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Older articles
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 Topic: DRIVEThe new items published under this topic are as follows.
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A man from the San Fernando Valley triumphs over gridlock freeway traffic by kayaking to work in Long Beach — 52 miles downstream on the L.A. River.
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Posted by: GeoLobo
on Thursday, October 18, 2007
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Another day where hundreds of thousands of commuters this morning got stuck in another slow grind to work on the southland freeways. Again, today’s grind was much slower because, what else, another BIG RIG accident. This morning it was a double whammy, 2 big rigs on the 210 WB in Pasadena and one on the SB 5 at Roxford. Snarling 2 of the most important arteries to downtown, wasting millions of dollars in gas, lost work hours, wear and tear on vehicles and lost wages and spewing millions of tons of poisoned air for us to breath daily.
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Posted by: bdine
on Wednesday, October 03, 2007
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Starting July 2008, Californians under the age of 18 will be prohibited from using cell phones, using text messaging devices and laptop computers while driving. The cacophony of "Omigods" and unhappy face AIM emoticons is deafening. Now if we can only get the older generations to stop watching TV while driving and look behind themselves before backing up out of the driveway. To use the youth vernacular, that would be "WAY cool."
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Posted by: EdwardHeadington
on Saturday, September 15, 2007
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One of the latest flare-ups in the on-going immigration debate is the potential LAPD policy change for impounding cars of unlicensed drivers. It has been a big issue in the City of Maywood as well as parts of Fresno and other locales throughout the state--now Los Angeles is weighing in. The LA Civilian Policy Commission is expected to consider a possible moratorium on these types of impounds on September 18th. FYI - An estimated 47,000 cars a year belonging to unlicensed/suspended license drivers are impounded by the LAPD. Below is a provocative editorial in the Daily News.
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Posted by: EdwardHeadington
on Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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I’ve never texted “Your Wheels” but I’ve definitely been guility of TWD—Texting While Driving. Or more accurately, TWIAILT—Texting While Inching Along In LA Traffic—although the longer abbreviation has less cachet. Images of that scene from Office Space come to mind: Peter Gibbons is driving to work, gets caught in a traffic jam and is surpassed by an old guy on the sidewalk with a walker. What are you going to do? Make a call with your earpiece in? Turn up the gangsta rap?
Perhaps it’s a function of my not wanting to let my mind idle while sitting in traffic or my growing inability to merely sit still and adopt an “Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” type of Zen. Whatever the case, it’s a hard habit to break. But as the story below suggests, there can be fatal consequences (consider this the memo). And that could give anyone a bad case of the Mondays.
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Posted by: EdwardHeadington
on Thursday, August 02, 2007
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I arrived at the MTA's public hearing on the MTA's fare proposal to find that the meeting room was already full to capacity. A representative from the MTA announced that as long as attendants filled out a speaker form by 10am they would be alllowed to speak for one minute. By the time I filled one out, 287 people had already done so, which I thought was great. Soon thereafter the lobby of the building became full and security stopped allowing people into the building all together. I left and returned several hours later, since I figured if most of the people before me who had signed up to speak followed through it would take at least 4 hours.
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Posted by: FranciscoFrias
on Monday, May 28, 2007
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As some of you may know, the Los Angeles MTA has announced astonishing fare hikes. A day pass will increase from $3 to $5 in July and to $8 by January, 2009, and a monthly pass will go from $52 to $75 in July and to $120 in January, 2009.
Not only will these fare hikes punish poor people, the proposal presented by MTA officials works against the declared goals of our society of reducing petroleum dependence, decreasing traffic, improving air quality, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Posted by: FranciscoFrias
on Monday, May 21, 2007
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The rankings for the top 25 cities in America for “road rage” are out and Los Angeles came in a respectable (but still slightly disappointing) fourth, behind Miami, New York, and Boston.
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Thursday, April 12, 2007
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Posted by: FranciscoFrias
on Friday, March 30, 2007
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I just had a run-in with one of those "friendly" people that we all encounter from time to time-- the guy in the elevator who wants to tell you about his weekend, or the person next to you on the plane who, without warning, cheerfully says, "So, what do you do?"
I was filling up at the gas station today and this guy just starts talking to me. He gave me the old, "I just can't believe how expensive gas is," and he told me that "this place is the cheapest in town" (it's not) and he mentioned that this was the third time he'd been here today but on both previous trips, the lines were too long so he figured he'd come back.
He said he'd driven all over the place to find cheap gas and this was easily 3 cents a gallon cheaper than anywhere else.
Then I noticed he was driving a sub-compact that couldn't have more than an 8 gallon tank. And I thought, if people put a fraction of the energy into economizing car trips that they do into complaining about gas prices, they'd be much better off.
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Monday, March 26, 2007
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The Los Angeles Press Club (LAPC) holds monthly events for its members and invites people from various sectors of society to address issues of the day. Join us on March 29th, along with our co-sponsor, the Reason Foundation, for a scintillating discussion with three experts in the field. Click here for the video news advisory with Rory Johnston
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Posted by: EdwardHeadington
on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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Curbed has a really cool post about high-speed rail in California. Check it out, if only to see the You Tube video about the trains.
Bottom line, according to the video, high speed rail along existing freeway right of ways and easements can connect Sacramento and San Diego with stops in all the urban markets in between.
Two numbers jump out from the video: 220 (as in “miles per hour”! (top speed)) and 80 (as in “less than eighty minutes from San Diego to LA).
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Wednesday, March 14, 2007
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 Yesterday when I went to the gym, I had no less than two people ask me where my personal trainer was. With the 80-plus degree weather, he was playing hooky and had gone to the beach in the afternoon.
When my rush hour trip from West Hollywood to Century City took but fifteen minutes--instead of the budgeted forty--I figured that a good number of Los Angelenos had taken off to the beach themselves.
But Mickey Kaus offers another, more likely explanation--daylight savings time! When we "fall back" and lose an hour, traffic becomes horrible in Los Angeles. People whose timing runs on the "human clock" rather than the clock-clock now have extended the rush hour period, thus reducing the traffic crunch we would have experienced, say, last week.
Either way, I arrived in Century City with enough time to check out the not-so-new but still impressive food court, thanks to nature, Congress or human nature.
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Posted by: ScottSchmidt
on Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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I’m a little late to the party on this as the Times’ Bottleneck Blog spent time on this subject Friday, but County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has resurrected the idea of turning Pico Boulevard and Olympic Boulevard into one way streets.
Under the plan, which has been floated before, Pico would be one-way heading west; Olympic would be one-way heading East. This would create two four lane thoroughfares with, possibly, a dedicated bus lane. Predictably, some merchants are balking, but on its face, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched.
(Of course, never underestimate the City’s ability to get the traffic signals completely out of sync, creating massive traffic snarls.)
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Monday, March 12, 2007
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Phase I of LA’s light rail system from Downtown to the West Side is projected to be completed by 2010, at a cost of $640 million.
8.6 miles of track, with eight new stations along the way, will parallel the 10 Freeway along Exposition Boulevard and end in Culver City. Construction began last fall and updates are available at the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority.
Phase II is shaping up to be a little more controversial.
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Friday, March 09, 2007
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How much do you tip a valet parking attendant? This is one of the great confounding questions of life in L.A. that- as a reformed East Coaster-- I admit, I still haven’t quite figured out.
In the March issue of Los Angeles magazine Randy Clemens profiles William Aceituno, a valet at the Luxe Hotel in Bel Air and at the Grove. Aceituno states that, working the VIP section at the Grove where he typically handles 80-100 cars a day—more on the weekends, he can average $20 per car .
Aceituno also lets readers in on who the biggest tippers are among the celebrity set…
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Tuesday, February 27, 2007
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Posted by: ScottSchmidt
on Friday, February 23, 2007
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Even if you live in a downtown loft or a planned urban community like Playa Vista, chances are you spend time on LA Freeways, where carpool lanes create a class conflict unlike any other (with the possible exception of that humiliating curtain that they used to draw between first class and coach).
You know all about the recent decision to allow (and subsequently cap) hybrids in HOV lanes but did you know about a pilot project underway on the 22 Freeway in Orange County that could change the rules on access to the coveted diamond lanes throughout the state?
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Posted by: Ryan_Knoll
on Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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It was only a matter of time, but some good soul has finally stepped forward and launched a stripped-down, purpose-built blog devoted entirely to the widely-held belief - especially in L.A. - hell is the other driver.
L.A. Can't Drive is an anonymous blogger with a camera who puts voice to all our pent-up frustrations at L.A.'s worst speeders, tailgaters, drifters and lane-bargers - or at least the ones that he (she?) runs across.
The blogger posts photos of offending vehicles, ranks the behavior on both an "asshole meter" and an "idiocy meter" (marked amusingly with little VW microbuses), and then lets rip:
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, January 30, 2007
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 The notorious and apocryphal International Association of Armed Librarians, Mobile Assault Force took a leisurely/vigorous cruise up and down the hills of downtown, Chinatown and Elysian Park this afternoon.
About 25 riders joined IAAL-MAF'ers Will, Eric, Steve and me to tour the Victorian homes of Echo Park, the roiling streets of Chinatown and finally the rutted fire roads of Elysian Park, where you could wonder simultaneously, "Why is the water in the downtown reservoir that creepy blue?" "What are all those young men lurking around an empty trail for?" and "Who's doing bong hits at the picnic tables?"
The third IAAL-MAF invitational, the "No Surrender Monkeys" ride, was a hilly cruise, with plenty of good riders from all parts of town and walks of life. The wild array of rides really brought home the utter democracy of cycling - ranging from fixie track bikes and full-Campy Italian racers to double-sprung mountain bikes and at least one 14-inch-wheeled collapsible ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Sunday, January 28, 2007
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 Some time today, the URL GetLAMoving.com will go live - filled with vision-building brilliance from the mind of transit activist Damien Goodmon.
You may remember Goodmon as the author of the heartbreakingly impossible MTA mass transit map that dreamed not only of a completed subway to the sea, but of 10 full-service MTA subway lines bracketing every neighborhood in greater L.A., including loops of the Walley and termini in places as far-flung as Santa Fe Springs and Long Beach.
Tonight, Goodmon plans to unleash his master plan (or at least more of the site) at a meeting of the Transit Coalition at Phlippe's at 6:30 p.m.. You may want to RSVP.
Here's a bit more from Goodmon on what this is all about:
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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 If you've never done Midnight Ridazz because it's at night, too big or you just don't feel cool enough, then maybe this ride is more your style;
The formidable (and totally fictitious) bicycle gang known as IAAL-MAF invites you to join us at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Echo Park for the "No Surrender Monkeys" Invitational.
We'll be cruising up into Elysian Park and through downtown, awarding special spoke cards to the fastest 4th-Street plunge and the die-hardiest Bishop Canyon climb, and generally huddling for rib-stickin' grub afterwards at Brite Spot.
Deets after the jump ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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Quick - was the worst driver on your commute this morning - the idiot tailgating, swerving or driving with knees instead of hands so as to operate a cellphone - male or female?
Survey says men are more dangerous drivers - and die in car crashes far more often - than women.
Scientific, provable fact. Before emailing this post to someone and yelling, "SEEEE???" or charging off to argue about it with your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, son or daughter, you might want to play with the data engine that drew this conclusion ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, January 22, 2007
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 If a bike and a car collide in Los Angeles, who makes the most noise - legally speaking?
Councilman Bill Rosendahl Ed Reyes is pushing for city support of a bill that would amend the California Motor Vehicle code to "assign responsibility of any collision between vehicles and bicycles to the motorist."
Here, (thanks to Joseph for the doc) is the resolution that heaps the blame for any bike-versus-car wreck squarely on the motorist's head. The California Bike Coalition is tracking the bill itself, AB 60, which you can read here ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, January 19, 2007
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 Since I can remember, wanderlust has coursed violently through my veins. So it was an aggressively adventurous seventeen year old girl who stepped aboard the Paris Metro for the first time, with no particular place to go. As the spider’s web network of the Parisian metro spun itself to the farthest reaches of the city, I let it deliver me to the threshold of experiences that would become the fabric of my life - a particular favorite was disembarking at Montmartre at dusk, bottle of wine in hand, with a short meander up the hill to sit atop the steps of Sacré Cśur, and watch the sun set over Paris. But all of this was simply a bonus. Riding the metro was what I really wanted to do.
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Posted by: Vavine
on Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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The universe is listening. No sooner do I write about YouParkLikeAnAsshole.com than I get cause to use it. I'm headed over there to repost this in the next few minutes:
ENLARGE
We went for dim sum in Chinatown this morning with some good friends at Empress Pavilion, and parked in the restaurant's garage. As you can see, I squoze the family wagon (left) in between the scary-narrow parking lines as evenly as I could, yet still had room for us to to get out on either side because everyone else had parked sensibly, too.
While we were at brunch, the car to our right exited, and some cretin pulled his Honda in so close - I'd estimate 5 to 6 inches max - that our mirrors are overlapping.
No, he didn't hit our mirror on the way in - it looks like he actually folded back both mirrors to get past, and then unfolded them again and crawled out his passenger door.
Backing out was ... an adventure.
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Sunday, January 14, 2007
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One concept. One site. Many voices.
You have to admire the elegant simplicity of YouParkLikeAnAsshole.com.
