Need Advice From Those In West Hollywood

[Garawr]

Man. I remember taking the bus every day to class before I got a car. It was 10 miles to school, took an hour and 15 minutes to get there, same on the way back. Ridiculous.

 

[belamy]

That was supposed to mean that with a personality like your's, you probably go through a lot of friends who don't charge by the hour, so a big city with lots of people who haven't even heard of you would be a good place to live.

Geez, next time I'll just convey my jokes in interpretive dance or something.

Well, you have to admit that it was not such a wild interpretation to believe that you had meant that, since other JUBbers I knew seemed to have "deserted" me, I was writing to you only not to be alone

 

[Yooper]

Once upon a time, Los Angeles HAD a pretty decent transit system:

This map is from 1925.

 

[TX-Beau]

I managed to live in Weho and drive very little. My car was in the garage for months at a time, but that was definitely a lifestyle choice thing. I deliberately chose a place close to the office and paid the premium for it – and yes that was expensive, one of the reasons I left was because I can afford a frikin’ palace here compared to what I was paying there.

Plus I ate out, a lot, really a lot, used delivery services like L.A. Bite, pinkdot, my building had washers etc. – in short, I didn’t do much that required driving; and yes I did walk a lot, you can do it if you’re committed and not pretentious, but still you’re going to find yourself using cabs, and yes you can find them, when the bars start closing they swarm on Santa Monica, or you can just call one, the hassle of a cab I’ve found out has one major advantage over the hassle of parking, you can drink what you please. Plus since I was only going a few blocks, usually it wasn’t expensive. Cabs would get real expensive real quick if you live in Silverlake, or Los Feliz or somewhere similar.

Forget the bus – unless you’re a masochist.

The Subway – in all the years I lived there I never once got on the subway, I didn’t even know it existed for the first couple of years. That pretty much sums up its usefulness.

Weho is definitely a Pro/Con situation. I can be a lot of fun, and a huge hassle. There are the scenesters, but there are a lot of other people there too. Mostly I found that the people who actually lived in the area were OK, and it was the people who drove in on the weekends who had attitude.

 

[Joshua_me]

Oddly enough, if you watch "Roger Rabbit" there's a scene where they talk about how great the public transit system was.

Of course at the time the movie is set, there was still a trolley car system and Hollywood ended at the Hollywood Hills. LA really is a city that, because of the great marketing of a desirable place to live, grew way too fast to be planned very well.

They're trying to catch up and yes... there's high-speed rail systems planned that are in the early stages of being built. It's going to take decades before LA is easy to get around without a car of your own.

And of course, GM and Ford masterminded the demise of said transportation, in order to sell more cars.

"Roger Rabbit" alludes to that subtly, but it's not a 'hit you over the head' message, or anything.

 

[Mattzrider]

OMFG, LA has a subway? Really? No way!