A wart on the USA? An oozing sore that never heals?
Sure seems like it.
Let us start at the beginning. The Native Americans called it the Valley of Smokes. Like now, it had stagnant polluted air for half the year, and wildfires in the other half. The name Los Angeles was taken from a much longer name given to it by European imperialists who forced Christianity upon the native tribes at sword point, killing many. It was actually the name that the Spanish had given a pathetic little stream that had water in it for maybe two months out of the year, except for during the cycles when floods replaced fires in what is typically called "winter" in more normal places that actually have one. This wretched little stream ultimately became a wretched huge cement flood channel and part-time homeless encampment.
El Pueblo got famous because it was a good place to shoot movies. Way less rain than in New Jersey, and no Edison Patents Company to follow film crews around, smashing their cameras and/or having people arrested. Most of what the rest of the world knew about the place came from the movie shoots, where it's always sunny. Mole-Richardson will still rent out the rather iconic, and rather scary, arc lamps that created the sunshine. They use 350 amps DC current from huge generators. It's always sunny in LA when those things are turned on.
It got more famous after WWII, when people who had shipped out to the Pacific war remembered being in sunshine in the dead of winter when it was -10 where they'd come from. Suddenly everyone wanted to live here.
Anyone who was here more than a few years probably started wondering why. By my time, it was expensive, crime-ridden, hard to get around, very superficial, and generally stupefying. The people who did the best were still refugees from places that had persecuted them for being different. Here, we're all just humans, but we're also humans trapped in a shithole.
We finally shot the climax yesterday. In a summer of beach floods, fires, mass arrests, traffic carnage, looted auto parts stores, and expensive preparations for sports events that we can't afford to attend, as science types droned on about El Nino and climate change, we finally came up with three bars on the gambling machine.
A lousy driver in an oversized SUV managed to T-bone a city bus full of people, killing and/or gravely injuring many people when it all exploded in flames. This caused the usual weird scene in LA's daily carnage, when four or so very noisy TV helicopters descended on the disaster area to breathlessly report today's blood and gore from above the inevitable traffic stoppage that immobilized a half mile radius. But this time, one of them fell out of the sky.
Now, helicopters typically do not fall from the sky. They auto-rotate and make emergency landings. But this, after all, is Los Angeles. It did not auto-rotate. It hit a self-storage lot and exploded, and then we had two fires and more dead bodies.
By then, everyone else had turned on the Nooz to see the mayhem, and the talking heads had switched to mourning their own people. It felt as if what goes around had finally come around. My only other comment on the subject is that now I understand why the only time I like this place is when I'm not in it.
Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
Re: Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
Cities are like people, at some point they grow old and start breaking down (dying). Unlike people, cities can be revitalized but usually that happens as the result of a war or natural disaster. Take London for example, London was an old city in the 1800s to the early 1900s and then WWII destroyed a good portion of the city. London rebuilt itself and became a "young" city again in the 60s and now it is entering middle age.
You now more about LA so please correct me if I get anything wrong. Up until the early 1900s, LA was a sleep, small city. When the movie industry moved to LA, the city started to grow. It wasn't until WWII that the city began to really grow. The aerospace industry and TV production increased the population of LA in the 50s and 60s providing the Sunny California lifestyle which The Beach Boys made famous with their songs. This carried over into the 70s and then started to decline as more people moved into the area. Since then, overcrowding became the norm from the 80s onward causing strains on the social structure, cultural, ethnic makeup, and the ability of the city to maintain its infrastructure. Hopefully, LA can revitalize itself without having a war or natural disaster.
I can see some of the same things LA has gone through happening here in San Diego but not to the same extent as LA. San Diego needs to begin working now to avoid the same fate as LA.
