Went to USC for college and spent a year living in K-Town. Shared a car for half of that with my partner and it was completely miserable-long commutes, horrible parking, etc-but it felt like "just the way it has to be". But then my car got totalled by a truck and I couldn't afford a new one so we switched to taking the bus, and it was life-changing! Yeah it meant taking two buses and spending 45 minutes each way, plus up to 45 minutes waiting for late buses stuck in the horrible traffic, but it felt so FREEING compared to driving! I could sit back and listen to music and watch the city out the windows. I met a ton of people who I would have never spoken to otherwise, and even with being basically the only white girl on the bus nothing bad ever happened, despite the occasional odd person. It truly made me love LA in a way that driving around never did. Also, a couple years after graduating they completed the metro line connecting Wilshire to USC. It would have been so perfect if it'd been there when I was in college. Love your tool analogy and comparison of the various places you've lived. Really excellent content!
Now imagine if LA actually respected you and both made the buses frequent and gave them their own lanes - no more of those 45 minute waits! I'm glad you had a good experience on the bus, and I hope we can make those experiences even better!
And don't forget: Los Angeles has some of the best climate in the entire country/world. Despite frigid winters and sticky humid summers, many of the cities in the Northeast + Chicago have a much higher proportion of people walking and biking than in LA. It's a shame such good weather is wasted on a cars-first transportation system.
@@alcien5258 My neigborhood only has liquor stores and mcdonalds and the point is to not have a car (This is East LA) Ig there are some cool places to walk to but its pretty bad
Yep. I live in Chicago and would move to Los Angeles if rent was more affordable and I could safely get around by bike. Chicago isn’t perfect by bike but if you choose the right neighborhood, it’s not bad. I’m a ten minute walk from a 24 hour train line and numerous bus lines. I typically end up biking to the train station and it’s maybe 5 minutes if you include the light to cross a major road and the time it takes to lock my bike up.
THIS, I`m from Mexicali, its basically Arizona weather so no walking for you. But I love walking! and now that the weather is perfect for a walk there`s no third place to walk to unless I'm willing to walk more than an hour!
There are some people that call that "adult transportation." I saw that someplace else -not on this thread. I've never been able to figure out why some of these people are so attached to driving slow on the freeway that they fight efforts to put in public transportation tooth and nail.
@@cvhashim crazy thing is gentrification has completely changed the demographic of some of those places lol. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face
@Doug Goodall i think it all boils down to property values. If even liberal communities have this problem and have fought tooth and nail against both affordable housing and alternative public transportation, that's the only reason I can see justified. For affordable housing, I think even the most liberal folks have a fear of the perception of poor people. This is all just theory but I think they'd want to do well by less affluent folk but generations of propaganda of poor people bringing crime and what the could do to their area (and their property value) causes them to get defensive when projects like that spring up. Or it could be straight up classism. I think the problem with public transportation is people don't want to live near or have it near due to the bad public perception public transportation has. In America it's considered slow, badly managed, used mainly as a last resort, and just undesirable when compared to personal transportation. There might also be a perception that mentally ill homeless mainly use public transportation but that might be both my judgemental ass and America's shitty mental healthcare. Let's also not forget how much scrutiny (much hypocritically coming from big oil PACs) alternative transportation gets when accounting for cost when highway and road maintenance is expensive as fuck too. Both of these service are still worth pursuing but it's an uphill battle to change how people see the services. There's a lot of infrastructure stuff America has to change on top of all this. It's not impossible but the likelihood of anything getting better is slim in this "homeless person with a Gucci bag" backwards ass country.
As a Los Angeles resident who's lost two cars to overnight hit and runs here and loves getting around without a car, great video. I hope we get more people friendly streets and more transit options. Subscribed.
@@qjtvaddict You say that like light trains and trams are somehow a burden to city finances. More roads and asphalt are just a constant money sink for a city, and meanwhile, my city of 250k people has been spending about 300 million € building a tram line. incredibly expensive at first, sure, but it replaces chronically late and overfilled bus lines, and given they're starting to hit 40k trips *a day*, even with a fairly modest cost per trip, that's still 70-100k € a day. there is no world where that's not enough capacity for just 10 miles of tram track nor enough revenue to easily cover the operating costs.
As an italian, I used to watch American teenager movies when I was a teen. I remember that I find it quite weird how everyone was hanging out at each other's house. In my town we have many "third place" where you can meet up with your friends. Why would you go to somebody's house? It's kinda like violating their privacy.
American cities have too much crime to hang out at the "third space." If you stand around long enough in an American urban core you will eventually be be assaulted, robbed, or possibly even murdered. There is a reason most Americans fled the cities and moved into the suburbs. It has to do with crime, the cities just aren't safe. American cities are full of homeless, criminals, and gang violence especially the working class neighborhoods. Decent people don't want to live there so they move into the suburbs and avoid third places. European and Asian cities don't have to deal with the out of control crime issue America has.
For me, living in Poland, visiting in each other houses isn't anything strange. We hang out both in third places but during, especially winter. We prefer to visit ourselves in our houses. Nobody sees it as a violating privacy. We are very pro-guests and hospitable nation, maybe that's why. And for example restaurant's and cafe are not so cheap. The avarave Pole has to work around 1-2h to have a dinner at restaurant.
@@Novusod most violent crime is domestic, and the types of crime you're referring to are mostly contained within those disadvantaged populations and urbanizing actually does a lot to solve those issues, which is why disadvantaged people live in urban areas - it's the only place they can survive. The concept of "eyes on the street" also does a lot to diffuse the rare random violent crime. Harder to kidnap a kid in a tight knit neighborhood with engaged people hanging out than it is in a desolate suburb where everyone is isolated in their cars, homes and big box stores - unless the kids are also isolated from society
@@Novusod looks like you watched too much TV. Cities aren't that crime ridden nowadays, but that is what gets shown in the news because that is what appeals to viewers.
I'm a land use attorney in LA, we're taking huge steps to change many of the problems you listed. A new California law just prohibited parking minimums for developments within half a mile of a transit stop. We also have a number of laws that encourage high density development along transit lines. LA is also aggressively rezoning near transit to encourage higher density development along those lines. These are just a few examples of the arsenal of tools we have to build change. This will take time though. It takes years to build a single building, even decades for a new metro line. This change is coming though.
I'm a Los Angeles native myself, born in Inglewood and raised in Compton and I would love to assist with future videos if possible. I really appreciate what you're doing because I've been saying for YEARS that the conversations around Los Angeles culturally, socioeconomically, etc. has been taken over by non-native people who don't have the context or proper understanding of this place. The majority of videos will focus on the famous landmarks and everything above the 10 freeway not realizing the majority of Angelenos can't afford to live in those areas and therefore must live further south towards my area, east toward the IE, or north toward the Valley. Nobody talks about how deeply segregated Los Angeles still is along racial, ethnic, and class lines and how that historically plays into the urban planning and infrastructure at the city and county level.
@@gumerzambrano I escaped LA due to the massive overcrowding and the high crime. Totally agree with the segregation along racial lines. No one wants to live with anyone else. Chinese, Japanese, black, mexican, .... whatever. What really sucks is all these people escaped from terrible cultures but refuse to assimilate into a successful culture. They brought all their problems with them and refuse to change. The original immigrants were successful because they were able to discard their failed culture, now we have 'diversity'.
Fellow UCSD alumnus here. Thanks for making this video. Comments on the trolley extension: great modern electric train that was badly needed, but doesn’t go far enough (metaphorically and literally). It should have also connected UCSD to Sorrento Valley station so north county residents could take transit to UCSD. Additional comments: CA has its head completely up its a$$. I had the thought the other day that had the car never been invented, southern CA could’ve been one of the best places in the world to live. Imagine NYC with California weather. What a waste.
Sounds like a dream! I love the vibe of NYC but hate the weather, rain, snow, and humid summers. Wish Los Angeles was more walkable and had 24/7 transit in residential neighborhoods like the Valley.
I grew up in south central LA my whole life and recently got into urban planning and fighting car centric design. It feels like this channel was made for me. I look forward to what you have in store!
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
To be fair I don’t think the problems are the suburbs themselves. I can understand wanting to live in a quiet and calm neighbourhood in a big house. I think one of the main problems however is that suburbs are almost always zoned for housing only- that means it’ll take you ages to get anywhere. Here where I live in Germany I can get almost anywhere within 15 minutes while only living in a smaller town. Even if I want to go to a place that my town doesn’t offer I can just take the train to the next biggest city and still be faster than by car
I live in Los Angeles (SFValey) and I can't tell you the amount of festivals, shows, events etc. that I couldn't go to cause I was worried about the "parking situation" so I just stayed home to avoid the hassle.
i moved to chicago and ditched the car after 20 years of growing up in the suburbs and socializing through online games. imagine being 23 and working on social skills that i never had the opportunity to devevlop living dependent on the busy schedule of my parents 😂
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
I've been doing this exact thing as well. Moved to Seattle (or at least within reach of its public transit system) and it's been amazing. I only really drive my car when I need to get somewhere far away. It's so much better on my mental health to walk around downtown and actually interact with the city rather than looking at it through a window. There's a flea market coming up that I'm going to go to and I would never have even known it existed if I'd been driving myself around
man all these new urbanist channels have me wanting to start one myself. also excuse me if this comes off weird but it’s so cool to see a brown urbanist content creator 😭 before this i only had mrbarricade to look up to. i come from a similar background to you (grew up in bakersfield, just north of LA) and going to college and living in a walkable community with decent public transportation definitely radicalized me further. currently studying civil engineering at berkeley and my goal is to help put an end to car centric infrastructure :)
we do need more poc voices regarding transit/walkable cities, as they are actually the ones who rely on it the most in America. White people dominating the convo can sometimes steer towards more gentrification and ignore some of the more unsavory underlying issues. Frank Laundry did a great video regarding the racist nature of suburban development from a black perspective called "The USA Will Never Build Walkable Cities"
@@GaigeGrosskreutzGunClub The racist is speaking. Everyone listen up. cause EnthusasticsRock wants fewer white people, cause yeah; that's popular right now
The video creator is a yuppie. and his skin color doesn't matter. Yuppie: noun a young upwardly mobile professional individual; a well-paid middle-class professional who works in a city and has a luxurious life style
I think I live in one of the only areas of LA that is not horrible without a car - Koreatown. I can walk to several grocery stores and shops, incredible restaurants, and music venues easily. And the Wilshire Vermont station is one of the only useful metro stops, allowing you to reach Downtown and Hollywood. Busses go down wilshire to Beverly Hills, and with a bit more time, you an also get to Santa Monica and Long Beach by bus or train. Still, Biking is difficult, especially since mine got stolen pretty quickly, and leaving these areas is a huge pain. The only meaningful change I've seen to the metro in the last 5 years is making the line labels more confusing by changing to letters. Interested to see where this series goes!
@@simquinoa2030 yeah it’s terrible. luckily my building has parking. But going anywhere in the neighborhood is usually faster and easier without taking the car.
Phenomenal video. I think another thing to add to this discussion is the homelessness problem in LA. I live in Downtown LA and last Friday I left to see a play in Hollywood. I have a car but there is a phenomenal metro line that connects DTLA and Hollywood. I preferred to take the metro for these reasons: (1) avoid the parking problem, (2) sustainability, and (3) avoid traffic. The problem is, a homeless person assaulted me on the subway! It was a completely random attack, I was minding my own business and the homeless person was attacking people in the train indiscriminately. After attacking some people, she started attacking me. Instead of fighting back I tried to run away but the train is a confined space so it was difficult to run away from her! Luckily, I was able to get out at the next stop without any injuries to my body. Now, I am incentivized to drive next time I go to Hollywood instead of take the train. This is just sad. I despise cars but no one will assault me in my car. LA needs to do something DRASTIC regarding the homeless problem.
Hate to be that guy, but the reason she was able to go on a rampage is because nobody, including you, fought back. Crackheads are brazen in their attacks because they know people will run away instead of responding. Nobody’s going to come and save you, so expecting someone to swoop in and protect you is unrealistic.
Like build housing and rehabilitate them so they don't have to live on the street and so they can have a CHANCE to move up in the world? Oh wait no one will let them...
I'm born and raised in Los Angeles and didn't own or know how to drive a car until I was 20. I also worked and went to school 6 days a week and was not one of the kids you mentioned who had their parents driving them around. I had to find my own way around by walking and public transport... and it was absolutely awesome. Looking back, I don't think I could live like that now, the hour long bus rides to places that should be 15 min away, the 35 min walks from metro stations, the hopping fences to get into parking lots to get to store entrances. At the same time however, I had some of the best experiences on foot, lots of random spontaneous fun, I felt like I was able to take in the city differently than I do now driving everywhere. I miss it, but I don't.... only because the infrastructure is not practical. Thanks for the video!
If you feel that way getting around LA on foot, you'll lose your MIND if you ever get the chance to try out living in a city with more concentrated density/public transit!
I think there should be a suburb/urban house swap show where people experience firsthand the difference it makes doing errands and existing in a walkable, human scale environment versus suburban. Very powerful to show all the places you frequented in each city you’ve lived.
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
@@MisterHeroman the suburbs are certainly not all the same and older towns built before car-centric zoning are usually really quaint and walkable. But many areas in the US have regulations outlawing mixed use plots making housing separate from businesses. And furthermore commercial zoning often requires parking spot minimums creating “deserts” of asphalt not fit for a pedestrian to pleasantly traverse to get to their destinations. It discourages walking and promotes car transit.
@@MisterHeroman you've responded to multiple comments with this exact phrasing, which is funny but also highlights why a show like OP describes would honestly be so helpful! Only people who have never lived in a walkable city before would think this way.
@@AssBlassterIt likely wouldn’t be that far away if you were in a walkable neighborhood, and you wouldn’t need to buy a car’s trunk load of groceries every time. Plus you can carry groceries in a bike basket.
I live in la and i hate it. Im trying to find my purpose but its incredibly hard and everything is so far away, so im thankful i found this video, really eye opening!
Brilliant video! I also was thinking of getting starting creating LA urbanist, transit videos! I actually am working on the LA Metro Purple Line Subway Extension to UCLA and this inspires me to make a video about the history of it!
I appreciate what you do! I think there is huge latent demand for the Purple Line extension. Tens of thousands of UCLA students and workers will ride it regularly.
@@mariusfacktor3597 Oh my goodness, the university and hospital are humongous trip generators, so it will be exciting to see this subway act as a new way to link people to places!
Thank you for your work! I remember taking the Wilshire bus as a kid to my summer job and wishing there was a subway. Extending the rail to UCLA is a game changer with so many employment, education, health care and opportunities available on the Wilshire corridor!
As a Dutch guy who is passing through LA for a few days.... I 1000% agree. Even getting food from 2 blocks away is a major pain in the ass due to slow pedestrian lights and still having to look out for cars going right during red lights etc.
Growing uo in an American suburb seems like growing up in a very clever prison. There are no fences, but even if you escape, there is nowhere to run. Until you have a car, you'r an inmate.
YOOO this channel is getting me hyped! LOVE this sort of content and LOVE that it's focused on LA. LA's car dependency is a huge mess. Everyone has to drive everywhere and since cars block each other it takes a really long time to get anywhere. There should be a NETWORK of protected bike lanes and pedestrianized streets and bus lanes. This would IMPROVE traffic for those that need or want to drive and make it several times faster for those that don't. And it would cost the tax payers LESS money because car infra is really really really expensive. They just spent $1 BILLION expanding the 405 and studies show it made traffic worse. There is literally no reason to not fix the other modes of transit.
THANK YOU. I don’t like how all the cars impact our social lives either. We get out of work and we’re too tired to bother to go anywhere cause we can see all the red on the map to get anywhere. Then, once we DO get there, parking can be a hassle. 40 min to go 6 miles is just insane.
Just came here from your Reddit post. This is a really well made first go of things. Great analogies and good story transitions. Looking forward to the continuation of this series. Great video
I spent 50 years in Southern California, in and around LA. 3 1/2 of those years were in Lancaster -- my first apartment after moving out on my own, because rent was so cheap there in the early '90s. And for good reason: it's fricking Lancaster. My first of many trips to Europe was in 2001, and it was the same transportation eye-opener for me. Actually, I think the first thing I found puzzling was "where are all the strip malls and parking lots?!"
This is a great video and I'm excited to see what else you do! I'm trying to live car-light in LA and it's pretty easy to do within my neighborhood. I live close enough to work to ride my bike and I can walk to grocery stores, parks, the beach, etc. But if I want to get to other parts of LA, I pretty much need a car. My family lives in Burbank and the only ways to get there is either a car ride in soul-crushing traffic or a convoluted transit journey that takes 3-4 times as long as driving. When my grandfather was growing up here he used to take the red car everywhere. It's heartbreaking to think about how that whole system was destroyed to make room for freeways instead of improving it to make it more efficient. It's also heartbreaking to see so many people living on the street when we are surrounded by giant parking lots that are empty most of the time. I want to see this city do better, but I'm losing hope that it's going to happen in my lifetime. The proposed green line extension from Redondo to Torrance (4.5 miles) is projected to cost over a billion dollars and take 10 years to complete. This is a glacial pace especially considering that the proposed route is on an already existing railroad right of way. With a looming climate crisis, we don't have time for desperately needed infrastructure projects to take this long.
The red cars were not actually good. They were slow, had very harsh rides, and, especially in the end when they were losing tons of money, unreliable. Most passengers at the time considered the bus lines that replaced them to be an upgrade. But it makes for a good story, even if it's not really true.
Totally relate to this. That green line extension would be so useful to me as someone who has to commute to Inglewood every day. Sometimes I wanna move somewhere less car centric for mental health's sake but I've got a decent job that I don't wanna lose. I just hope that more and more people are being put on to this and hopefully more of us can demand our local government leaders to do better.
I like how you emphasized that greater density does not necessarily mean skyscrapers and high-rises. It’s possible to still have a quiet, medium-density neighborhood.
This is a great video and I wish you success in contributing to the new urbanism wave on YT which will hopefully transfer some momentum to the real world. Your sledgehammer metaphor framing is terrific, but I think your brief illustration of how diverse options are within the city at 7:30 is a point that suburban advocates need to realize the most. Dense residential areas, even ones with more mixed use areas can be just as quiet as suburbs with much more amenities and less isolation.
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
@@MisterHeroman I'm not sure what city you've lived in the suburbs of, but I've experienced the opposite of this. There may not be a desert or forest separating the suburbs from the nearest city, but there may as well be in just how much land is dedicated to roads & single-family homes.
As a new LA resident moving from the much greener, much less car dependent north, I feel this on a personal and emotional level. Keep up the good work! You have my subscription (and thumbs up)
I’m from LA and spent the last few years living in europe on and off, specifically london. I’m back in LA now and i gotta agree it pains me because LA would truly be one of the best cities in the world (even moreso than it already is) if they fixed the transport issue and maintained it so people felt safe :/ great video, hoping things get better along with you!
I really appreciate how your video is your experience with cars and suburbia, not another abstract "cars are bad" RUclips video essay. Thanks for adding your voice and your story to the discourse on cities and not just another "y no transit" gripefest.
The story of the Pacific electric railway really breaks my heart as a youngster who grew up taking the Metro and the A Line to school. I can't believe the city built transit 100years ago that could accommodate the transportation needs of today. Even more tragic is the story of Frederick Law Olmsted's emerald necklace park system. Los Angeles was first pillaged by the Spanish colonists and then the American empire. Everyday here is a sad day in utopia
Thank you for the video, very interesting. I was in LA last month for two weeks helping my sister (sold her house after 46 years) pack and move back to Ohio. Everything we did involved a lot of driving. I live in an area of Cleveland that's walkable or a short bike/scooter ride. I have a car and use it for inclement weather or transporting people/groceries etc...That said people will generally relocate to a locale with pleasant weather.
Cleveland Rocks! I’m in a Westshore suburb and it’s embarrassing how hard it is to walk in LA. Cleveland has done a lot of auto retrofitting too, but it’s still so much more walkable and easier to get around than most of LA. There are so many simple things that would improve it…like just dedicated bus lanes and transit-priority signaling, not to mention just relieving exclusionary zoning restrictions that prevent mixed use and more density like row houses, mid-rises and high-rises, especially within walking distance to transit stops. Cleveland could improve a whole lot on this too, especially in the burbs, but LA _should_ have the resources to do all this and…it just doesn’t. There’s no reason it should take AN HOUR to go 10 miles in LA…I’m sure I could do better than that on RTA.
Amazing video. That transition into Chicago was amazing. I grew up in Bucktown (near where you lived in Chicago) and never owned a car. you're 100% correct about what makes those type of neighborhoods great.
There are so many things I love about Los Angeles- mostly the people and food. And the weather! Do we think there’s hope? Everything you’ve outlined here I get so upset about nearly every day. I spent a week and a half in Tokyo in 2019…they make it work. So many of the neighborhoods are “human sized” and public transportation…unparalleled. I’ll subscribe- maybe we’ll start a movement. ❤
Nimesh, I am so glad I had your video recommended to me. Like you I was born and raised in Southern California. I started attending USC in 2018 and am now in my final year and am studying abroad in the United Kingdom. I have travelled all throughout Europe recently and with the exception of Iceland because of its largely rural nature, there has been no place I couldn't get to without the use of planes, trains, or busses. It really is a massive shift from what I thought was possible. Going to town is often easier, walkable areas are so peaceful, and this is just a personal anecdote, but it seems as if small businesses THRIVE here because of the number of pedestrians and how close the community seems to be. Los Angeles is the polar opposite of this. I can't imagine having to get around LA without a car. As a freshman at USC, my ability to explore the city I moved to was extremely hampered because I didn't have a car. Once I got one, the city finally opened up to me and I was able to truly explore but that wasn't an option beforehand. It's a shame because Los Angeles is truly an incredible city but it is being held by by the myriad of problems you mentioned. I will say, I'm not sure the golf course argument is valid as from what I understand, most courses have been a part of Los Angeles for decades and the city was built around them and regardless, it doesn't really seem relevant. I will say, I miss the freedom of having a car. Getting to drive somewhere at a moment's notice and not having to wait for a bus is great. Busses can be late, slow, and inconvenient at times so if I had the option to own a car here I would but as you mentioned, not having a car isn't as debilitating as it is in suburbia. Not sure if you read all that but if there's one thing you should take away from this comment it's that this was an excellent video and you have earned yourself a sub. The amount of work you put into this is clearly evident, shit, you travelled to Lancaster, UCSD, and Chicago all in one video?? Awesome. I look forward to your future work.
amazing video my fellow Angeleno!!!! the mention of air quality is interesting and sad, Southern California (and really California at large) has some of the strictest air quality regulations and laws in the country, and an extremely good air quality management district that takes air pollution a step further than the EPA. all that being said... you still can't keep up with the sheer number of cars on the road. EVs won't solve that problem since the majority of PM pollution comes from the tires (made worse by the insane speeds on freeways), has to be less cars!
Yeah. I wonder if electric cars make the tire pollution problem worse. One of my professors at my university (Arizona State) owns two electric vehicles, and she has to get heavier-duty tires that don’t last as long.
I live in L.A. What most folks in other states don't know is that California's cars don't emit noxious exhaust fumes, thanks to "California Emission." (I remember always hearing that phrase on The Price Is Right with Bob Barker when I was a little girl in the 80s.) Every now and then I smell an out-of-state car and it reminds me. For the 15 years I've lived here, I've assumed that the dark grey "city grit" which accumulates on everything is made mostly of tires.
@@myoldvhstapes You are absolutely right, and we can thank smog checks for the massive turnaround in smog/air pollution from cars in the past 20+ years. But like my original comment suggests, there's a lot of particulate matter that comes from a car regardless of it having an ICE, not just tires but ultrafine particulate from brake pad wear and tear as well. The extent of it and its harmful effects haven't really been fully explored yet!
I am a med student (MS 2) also passionate about urbanism and from LA and it is so cool to see someone like you in the field! You're an inspiration to someone like me
Please keep this channel going. I recent moved to NY and living in LA for several years and being in a city that prioritizes walkability and train access is so beneficial. I keep thinking about how LA can adopt these methods and ideas and how huge of a positive different it would make
My first job was in downtown while I was still living at my parents house. The 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop followed by the 1.5 hour bus/subway ride to get to work was not fun at all. And then the whole ordeal in reverse to get back home. Happy to see you're calling it out as it is (because it really does suck) and that there is room for change.
Great video! I've been thinking a lot about LAs failures in urban planning lately. Its great to see someone start a channel on the topic! Maybe you could talk about how we can go about fixing the city.
What's even the point of putting a huge fence around a public park??? The only times I've seen a fence in a park it was either: A) for a school, B) private, or C) actually a baseball diamond and the non-baseball parts of the park were open and accessible from all sides. Very happy to see another walkable city advocate running around. I'm living on a college campus at the moment and omg it is so much nicer then the place I grew up. I live so close to the grocery store that I don't even bother biking because the extra fuss doesn't feel worth the slightly shorter trip. I honestly dread moving back in with my parents once I graduate, and I definitely will be looking for walkable neighborhoods when it comes time for me to move out for good. They can be so hard to find though, and when you do find them, they tend to be pretty expensive because, _surprise,_ people like walkable neighborhoods!
Thanks for bringing up the golf courses because those country clubs are some of the most perverse wastes of water and space in the region. Also why is it that every commercial center doesn't not have apartments above it??? Triplexes, townhomes, park space, transit, and local shops should be the norm for every real estate development in the city.
LA even paved over the river. THE RIVER! I live near Korea town and bike to work in Hollywood every day. For a city that has amazing weather year-round and is relatively flat, it’s amazing how car-centric the infrastructure is.
Please explain to me why Pico, Olympic, SM Blvd, Wilshire need 8 lanes all dedicated to cars (with the occasional bike shoulder) Also why does every neighborhood street need to be a through street. Like Ohio and veteran are just used as side streets driving 35 mph straight through neighborhoods . Why would city planners let this happen
Yes! I just moved here to Los Angeles from Chicago and really miss the walkable urban density 😢 Los Angeles could be so much more sense, walkable, and connected.
I loved this! I think it's super important to discuss how our cities our built and how that can affect our lives. Very reminiscent of Not Just Bikes content as well :)
this is such a great first video with lots of great footage! Nimesh really puts the problem succinctly and the sledgehammer metaphor is awesome haha. Nice job!! Really excited to see what he does with the channel
Wow, so very true. Really love the way you put this video together in such a thoughtful way with such a hopeful and productive message at the end! I moved to LA several years back and while I find it beautiful in many ways, I of course find its cityscapes and suburban layouts leave much to be desired!
This is one of the best videos I've seen for explaining the situation of planning the U.S. to the average person who isn't into planning. I'm going to send this to one of my friends who sort of understands my position on prioritizing trains/buses/bikes/walking but worries about how life would go on without the car.
Thanks for the great video Nimesh. The analogy at the beginning really drove the point home. I think your friendly approach to car-free urban planning is better suited to people who are just getting introduced to the topic.
Just moved to LA-ish (southbay area) for an aerospace engineering job after college. Holy crap I got super lucky finding a place to live near work/grocery/restaurants. But if I want to go to any sort of bars or nightlife I have to drive. How does that make any sense???! I live close to a metro stop too, but the metro here is thin like too little butter spread over too much toast.
Yeah, the South Bay is perhaps one of the worst areas as far as segregation of zoning and use-types. It has some good areas, but most of the cities in the South Bay are so hostile to almost any new development to "preserve their character." Even most of the cities through which the C Line extension is being planned opted out of having a station so that it just bypasses them (and Torrance's station is within an oil field, so how helpful will that be, exactly?). But it could be worse, I would imagine large parts of the San Gabriel Valley might be a bit worse.
This popped up in my recommendations and I'm glad I clicked on it. This is a really good 1st video and I'm looking forward to seeing what'll be on this channel in the future. There's a few topics that other urbanist channels mention in passing or just completely ignore. Hopefully with someone new in the urbanist RUclips realm some of those topics will be discussed in further detail.
You have such a (for now) underrated urban planning channel Nimesh! I 100% resonate with the commentary on college towns'/campuses' walkability ease of meeting people and community. Hoping to see this channel blow up in the coming months and years alongside Not Just Bikes, Strong Towns, and everything else.
Perhaps this is a great population for urban walkability advocates to reach out to expand support. College students and recent grads who remember how fun/easy it was living in that environment.
I am in awe of your deliberate blocking and cinematography. Subbed and please keep it up!(: Growing up in OC and not appreciating LA until college, one of my dreams is to help bring LA into the 21st century in terms of public transportation in order for it to realize its potential to be one of the greatest cities in the world and your channel is a meaningful step in that direction so kudos to you and thank you ❤ -Jared
This is why I'm moving to San Francisco next year. I've been living in Texas for three years now and am done with driving everywhere. A requirement I have now is that wherever I choose to live, it must be a walkable city with good public transport and no need for a car. My two choices were SF or NY. I chose SF.
I live in a neighborhood with everything I need on a daily/weekly basis within a few pleasant blocks' walk from my apartment, right next to a Muni "Metro" (tram) line & a few blocks uphill from BART, and also a few other bus routes nearby. I've never owned a car and have said "thanks but no thanks" to a free one, for lack of need & anywhere to put it. I have a friend who lives on a residential-only hill in the southern part of the city that isn't so well-served by transit, so he still has to drive all the time. I hope you've found a reasonably-priced place in a walkable neighborhood well-served by Muni & BART.
SF is more expensive than NY in many ways actually. Rampant petty crime, major problems with homelessness (rude very aggressive homeless) and mentally ill, car windows broken everywhere. Feels like a monoculture a lotta people with the same jobs. Way less going on, way less diversity, really boring nightlife except if youre a college kid and hang in the Marina. People tend to mind their own business in NYC where in SF they seem to put you in it randomly. NYC is miles better if I had to live in the bay area I’d live somewhere normal like Palo Alto or maybe Berkeley. Lotta ambulance chasers bumped a car with a scooter the people pressed me outta $250 to not escalate it to the police, in NYC they’d have brushed it off said don’t worry.
This was such a well-stated video Nimesh! As a fellow soul who moved just from to LA from San Diego, I still resonate with this pain. I hope your mission helps to turn the dial towards making LA a less traffic-infested, and more human-friendly city, and I’m here to support it!
Nimesh, this is a truly fantastic video. It also painted Chicago and Miami in a positive light that I hadn't seen before, and I appreciated that perspective. I have this sort of "west coast exceptionalism" that I haven't examined in some time, and it seems like we have a lot of catching up to do. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this channel in the future
I live in Los Angeles and am on Next Door. The amount of hate that is spewed by people everytime an old building is torn down to build a Multi Use Building is intense. People don't want further commercial entities, they don't want further housing--it is infuriating because things are only defined by what people don't want.
Yessss, I love this type of video. Super well done Nimesh! I hate cars and remember driving through that Seattle freeway. I'm so glad it's being opened up to more pedestrian foot traffic. I'm also super glad that more of us are voting for people who support better public transport, walkable cities, and also related - affordable housing :D
I am Canadian (from a suburb near Toronto) and have spent the last year studying transportation design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I am now in the process of transferring to the University of Toronto to 1) study something non-car related 2) LIVE IN AN ACTUAL CITY WHERE I WON’T HAVE A COMMUTE. It drives me insane living in such a car dependent place. Subscribed.
Looking forward to seeing what this channel gets up to. I've been carless in LA for about a year and it's been troubling often finding myself as the only person on the bus or train lines in the South Bay.
Great video! I really appreciate that you show good walkable areas in the US to highlight the contrast with LA/car-centric suburbs, compared to Europe where the solutions can feel too far removed culturally or practically (a lot of people say the "oh but those cities were built before cars etc" counterargument). Seeing areas that function well domestically and knowing that they made it happen gives me a lot of hope!
Great first video Dr. Rajakumar! My gf is a 4th year medical student there at Geffen and for her 3rd and 4th year rotations, I convinced her to move away from Westwood and we moved here to my home neighborhood of Echo Park. I got her to start riding her ebike and she'd just take into any of the hospitals she rotated at! Los Angeles has a long way to go BUT things are moving upward, especially with people like you advocating for us who wish to ride our bikes, walk and take public transportation! Can't wait for you next video!
Nice video ! I can hear and see snippets of inspiration from a certain other channel here and there, and I think it's great ! I find urban planning to touch on so many issues, from health and psychological well being to climate change. There's an increasing need for cities to be better designed and become more efficient, as the population keeps on climbing, and there can't be too many people spreading the word in my opinion.
Went to USC for college and spent a year living in K-Town. Shared a car for half of that with my partner and it was completely miserable-long commutes, horrible parking, etc-but it felt like "just the way it has to be". But then my car got totalled by a truck and I couldn't afford a new one so we switched to taking the bus, and it was life-changing! Yeah it meant taking two buses and spending 45 minutes each way, plus up to 45 minutes waiting for late buses stuck in the horrible traffic, but it felt so FREEING compared to driving! I could sit back and listen to music and watch the city out the windows. I met a ton of people who I would have never spoken to otherwise, and even with being basically the only white girl on the bus nothing bad ever happened, despite the occasional odd person. It truly made me love LA in a way that driving around never did.
Also, a couple years after graduating they completed the metro line connecting Wilshire to USC. It would have been so perfect if it'd been there when I was in college.
Love your tool analogy and comparison of the various places you've lived. Really excellent content!
Now imagine if LA actually respected you and both made the buses frequent and gave them their own lanes - no more of those 45 minute waits! I'm glad you had a good experience on the bus, and I hope we can make those experiences even better!
The golf course related anger is justified
Alan I swear you’re in the comments of every minor urbanist youtube channel, like as soon as they pop up you’re already here
Bro fr is the batman of the urbanism community
@@miketoronto8308 Rail Man. Not the hero most people asked for, but the hero every city desperately needs!
as someone who lives next to a golf course i agree
I love you
And don't forget: Los Angeles has some of the best climate in the entire country/world. Despite frigid winters and sticky humid summers, many of the cities in the Northeast + Chicago have a much higher proportion of people walking and biking than in LA. It's a shame such good weather is wasted on a cars-first transportation system.
perfect weather to walk in, but nowhere to walk to 😭😭
@@carolinelucas8113 you could walk in your neighborhood and drive out if you need to it’s nice
@@alcien5258 My neigborhood only has liquor stores and mcdonalds and the point is to not have a car (This is East LA) Ig there are some cool places to walk to but its pretty bad
Yep. I live in Chicago and would move to Los Angeles if rent was more affordable and I could safely get around by bike. Chicago isn’t perfect by bike but if you choose the right neighborhood, it’s not bad. I’m a ten minute walk from a 24 hour train line and numerous bus lines. I typically end up biking to the train station and it’s maybe 5 minutes if you include the light to cross a major road and the time it takes to lock my bike up.
THIS, I`m from Mexicali, its basically Arizona weather so no walking for you. But I love walking! and now that the weather is perfect for a walk there`s no third place to walk to unless I'm willing to walk more than an hour!
That mental health benefit of not getting stuck in traffic cannot be understated. EDIT: I meant overstated. Traffic Sucks!
There are some people that call that "adult transportation." I saw that someplace else -not on this thread. I've never been able to figure out why some of these people are so attached to driving slow on the freeway that they fight efforts to put in public transportation tooth and nail.
@@sunandsage because they don’t want to interact with “certain” kinds of people to put it simply
Overstated - Unless You MEANT to have everybody downplay its benefits.
@@cvhashim crazy thing is gentrification has completely changed the demographic of some of those places lol. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face
@Doug Goodall i think it all boils down to property values. If even liberal communities have this problem and have fought tooth and nail against both affordable housing and alternative public transportation, that's the only reason I can see justified.
For affordable housing, I think even the most liberal folks have a fear of the perception of poor people. This is all just theory but I think they'd want to do well by less affluent folk but generations of propaganda of poor people bringing crime and what the could do to their area (and their property value) causes them to get defensive when projects like that spring up. Or it could be straight up classism.
I think the problem with public transportation is people don't want to live near or have it near due to the bad public perception public transportation has. In America it's considered slow, badly managed, used mainly as a last resort, and just undesirable when compared to personal transportation. There might also be a perception that mentally ill homeless mainly use public transportation but that might be both my judgemental ass and America's shitty mental healthcare. Let's also not forget how much scrutiny (much hypocritically coming from big oil PACs) alternative transportation gets when accounting for cost when highway and road maintenance is expensive as fuck too.
Both of these service are still worth pursuing but it's an uphill battle to change how people see the services. There's a lot of infrastructure stuff America has to change on top of all this. It's not impossible but the likelihood of anything getting better is slim in this "homeless person with a Gucci bag" backwards ass country.
As a Los Angeles resident who's lost two cars to overnight hit and runs here and loves getting around without a car, great video. I hope we get more people friendly streets and more transit options. Subscribed.
Light rail ain’t it it must be grade separated and LRT doesn’t have the capacity to do it high operating costs too
@@qjtvaddict You should look up the price to build and maintain a highway before dissing other transportation options.
@@qjtvaddict You say that like light trains and trams are somehow a burden to city finances. More roads and asphalt are just a constant money sink for a city, and meanwhile, my city of 250k people has been spending about 300 million € building a tram line. incredibly expensive at first, sure, but it replaces chronically late and overfilled bus lines, and given they're starting to hit 40k trips *a day*, even with a fairly modest cost per trip, that's still 70-100k € a day. there is no world where that's not enough capacity for just 10 miles of tram track nor enough revenue to easily cover the operating costs.
@@AURORAFIELDS Los Angeles had 1100mi or 1760 km of streetcar tracks before they were ripped out or paved over
As an italian, I used to watch American teenager movies when I was a teen.
I remember that I find it quite weird how everyone was hanging out at each other's house.
In my town we have many "third place" where you can meet up with your friends.
Why would you go to somebody's house? It's kinda like violating their privacy.
American cities have too much crime to hang out at the "third space." If you stand around long enough in an American urban core you will eventually be be assaulted, robbed, or possibly even murdered. There is a reason most Americans fled the cities and moved into the suburbs. It has to do with crime, the cities just aren't safe. American cities are full of homeless, criminals, and gang violence especially the working class neighborhoods. Decent people don't want to live there so they move into the suburbs and avoid third places. European and Asian cities don't have to deal with the out of control crime issue America has.
For me, living in Poland, visiting in each other houses isn't anything strange. We hang out both in third places but during, especially winter. We prefer to visit ourselves in our houses. Nobody sees it as a violating privacy. We are very pro-guests and hospitable nation, maybe that's why. And for example restaurant's and cafe are not so cheap. The avarave Pole has to work around 1-2h to have a dinner at restaurant.
@@Novusod most violent crime is domestic, and the types of crime you're referring to are mostly contained within those disadvantaged populations and urbanizing actually does a lot to solve those issues, which is why disadvantaged people live in urban areas - it's the only place they can survive.
The concept of "eyes on the street" also does a lot to diffuse the rare random violent crime. Harder to kidnap a kid in a tight knit neighborhood with engaged people hanging out than it is in a desolate suburb where everyone is isolated in their cars, homes and big box stores - unless the kids are also isolated from society
@@Novusod scary as hell for no reason. Cities aren’t some hell scape. The suburbs are garbage.
@@Novusod looks like you watched too much TV. Cities aren't that crime ridden nowadays, but that is what gets shown in the news because that is what appeals to viewers.
I'm a land use attorney in LA, we're taking huge steps to change many of the problems you listed. A new California law just prohibited parking minimums for developments within half a mile of a transit stop. We also have a number of laws that encourage high density development along transit lines. LA is also aggressively rezoning near transit to encourage higher density development along those lines. These are just a few examples of the arsenal of tools we have to build change.
This will take time though. It takes years to build a single building, even decades for a new metro line. This change is coming though.
May I ask where I can find more information?
I'm a Los Angeles native myself, born in Inglewood and raised in Compton and I would love to assist with future videos if possible. I really appreciate what you're doing because I've been saying for YEARS that the conversations around Los Angeles culturally, socioeconomically, etc. has been taken over by non-native people who don't have the context or proper understanding of this place.
The majority of videos will focus on the famous landmarks and everything above the 10 freeway not realizing the majority of Angelenos can't afford to live in those areas and therefore must live further south towards my area, east toward the IE, or north toward the Valley. Nobody talks about how deeply segregated Los Angeles still is along racial, ethnic, and class lines and how that historically plays into the urban planning and infrastructure at the city and county level.
FACTS
@@gumerzambrano I escaped LA due to the massive overcrowding and the high crime. Totally agree with the segregation along racial lines. No one wants to live with anyone else. Chinese, Japanese, black, mexican, .... whatever. What really sucks is all these people escaped from terrible cultures but refuse to assimilate into a successful culture. They brought all their problems with them and refuse to change. The original immigrants were successful because they were able to discard their failed culture, now we have 'diversity'.
@@RS-ls7mmnah, thoose cultures aren't terrible and also LA is not overcrowded
Fellow UCSD alumnus here. Thanks for making this video.
Comments on the trolley extension: great modern electric train that was badly needed, but doesn’t go far enough (metaphorically and literally). It should have also connected UCSD to Sorrento Valley station so north county residents could take transit to UCSD.
Additional comments: CA has its head completely up its a$$. I had the thought the other day that had the car never been invented, southern CA could’ve been one of the best places in the world to live. Imagine NYC with California weather. What a waste.
Sounds like a dream! I love the vibe of NYC but hate the weather, rain, snow, and humid summers. Wish Los Angeles was more walkable and had 24/7 transit in residential neighborhoods like the Valley.
The trolley takes so long though
😢😢😢
Not to mention the airport. How hard was it to connect one little wing to the west of old town to avoid that god foresaken shuttle??
I grew up in south central LA my whole life and recently got into urban planning and fighting car centric design. It feels like this channel was made for me. I look forward to what you have in store!
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
I grew up and still live in South Central and yes totally agree. Can't wait to see more of these :)
@@MisterHeroman not really, that's an absurd amount to walk
To be fair I don’t think the problems are the suburbs themselves. I can understand wanting to live in a quiet and calm neighbourhood in a big house. I think one of the main problems however is that suburbs are almost always zoned for housing only- that means it’ll take you ages to get anywhere.
Here where I live in Germany I can get almost anywhere within 15 minutes while only living in a smaller town. Even if I want to go to a place that my town doesn’t offer I can just take the train to the next biggest city and still be faster than by car
I live in Los Angeles (SFValey) and I can't tell you the amount of festivals, shows, events etc. that I couldn't go to cause I was worried about the "parking situation" so I just stayed home to avoid the hassle.
Then, they shut down the street and use the street as the actual festival venue!!
i moved to chicago and ditched the car after 20 years of growing up in the suburbs and socializing through online games. imagine being 23 and working on social skills that i never had the opportunity to devevlop living dependent on the busy schedule of my parents 😂
*i feel oddly accurately described in exact detail* 🥹 except the suburbs part
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
@@MisterHeroman Because it's true?
@@MisterHeroman huh?
I've been doing this exact thing as well. Moved to Seattle (or at least within reach of its public transit system) and it's been amazing. I only really drive my car when I need to get somewhere far away. It's so much better on my mental health to walk around downtown and actually interact with the city rather than looking at it through a window. There's a flea market coming up that I'm going to go to and I would never have even known it existed if I'd been driving myself around
man all these new urbanist channels have me wanting to start one myself. also excuse me if this comes off weird but it’s so cool to see a brown urbanist content creator 😭 before this i only had mrbarricade to look up to. i come from a similar background to you (grew up in bakersfield, just north of LA) and going to college and living in a walkable community with decent public transportation definitely radicalized me further. currently studying civil engineering at berkeley and my goal is to help put an end to car centric infrastructure :)
Do it!
