COLLEGIAN TIMES
CAR CULTURE
31
2021 SPRING-SUMMER
IT’S STILL TRUE? NOBODY WALKS IN L.A.
Flash: Rapper and TV personality Xzibit’s immaculate 1957 Chevy Bel Air sits on display at Mels Diner Drive-in. It is part of the Rider Gang Lifestyle car meet.
BY LOUIS WHITE PHOTOS BY LOUIS WHITE
P
erhaps it is the weather, which is virtually some variant of clear summer days all year long. City blocks, lined by almost 100-yearold palm trees. To the north, majestic mountains and to the west, the call of the Pacific Ocean. Postcards and movies make highlights of the endless summer lifestyle of Pacific Coast Highway, which includes the canyons of Topanga and Laurel. The breezy charm of Mulholland Drive. Unlike Detroit, “the Motor City,” there are no salt, snow or major rust problems. As the rapper Ice Cube says, it’s a good day when you can drive a drop-top just about any time of year. “Ventura Boulevard!” Randy Newman sings in a refrain from his iconic song “I Love L.A.” Newman also refers to Imperial Highway, and let’s not forget Whittier and Crenshaw Boulevards. There’s not much to sing about on the flipside of that tune. Los Angeles is an over-populated mess of freeway arteries clogged with drivers trapped in their cars, morning, noon and night, like LACC sociology major Johanna Avalos. She avoids traffic early mornings on her way to work in the comfort of her 2018 Kia Sorrento. But when it’s time to come home, there’s gridlock. So, she can sit behind the wheel and dream of missing the traffic in her favorite muscle car – the Bumble Bee – the yellow Chevy Camaro made famous in the “Transformers” film franchise. Or she could think about her dream of escape to Bora Bora one day. “There’s nothing you can really do about it, but just sit there and deal with it, and it does get frustrating, especially if you’re tired coming off of work and then having to look for parking which is also a nightmare,” Avalos said.