You now more about LA so please correct me if I get anything wrong. Up until the early 1900s, LA was a sleep, small city. When the movie industry moved to LA, the city started to grow. It wasn't until WWII that the city began to really grow. The aerospace industry and TV production increased the population of LA in the 50s and 60s providing the Sunny California lifestyle which The Beach Boys made famous with their songs. This carried over into the 70s and then started to decline as more people moved into the area. Since then, overcrowding became the norm from the 80s onward causing strains on the social structure, cultural, ethnic makeup, and the ability of the city to maintain its infrastructure. Hopefully, LA can revitalize itself without having a war or natural disaster.
I can see some of the same things LA has gone through happening here in San Diego but not to the same extent as LA. San Diego needs to begin working now to avoid the same fate as LA.
When you vote left, you vote right.
Re: Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
I think you have the decline of LA about right. Most of my education pertains to motion picture production, so I have read an awful lot of scripts and novels about "Hollywood," and how people who didn't have to live in it thought it was paradise. There have been hundreds of books written on the subject of failed dreams, racism, marital infidelity, and rampant crime, and all that, to the point where it is something of a cliche.
My own parents moved out after WWII, like a lot of people did. They fled New York. Funny. I go to New York all the time, and for me, it feels like paradise. Grass is greener, I guess. That says something about the human condition right there.
"You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye." -- Eagles
Our neighborhood where I grew up was indeed something of an aerospace ghetto. There was a movie star or two, but most neighbors had made their pile in defense work that they couldn't talk about in detail without divulging classified information. Yes, the economy became driven more by defense spending than box office receipts, now much of that is gone too, and it seems to be in the same pickle as most of the US in the Trump Era. Indeed, it appears as if the middle class has been cleaned out by the rich kids, and something like 35% of them are fine with that.
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San Diego does seem to have something of the same problem. I don't know if Coronado will ever have a problem, but I do notice that homeless encampments have proliferated in San Diego itself near the freeways. Also the traffic seems as bad as L.A. at rush hour. At least you're on the island, not in the grunge zone.
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LA's latest 15 minutes of fame is getting more like one of those old bad novels. The driver of the SUV, one of those giant Ford ones, was going way way over the speed limit when she T-boned the bus. She has a very bad driving record and a police record too. She didn't die, so presumably she's in some jail ward somewhere since she's up on a whole list of felony charges. I believe she tested as DUI.
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They keep running the helicopter's shot that it had up during the crash. A helicopter pilot who saw it has posted that she hears a low-RPM warning, and someone saying oh f--k, and then nothing. I didn't want to know that. This is a very depressing city right now.
My own parents moved out after WWII, like a lot of people did. They fled New York. Funny. I go to New York all the time, and for me, it feels like paradise. Grass is greener, I guess. That says something about the human condition right there.
"You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye." -- Eagles
Our neighborhood where I grew up was indeed something of an aerospace ghetto. There was a movie star or two, but most neighbors had made their pile in defense work that they couldn't talk about in detail without divulging classified information. Yes, the economy became driven more by defense spending than box office receipts, now much of that is gone too, and it seems to be in the same pickle as most of the US in the Trump Era. Indeed, it appears as if the middle class has been cleaned out by the rich kids, and something like 35% of them are fine with that.
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San Diego does seem to have something of the same problem. I don't know if Coronado will ever have a problem, but I do notice that homeless encampments have proliferated in San Diego itself near the freeways. Also the traffic seems as bad as L.A. at rush hour. At least you're on the island, not in the grunge zone.
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LA's latest 15 minutes of fame is getting more like one of those old bad novels. The driver of the SUV, one of those giant Ford ones, was going way way over the speed limit when she T-boned the bus. She has a very bad driving record and a police record too. She didn't die, so presumably she's in some jail ward somewhere since she's up on a whole list of felony charges. I believe she tested as DUI.
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They keep running the helicopter's shot that it had up during the crash. A helicopter pilot who saw it has posted that she hears a low-RPM warning, and someone saying oh f--k, and then nothing. I didn't want to know that. This is a very depressing city right now.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
Re: Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
Coronado won't have that problem because all we have are small businesses and no real manufacturing. Also, Coronado is more expensive to live in than San Diego. As for a homeless problem, Coronado doesn't really have one. The city has an agreement with San Diego where homeless people are taken to San Diego for services.
Our biggest problems are housing and sewage from Tijuana. The state told our city we need to have over 1,000 new units but with the Navy and city property like parks, it's 95% built out. There's nowhere to go but up and that's limited because the city has a height limit so the can fly into and out of North Island Naval Air Station.
The sewage problem is Tijuana's sewage lines are old and break or their treatment plant breaks down because it's old and overtaxed causing sewage to be dumped in the the Tijuana river and into the ocean. The current carries the sewage northward into Imperial Beach and Coronado. For most of the past year, the beaches of Imperial Beach have been closed and Coronado's beaches have been closed for most of the year. Talk about impacting tourism!
Traffic in Coronado and San Diego has gotten worse. Coronado sees almost 100,000 trips over the bridge. North Island handles a lot of that traffic but traffic still backs up on 3rd St. in the morning and 4th St. in the afternoon. Rush hour in San Diego is heave in the morning and afternoon along the I-5 around the downtown area.
Yeah, we're having our problems but we're nowhere near the level LA has.
Our biggest problems are housing and sewage from Tijuana. The state told our city we need to have over 1,000 new units but with the Navy and city property like parks, it's 95% built out. There's nowhere to go but up and that's limited because the city has a height limit so the can fly into and out of North Island Naval Air Station.
The sewage problem is Tijuana's sewage lines are old and break or their treatment plant breaks down because it's old and overtaxed causing sewage to be dumped in the the Tijuana river and into the ocean. The current carries the sewage northward into Imperial Beach and Coronado. For most of the past year, the beaches of Imperial Beach have been closed and Coronado's beaches have been closed for most of the year. Talk about impacting tourism!
Traffic in Coronado and San Diego has gotten worse. Coronado sees almost 100,000 trips over the bridge. North Island handles a lot of that traffic but traffic still backs up on 3rd St. in the morning and 4th St. in the afternoon. Rush hour in San Diego is heave in the morning and afternoon along the I-5 around the downtown area.
Yeah, we're having our problems but we're nowhere near the level LA has.
When you vote left, you vote right.
Re: Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
No, not even close. Until people start planning street takeovers online, staging donut-spinning in intersections, while everyone else loots the nearest car parts shop while the cops are distracted, you've got LA beat for sure.
It's been quite the summer here, between El Nino and the crime issues.
I know about the sewage problem. We get that too in floods, like the one they're predicting if we indeed feel the full wrath of El Nino. It doesn't come from another country, but it's just as poisonous. Yes, they close the beaches on a regular basis.
It's been quite the summer here, between El Nino and the crime issues.
I know about the sewage problem. We get that too in floods, like the one they're predicting if we indeed feel the full wrath of El Nino. It doesn't come from another country, but it's just as poisonous. Yes, they close the beaches on a regular basis.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
Re: Is Los Angeles a pathogenic focus?
The real irony is that a narrow majority of the American people willingly voted themselves into a state of oligarchy. They actually thought that a rapacious cadre of money-grabbing billionaires would lead them out of the same sorry situation that had been created by money-grabbing billionaires. Careful what you wish for.
Now, a minority is still just fine with that. The majority is not, but they can't do anything about it. Like the dead chopper pilot and the reporter, we lost power, crashed, and burned. Never have we more badly needed new ideas -- anything.
History goes around. The hard part is when you're getting older waiting for any kind of evidence of changing times.
Now, a minority is still just fine with that. The majority is not, but they can't do anything about it. Like the dead chopper pilot and the reporter, we lost power, crashed, and burned. Never have we more badly needed new ideas -- anything.
History goes around. The hard part is when you're getting older waiting for any kind of evidence of changing times.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22