Having your ability to breathe deemed less important than the right of urbanites to keep and bear obsolete green lawns does something to your self-esteem.
The freeways fascinate in the same way the crueler university social experiments of the sixties fascinate: they show us something about ourselves, though not necessarily something we want to see.
Sometimes a walk can be much more than just a walk. It can be an opportunity to see a street in a different way, with a different eye and ask questions of what, why and how.
The breakwater that separates Long Beach from the Catalina Channel was one of the great works of construction in the 1940s. Today, the City of Long Beach is moving closer to taking some of the breakwater down.
This week L.A. Letters explores the landscape, built environment, and cultural history of the San Gabriel River, with special attention focused on the southern half of the river's path.