It's a gallery site where you can view and post photos of the worst parking offenses, and a resource for anyone who has ever needed to vent over the static idiocy of a selfishly-parked car ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, January 12, 2007
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If you've followed this blog for long, you know we devote an obscene, almost foolhardy amount of time and energy to mucking about on bikes.
Sometimes, we do so with the aid and abettance of the coldblooded fictitious bike gang known as the International Association of Armed Librarians - Mobile Assault Force.
Following the success of our expeditions to the Black Dahlia corpse site and the newly-unveiled Griffith Observatory IAAL-MAF are planning a calf-punishing, hill-climbing journey on Jan. 28 to staggering views of downtown and points beyond, with the IAAL-MAF's third invitational - the "No Surrender Monkeys" ride.
Here's the invitation, penned by co-organizer Will Campbell ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, January 05, 2007
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Someone asked me today where to buy a good bike in Los Angeles.
Bike geek that I am, I have plenty of answers, but relatively limited experience.
But since you may have either Xmas cash burning a hole in your wallet next week - or a roll of holiday fat pushing your belt to the breaking point - here's a short, annotated list of good bike shops I've visited. Anyone have other recommendations?
New:
Wheel World Cyclery:
4051 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230, (310) 391-5251
Solid, dependable service. Very reasonably priced rides. When my beloved mango-colored Cannondale F-1000 got ripped off from my garage six years ago, I shopped there, and found an excellent F-700 replacement - with a gnarly Lefty fork and Hayes discs, no less - for just a bit more than what the insurance company paid me.
They redid the Sturmey-Archer rear-end on my old Schwinn cruiser for a song, and always had whatever crazy part I needed, right when I needed it. Good selection of Cannondales, Konas and a few more exotic models, as well as a wide array of kids' bikes, dual-use hybrids and studly-O.G. stretch DynoCruisers. Great shop ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, December 21, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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 It's the Christmas season, so you're probably not doing anything important at work right, now, are you?
Here's a toy/tool for anyone who's contemplated suicide in 405 gridlock, or wanted to play God of the Freeways: This Java-based traffic-jam simulator lets you explore just how badly one idiot driver or ill-timed Caltrans project can ruin the day for 100,000 commuters.
Once the applet loads, click on the "Laneclosing" button or one of the others, then move the "average density" slider up until jammage ensues. Consider - when you're playing with the simulator's numbers - that the 101/405 interchange suffers the weight of an average 530,000 vehicles per day, or more than 22,000 per hour ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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 If you must drink, don't drive. If you must drink and drive, don't drive drunk.
If you must drive drunk, don't crash. And if you must drive drunk and crash, don't crash into a police car.
A drunk smashed his car into an LAPD cruiser in Van Nuys just before dawn this morning, sending two Foothill Division officers to the hospital with (fortunately) minor injuries. The drunk? Apparently uninjured, and busted, a few moments and blocks later by another cruiser.
But during holiday party season, it's definitely best not to drink and drive at all.
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, December 14, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, December 07, 2006
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Electrum Spyder: Tesla-killer? |
If you're looking for a next-gen "green" car - or if the bloat and spectacle of the L.A. Auto Show just turns you off - you might want to check out the AltCar Expo this weekend at Santa Monica Airport.
More than 50 firms will be showing off the latest in hybrid, electric, biodiesel and alt-powered technology. The events schedule looks very promising: Among other things, there's an alt-car rally from the SM Pier to the airport, u-drive-it hydrogen fuel-cell-car demos and Left Coast Conversions' Reverend Gadget will be converting a gas-breathing Triumph from internal combustion to battery power while you watch ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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The Giugiaro Mustang meets the press. ENLARGE |
Jump to PHOTOS
Now that's more like it.
The L.A. Auto Show's new early-winter time slot has pumped it full of energy that was sorely lacking in January's pathetic exercise. All the '07s are on display, plus a healthy dose of next-gen styling concepts, complete with scissor doors, billet chrome and eye-charring kandyflake skin.
I took a quick tour and plenty of photos of the latest design-shop phantasms and I'm here to tell you, So Cal car design is in full effect, and the sex is back ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, November 30, 2006
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 Apparently there's nothing like spending half an hour coasting along Wilshire Boulevard between Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Boulevard, watching Office Space -like as senior citizens in walkers pass you on the sidewalk, to overcome the traditional fears that subways will bring "the wrong element" to town and that subway stops are for someone else, thank you very much.
