway

KittenInABox 3y ago

A friend of mine who lives in los angeles made a sad laugh when I complained "ugh, my subways are 12 mins apart". So I suspect public transport in los angeles forces people into cars because the other options suck.

thepasswordis 3y ago
So there is some non existent idealized theoretical public transportation system you are imagining that is better than having my own transportation system that takes me wherever i want whenever i want and with whoever i want?
- KittenInABox 3y ago
  Yeah, actually. I want to be able to read, study, catch up on work, get wasted with friends, nap, and not worry about insurance, parking, or killing anyone. All for cheaper than gas, repairs, tires, etc.
  - thepasswordis 3y ago
    Yes that sounds great. Maybe each of us could have our own dedicated self driving waymo? As it exists now, however: public transportation is terrible, and having a personal vehicle to take you where you want safely is universally preferable.
    - sanderjd 3y ago
      I didn't want to make assumptions, but as I've read more of your comments, I've found it increasingly implausible that you have ever traveled outside the US. If that's right, you really should do that sometime! It is useful to have a broader perspective on how the world lives.
      - thepasswordis 3y ago
        Hey man if you wanna compare passports let’s go for it! In the meantime: google image search photos of some of the Indian commuter trains I’ve ridden on and ask yourself why everybody with even a tiny bit of money hired a private driver. Your comment about “broader perspective” is insulting, and I guarantee you that my perspective is quite a bit broader than “traveled to some glorified Disney land parks in Western Europe.”
        BytesAndGears 3y ago
        These things that you call Disney land parks, are where I’ve been living for the last year. It’s not Disneyland at all, though, since there is a bustling and productive economy (that I work in), even in the cities with minimal tourism. Actually some of the nicest walkable neighborhoods that I’ve visited since moving here, I was the only tourist that I saw. If you’re genuinely curious, I’d love to give you more information about my city (as an American that moved to Europe). Let me know. But I have 5 grocery stores within a quarter mile of my home, I take public transit and bike for all of my daily errands, and haven’t driven a car once since moving here. I see my friends whenever I want, often by either walking or taking transit depending on distance. Just last weekend, I took a train to another city to buy a new racing bike, and took the train most of the way home before riding it the last mile or two. It was easy, and I went all the way to a neighboring town to shop for it (since they had a model that I wanted to try). You can minimize it by calling it a glorified Disneyland park, but then you’re basically just skipping over the hundreds of millions of people who work non-tourism jobs (engineering, law, business, farming, medicine) and live within these generally well designed places.
        sanderjd 3y ago
- tyg13 3y ago
  Just because you haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist; in much of the world outside of America, public transport is not unpopular. And your own transportation system is vastly inefficient in the task of getting you and thousands of other people where they need to go. In a world where people's destinations are wildly divergent and travellers are few, cars make more sense. But when you see a clogged interstate filled with cars all mostly going to the same or similar destinations, whose occupants could easily fit into a couple of buses, you start to see the logic behind public transportation.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

> Can you give some examples of this pre 1950s los angeles that you wish you lived in? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway