Driving in L.A.

[Subotai]

You west coast Chewers have been pretty nice with your tips on what to do in LA - but everyone I talk to, the first thing they say is "You got car, right?" I do have a cr lined up for the week of my visit, but is LA especially challenging for driving? How does it stack up against New York? Any tips as per where to drive, which freeways are better, etc.?

Se ya'll next week!

[Blofeld]

The reason you really need a car in L.A. is because going ANYWHERE is an hour.

[Blofeld]

Oh, and the one piece of "driving in L.A." advice I can give. In certain areas of town, the city planners have placed nice young ladies in very tight and very short skirts. They are there to help you if you get lost. Just pull over and ask them for assistance.

[Kronos]

Assistance, you mean.

Sorry, it's Friday...

Ask Will, he knows.

[Will]

Just do what I do. Just tell your chauffeur where you want to go and sit back and read the newpaper and have a nice coffee.

It's better than walking around on the rug and making fists with your toes.

Don't worry Kronos, I will give you all the good advice you need when you get here.

[Kronos]

Well, I know how to get from Will's house to:
NBC
Warners
Disney -both HQ and Land
Universal
Downtown Burbank
Airport
Chiba

Heh heh...where else do I need to go?

[Smilin' Jack Ruby]

The one good thing about L.A. traffic is that a lot of times, it is at a standstill. It's a proven fact that there are fewer traffic fatalities per capita in L.A. because there's so much gridlock.

And yeah, it's about an hour any which way you're driving - except early Sunday morning and if you're taking the 405 into town around 6:00 on a weekday other than Friday.

[CTDeLude]

Kronos:
Well, I know how to get from Will's house to:
NBC
Warners
Disney -both HQ and Land
Universal
Downtown Burbank
Airport
Chiba

Heh heh...where else do I need to go?Oh like that is so hard!

[Kronos]

My needs are simple...

[Will]

All I know is what is true for me and that is, "In Los Angeles, all roads lead to Ol' Will's house." They do! I've tried them all.

[Jim Pappas/Jabba]

Having driven in NYC, and in L.A., I believe I can offer a true perspective. NYC is a compact area, and has a great mass transit system. L.A. is a vast sprawl of concrete spread out over hundreds of square miles, not like NYC at all. A car is a must here, as the transit systems are mostly useless unless you don't have very far to go. On a positive note though, because we have so much pavement in this city (L.A.), parking your car isn't too much of a problem, unlike NYC.

[Carl Cunningham]

Shit, after driving around in Atlanta all my life when I first went to L.A. a few years back one of the first things that hit me was that the traffic wasn't nearly as bad as it was cracked up to be.

Well, actually it is... especially on some surface streets. But it's really no different than Atlanta on the freeways.

Oh, and guess what? During the Summer months the smog is actually much worse here in ATL than it is out there.

[Will]

I also believe the traffic and smog in LA aren't that bad, but we say they are to scare away the transplants from back east.

As far as traffic goes I think San Francisco from San Jose up to Frisco and from across the Bay is much worse. Same goes for Boston, only city I won't drive in, NYC, Houston, TX (Just get caught on the 44 one time and see what I mean) and even Seattle lately has really sucked. I think the scarest drivers are in Atlanta. They all remind me of 19 year old blonde girls that we have here in SoCal. Diving too fast, with their faces in the rear view mirrow, putting on make up and tailgating the hell out of everyone. I think California's 19 year old blonde girls teach Drivers ED in Atlanta. I swear.

I also think LA's drivers are better, for the most part and they know how to drive in heavy traffic, having had years of experience.

As to smog, both Atlanta and Denver seem worse to me.

I hope you all disagree with me and think Los Angeles is not a good place to live because its's really getting to be a bitch to drive here.