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Posted by: JAmussen
on Monday, November 27, 2006
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 It's that time of year again. Time for nail-chewing, white-knuckled cab rides. Time to harangue your good-Samaritan buddy about shortcuts to LaTijera while gridlock congeals around his car. Time to take another anguished call from a grounded inbound relative and wish you'd decided to dine alone this year.
Here are a couple of excellent Web tools that may help keep your Thanksgiving trip from triggering your first aneurysm:
Flight Monitor 2.0 gives real-time flight-tracking data (and little animated airplanes!) on flights coming in and out of LAX, Van Nuys, Burbank, John Wayne, Ontario and a few others including JFK ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, November 21, 2006
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 Forget that the LADWP is burning fuel we're paying for to make a holiday display a good 30 days early, this was fun:
The LADWP lit up its Festival of Lights along Zoo Drive tonight, and closed the roads to all but bicycle traffic. The displays are old, corny, even silly (I particularly liked the animated jets landing along the strobelit "LAX" runway), and the music too damn early and old. (Feliz Navidad for the umpteenth time).
But any chilly night spent cruising blissfully through Griffith Park on two wheels among animated pin-bulb elves and cheerful, lollygagging cyclists is a good night: (More photos after the jump) ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, November 20, 2006
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Maybe it was the connection with the notorious Choppercabras Horrorcycle Gang. Maybe it was that when I phoned, the guy said he had exactly what we were looking for - a used kids mountain bike or three to check out - and cheerily invited us to come on in. Maybe it's that I had a sick childhood obsession with the L.A.-based Little Red Wagon funny car, and this guy's nifty little work-truck reminded me of it ...
But a combination of those things - coupled with our excellent experience there - prompt me to recommend Atomic Cycles if you're looking for cheap, reliable used bike and don't want to take the Bicycle Kitchen u-build-it route ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, November 20, 2006
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MORE PHOTOS ADDED
The IAAL-MAF Take Back Griffith Observatory Invitational ride made a successful - if painful - assault on the ridges leading up to the observatory tonight, joined by more than 30 gutsy guest riders.
The air was crisp, the skies clear, and the 1,000-foot climb by turns spooky, pungent, peaceful, glorious and relentlessly steep. But everyone made it to the top, and came back with cameras full of stunning views and good friends in all their ragged, spent glory. Here are a few of mine:
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, November 17, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, November 15, 2006
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 The Mayor's about to hold a press-conference to announce something that should have been doing all along: Fixing traffic-light timing at the city's worst intersections.
LADOT's Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control Center (ATSAC, which hosts these terrific traffic maps) will be tweaking lights at 35 intersections to move traffic through more smoothly - and supposedly cut wait times by 22 seconds and decrease travel time by 35%.
Operation Bottleneck (hold your snickers, please, until we see how well this works) focuses mainly on downtown, the west side and the Valley. Here are the 35 intersections involved:
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, November 09, 2006
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 It's done. Four years and $93 million later, the beloved Griffith Observatory is open and gorgeous inside and out.
The notorious fictitious bike gang IAAL-MAF is celebrating with our second invitational ride November 16, when we welcome L.A. cyclists to join us and Take Back Griffith Observatory. DATE: Thugsday, November 16
TIME: Gather at 6:30 p.m.; Ride at 7 p.m.
STARTS & ENDS: Crystal Street at Fletcher in Atwater Village (map)
HOW FAR: 15.5 miles (route) Just three caveats about the route ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, November 03, 2006
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 If you travel the 405, the 105 or anywhere within the vicinity of LAX, you may have a rotten time at the wheel starting today Saturday - and perhaps lasting through Thanksgiving weekend. God help you if you are rushing to catch a flight during that time.
The City of El Segundo has given LIve Free or Die Hard broad permission to shut down roads and boulevards surrounding the airport, including one of the main feeder roads - Imperial Highway so the producers can stage car wrecks, set off pyrotechnics and generally pepper the air with Hollywood gunfire.
Here's a general map of where the trouble started was scheduled to start this morning at 9 a.m. (according to the permits) and a complete list of all the closures that will be mucking up flight times for another, oh, three weeks or so:
UPDATE: LAObserved points out a Daily Breeze report that the fun actually begins Saturday. Unfortunately, LAWA has not bothered to update the LAX site, which still points to the Oct. 30 release ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, November 02, 2006
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 Jay Leno - who clearly has a ridiculous amount of money (or at least influence) to throw away on such things - helped design a firebreathing jet car that runs on ... wait for it ... cooking oil.
The biodiesel-powered "Eco-Jet" was slapped together by NoHo-based GM Advanced Design Studio after Leno brainstormed the idea with his lead mechanic Bernard Juchli and then paper-napkined a sketch together with Ed Welburn, GM's VP of global design.
They wrapped a 650-horsepower turbojet engine and Corvette Z-06 tranny in an aluminum and magnesium frame, skinned it with badass Kevlar and carbon fiber, and rolled it out yesterday at the SEMA car-customizing show in Vegas ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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 Ride a bike in L.A., and you risk not being taken seriously - by motorists, or the police. The former can be deadly but even if you survive, the latter can be completely infuriating.
Word comes via the IAAL-MAF internal listserv tonight (and later via Spencer at blogging.la) that the LAPD was apparently dragging its feet on investigation of a hit-and-run involving a veteran cyclist.
Jen Diamond was riding home with friends along Sunset toward Echo Park in the wee hours of Sunday morning - with lights front and rear - when a car apparently veered into her lane and hit her bike. It took the LAPD a while - and a little pressure - to wake up to the fact that this might just have been a crime worthy of investigation ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, October 31, 2006
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Oh, God, the guilt: A Hummer that turns CO2 to oxygen |
Say what you like about the L.A. Auto Show - they know how to serve up the eye candy.
Last year's Design Challenge - exploring some fevered hallucination about "the L.A. lifestyle" - tried to persuade us that Los Angeles needs rolling film festivals and CNG-powered drift cars.
This year they're bypassing the nutritional value of plain nuts and going straight for the gooey nougat center - biodegradable dune buggies, oxygen-spewing plant-mobiles and nanotech-driven aqua-pods ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, October 23, 2006
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This is his bike.
You have been warned. |
Those of us in the ruthless fictitious bike gang IAAL-MAF have long regarded co-founder and routemaster extraordinaire Will as a good friend, a doughty rider, a talented wordsmith and the one guy you'd want to have with you if it ever came down to a rumble.
He's fearless, solid and thoroughly comfortable at telling off asshole motorists in an gleefully salty fashion that the rest of us secretly envy but are too cowardly to emulate.
Whether this translates into him winning the coveted "Most Likely to Get Us All Shot" Award at the upcoming semi-annual IAAL-MAF Memorial Golden SpokeWrench Clambake-and-Pubcrawl Awards Ceremony (the "Spokies") will be entirely up to the SpokeWrench Awards Sub-Committee (that'd be the IAAL-MAF-SWASC) ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, October 20, 2006
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Junk in my trunk: Blanket, rope, bungees, balls & Frisbees |
Admit it: your car is full of crap.
Useful crap. Important crap. Cool crap. And tons of just plain crap crap: The crap you always forget to throw out, the crap you're always bringing in. The crap your passengers leave behind, and the crap you can't bear to get rid of.
So: putting aside the crap that keeps it mobile and legal (gas, oil, water, air, license, registration) what 7 things are always in your car?
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, October 06, 2006
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 Kind of a disturbing ride this morning:
I kick off from home in Silver Lake at 6 a.m. in near-pitch blackness. Quiet streets and a good headlamp make this a nice run - so far.
I cruise up Commonwealth Canyon, beneath trees hulking black against the blue-black pre-dawn glow, and follow my headlamp's dim tunnel of light.
The air smells of rosemary, sage, creosote, smog ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, October 05, 2006
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 I took a beautiful, serene ride through south L.A. last night.
The flesh-and-blood members of the notorious fictitious bike gang known as the International Association of Armed Librarians - Mobile Assault Force were joined by some great folks and good riders for this, our inaugural invitational ride in honor of Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short.
I had a great time talking with newcomers Roger, Felipe and Michael and others, and the smooth ride bode well for future invitationals. We're probably going to start scheduling more open rides for the fourth (or is it the third?) Thursday of each month. We're talking about making the next one a full-dress ride to Musso & Frank for good steaks, martinis and more old-L.A. noir vibe ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, September 29, 2006
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 Unless fuming in bumper-to-bumper traffic somehow thrills you, stay the hell away from Century Boulevard at LAX tonight, if you can.
A planned protest by the hotel workers union, labor figures and the immigrant, non-union workers they 're trying to organize - heavily publicized and almost gleefully flacked by the Times - might muss up the traffic flow just a wee bit.
The Times lede by Joe Matthews over-reaches pretty severely ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, September 28, 2006
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2 slick: MB's Recy Roadster
(ENLARGE) |
What car do Angelenos dream of? No, not the snappy next-gen drop-top Bentley, or a low-guilt hydrogen-powered Hummer or that cherried-out Hemi 'Cuda you've lusted after since first grade - but a dream car that makes sense. What pumps your heart and tweaks your head?
The upcoming L.A. Auto Show (Dec. 1-10) just announced the finalists for the Design Challenge, the annual dream-of-flying-cars competition for automakers who last year seemed to think we all needed rolling chill lounges and GPS-guided gourmet lunchwagons.
This year's challenge pushed designers to cough up "a vehicle that is environmentally aware of its global footprint," and the resulting nine finalists include "the vehicle with interchangeable, fully recyclable body coverings, another which runs on pedal power and a vehicle with algae-filled panels that transform harmful CO2 into pure oxygen" ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, September 26, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, September 25, 2006
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I'm always on the fence about vanity plates.
I dream up snarky ones in the shower YRUAPUZ, HEYI8U2, ROFLMAO, POLLUTR, 1LESBIK, NORUINS, ORACEME, I8URCAT, CHP(heart)LSD.
But then think: a) do I really want that on my car and b) why should I spend up to $70 every year for a chunk of metal that costs the DMV the same amount to make and track as a vanillified randomized plate?
COOLPL8Z.com has me jonesing again ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, September 22, 2006
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 Bill Lockyer can't have expected the big six automakers to take it lying down when he sued them for global warming this week.
They lashed back, accusing California's attorney general of "grandstanding" and pushing regulation with litigation.
Uh yeah? So? ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, September 22, 2006
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Perfect end to a strange odyssey. |
I finally got fingerprinted this morning.
No, I wasn't busted for a crime or fulfilling some kinky desire - just enjoying the end of one of the weirdest days of my life.
Thursday unspooled like the script of a bad indie Sundance reject, minus an actual plot ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, September 15, 2006
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What a villain left |
Two notes from my morning bike ride, about human nature:
Hero:
I'm clawing my way up Commonwealth Canyon, headed toward this little peak in Griffith Park at the top of Vista del Valle where you can catch your breath, look out over Los Angeles and feel glad to be awake and upright.
It's solid steep, maybe a 6% grade. I'm in granny gears - like, 1:4, spinning away.
Ahead there's a rider, pedaling faster, moving slower - in 1:2 by the look of him. I'll pass him at this pace, I figure, maybe say hello.
As I get closer, I realize he's missing his left leg ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, September 14, 2006
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 In the grand scheme of things, this is small news, but it gives me a chance to write the word "Enzo" again. Ooooh. Ennnzzzooooo.
On Friday at the Beverly Hilton, Christie's is going to auction off a Ferrari Enzo (only 399 were made and sold for $1-million-plus) at the celebugasmic "Runway for Life" event to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
Starting bid is $875,000, but hey, it still has all the original tools, manuals and hand-fitted luggage ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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 This Friday, MidnightRidazz plan to storm the Santa Monica Pier with mass bike rides launched from Culver City and L.A. City College. The rides are coordinated to hit the pier at midnight.
The organizers remind everyone to wear helmets, lights and reflectors and bring tools, spares and a cellphone and watch out for your buddies: "No rida left behind."
They also urge you to get noisy:
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Wednesday, September 06, 2006
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By Walter Moore - August 29, 2006
Why is traffic in L.A. so much worse than it was 20 years ago, and what, if anything, can we do about it?
Traffic is worse for at least three reasons: increased population density, rent control, and the "non-portability" of Proposition 13. We can fix all three problems, but only if L.A.'s middle-class taxpayers will stand up to special interests.
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Posted by: WalterMoore
on Tuesday, August 29, 2006
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 UPDATE BELOW
Proving that its lack of continuity-sense rivals even Michael Bay's, the MTA caved in to Councilman Bernie Parks' demands and agreed the new light-rail route from USC to Culver City should be called (drumroll please) ... the Expo Line. (Or not. - Ed.)
This, after an hour of debate that had Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky grousing, "I have resented the minimal amount of time I have had to spend on this, roped in to spend on this. But it is serious in one sense, it telegraphs to the community what our worldview is about how we make decisions." Of course, the board then quickly and harmoniously voted in the colored names for the other lines: the Red Line from Union Station to Wilshire/Western is rebadged "the Purple Line", the El Monte express busway will be the Silver Line and the Harbor express busway the Bronze Line.
So what color will the MTA mapmakers give the oddball Expo Line? Black. I've got this massive box of Crayolas. Anybody got a map?
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, August 25, 2006
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If you live in the Valley and drive a late-model pickup truck, beware: They're now stealing pickup truck tailgates.
From the LAPD Blog:All five of the LAPD San Fernando Valley police divisions have experienced tailgate thefts sporadically, but Mission Division has had an unusually high number in the last week. Thirty-six tailgates have been removed from trucks so far this year; nine taken between Wednesday, August 9 and Sunday, the thirteenth.
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, August 18, 2006
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Forgive my indulgence in gearheadedness here, but a couple of Autoblog items caught my eye:
First: a social-networking car geek site called Carster snapped a few photos on Ocean Boulevard of the sumptuous-looking Audi R8 coupe and immediately got told off by heavily-accented handlers who seemed to think they could drive the sex machine unmolested down a public street simply because they said so.
The cloak-and-dagger silliness surrounding new car models - spy photos, checkered bras - always cracks me up ....
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, August 08, 2006
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This is not necessarily news you can use unless you're traveling today, but it's definitely news that makes you go, "Auuughh!!!":
The instrument landing system at LAX failed this morning, forcing all landings onto one runway and effectively cutting in half the number of planes that can land there. The equipment's failure forced air traffic controllers to guide airplanes into LAX on one runway, cutting landings per hour to about 28 instead of 60 You can watch the flurry of flightslive at FlightStats.com ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, August 07, 2006
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 It was bound to happen - the state alloted 75,000 special (hideously ugly) passes that allow certain extremely efficient hybrid cars to use the carpool lanes in California, and, according to today's LA Times, they're running out.
Well, good riddance ...
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Posted by: JAmussen
on Friday, August 04, 2006
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 This should probably go without saying, because lord knows Darwin rules our roads and will sort us all out sooner or later - but just don't bike drunk.
Bad enough to drive under the influence, you might crash into something, but as for riding a bike while plastered? How the hell are you supposed to maintain your balance, let alone carry your 12-pack and open container?
A drunk bicyclist got smacked on a southeast-downtown crosswalk Thursday evening by a semi truck, wedged between its rear tires and dragged 50 feet.
He's alive - if barely (with multiple rib fractures, a major pelvic fracture, a scapular fracture, multiple abrasions and head injuries) and under arrest.
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, August 04, 2006
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 When the monthly Midnight Ridazz bicycle cruise hit an estimated 1,300 riders last month - complete with 15-minute cattle-call takeoff time, LAPD chopper "escort" and intersection after corked intersection, something snapped.
Now, some veteran Ridazz cyclists are wondering aloud in the Ridazz forums whether the sometimes brontosaurian event is - at the ripe old age of 2 - growing just too damn big to survive.
"TadpoleRider" posts some suggestions, including ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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Freeway revenge is never as sweet in real life as it is between your ears.
Get cut off, and your mind races: Flip him off? Wave a snarky Road Rage card? Dial the CHP? He's gone before you can formulate a just (and safe) punishment.
But his plate number burns in your mind's eye - and with that, you can embarrass him by reporting him to PlateWire, a bulletin-board for posting bad drivers - one that screams "lawsuit magnet" ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Monday, July 31, 2006
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That rumbling you hear is sound of Angelenos slowly waking up to their doom:
L.A.'s geography, our economy, our livelihoods are rooted in a single, inefficient, destructive, fast-obsolescing and increasingly expensive machine: the internal-combustion engine.
We always knew the end was nigh. We've just lived in the all-American state of Denial - through smog alerts, gas crises and daily gridlock - because we're stupid-in-love with our gas-chugging, space-hogging, shit-spewing cars and too cheap to build better public transit. Sure, we've built - and killed and then revived the electric car. But as Marc Haefele rightly comments, battery technology means little more than fouling our air from a different exhaust pipe while cutting down our mobility ...
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Friday, July 28, 2006
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 Already feeling its oats now that it's moved into the more powerful November slot (and away from direct competition with Detroit) the L.A. Auto Show just announced it's already lined up eight automakers who want to make world debuts.
Audi, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan and Volkswagen are promising new steel - but they coyly decline to say what models they'll introduce. Considering the anemic selection in January's show, L.A.'s new (solo!) time slot bodes well for a bigger, brawnier array of cars to drool over.
Unfortunately, their web site hasn't caught up with this news yet and is still listing debuts from the previous show, about which we posted some thoughts and a ridiculous number of photos here.
Press days are Nov. 29 and 30, and the public gets to drool from Dec. 1 to 10.
(via Autoblog)
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Posted by: Mack_Reed
on Thursday, July 27, 2006
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