Yea I think it's underrated how much being a white male helps on youtube
we do need more poc voices regarding transit/walkable cities, as they are actually the ones who rely on it the most in America. White people dominating the convo can sometimes steer towards more gentrification and ignore some of the more unsavory underlying issues. Frank Laundry did a great video regarding the racist nature of suburban development from a black perspective called "The USA Will Never Build Walkable Cities"
@@GaigeGrosskreutzGunClub The racist is speaking. Everyone listen up. cause EnthusasticsRock wants fewer white people, cause yeah; that's popular right now
The video creator is a yuppie. and his skin color doesn't matter. Yuppie: noun a young upwardly mobile professional individual; a well-paid middle-class professional who works in a city and has a luxurious life style
It's also frustrating because they litterally gutted the tram system, to make room for cars
As seen in the documentary Who Framed Roger Rabbit
I think I live in one of the only areas of LA that is not horrible without a car - Koreatown. I can walk to several grocery stores and shops, incredible restaurants, and music venues easily. And the Wilshire Vermont station is one of the only useful metro stops, allowing you to reach Downtown and Hollywood. Busses go down wilshire to Beverly Hills, and with a bit more time, you an also get to Santa Monica and Long Beach by bus or train. Still, Biking is difficult, especially since mine got stolen pretty quickly, and leaving these areas is a huge pain. The only meaningful change I've seen to the metro in the last 5 years is making the line labels more confusing by changing to letters. Interested to see where this series goes!
They are changing to letters because they plan on adding so many new lines they were running out of colors.
I'd actually prefer not to have a car in Koreatown. Parking is tragic over there
@@simquinoa2030 yeah it’s terrible. luckily my building has parking. But going anywhere in the neighborhood is usually faster and easier without taking the car.
@@Geotpf I just think renaming overlapping lines to B and D wasn’t the best approach. I voted numbers.
if they ever finished the purple line extension the metro in that area will be even better
This is great. Looking forward to more videos from you.
Phenomenal video. I think another thing to add to this discussion is the homelessness problem in LA. I live in Downtown LA and last Friday I left to see a play in Hollywood. I have a car but there is a phenomenal metro line that connects DTLA and Hollywood. I preferred to take the metro for these reasons: (1) avoid the parking problem, (2) sustainability, and (3) avoid traffic.
The problem is, a homeless person assaulted me on the subway! It was a completely random attack, I was minding my own business and the homeless person was attacking people in the train indiscriminately. After attacking some people, she started attacking me. Instead of fighting back I tried to run away but the train is a confined space so it was difficult to run away from her! Luckily, I was able to get out at the next stop without any injuries to my body.
Now, I am incentivized to drive next time I go to Hollywood instead of take the train. This is just sad. I despise cars but no one will assault me in my car. LA needs to do something DRASTIC regarding the homeless problem.
Hate to be that guy, but the reason she was able to go on a rampage is because nobody, including you, fought back. Crackheads are brazen in their attacks because they know people will run away instead of responding. Nobody’s going to come and save you, so expecting someone to swoop in and protect you is unrealistic.
I locked eyes w two homeless people doing it doggy style while I was walking to my car the other morning. Homeless problem in LA is not good
Like build housing and rehabilitate them so they don't have to live on the street and so they can have a CHANCE to move up in the world? Oh wait no one will let them...
I'm born and raised in Los Angeles and didn't own or know how to drive a car until I was 20. I also worked and went to school 6 days a week and was not one of the kids you mentioned who had their parents driving them around. I had to find my own way around by walking and public transport... and it was absolutely awesome. Looking back, I don't think I could live like that now, the hour long bus rides to places that should be 15 min away, the 35 min walks from metro stations, the hopping fences to get into parking lots to get to store entrances. At the same time however, I had some of the best experiences on foot, lots of random spontaneous fun, I felt like I was able to take in the city differently than I do now driving everywhere. I miss it, but I don't.... only because the infrastructure is not practical. Thanks for the video!
If you feel that way getting around LA on foot, you'll lose your MIND if you ever get the chance to try out living in a city with more concentrated density/public transit!
I think there should be a suburb/urban house swap show where people experience firsthand the difference it makes doing errands and existing in a walkable, human scale environment versus suburban. Very powerful to show all the places you frequented in each city you’ve lived.
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
@@MisterHeroman the suburbs are certainly not all the same and older towns built before car-centric zoning are usually really quaint and walkable. But many areas in the US have regulations outlawing mixed use plots making housing separate from businesses. And furthermore commercial zoning often requires parking spot minimums creating “deserts” of asphalt not fit for a pedestrian to pleasantly traverse to get to their destinations. It discourages walking and promotes car transit.
@@MisterHeroman you've responded to multiple comments with this exact phrasing, which is funny but also highlights why a show like OP describes would honestly be so helpful! Only people who have never lived in a walkable city before would think this way.
@@MisterHeroman People have to carry groceries and goods back to their house...that's gonna be a pain if it's a 20 minute walk from/to the store.
@@AssBlassterIt likely wouldn’t be that far away if you were in a walkable neighborhood, and you wouldn’t need to buy a car’s trunk load of groceries every time. Plus you can carry groceries in a bike basket.
I live in la and i hate it. Im trying to find my purpose but its incredibly hard and everything is so far away, so im thankful i found this video, really eye opening!
Brilliant video! I also was thinking of getting starting creating LA urbanist, transit videos! I actually am working on the LA Metro Purple Line Subway Extension to UCLA and this inspires me to make a video about the history of it!
I appreciate what you do! I think there is huge latent demand for the Purple Line extension. Tens of thousands of UCLA students and workers will ride it regularly.
@@mariusfacktor3597 Oh my goodness, the university and hospital are humongous trip generators, so it will be exciting to see this subway act as a new way to link people to places!
Do it!!
Thank you for your work! I remember taking the Wilshire bus as a kid to my summer job and wishing there was a subway. Extending the rail to UCLA is a game changer with so many employment, education, health care and opportunities available on the Wilshire corridor!
@@ifetayodavidson-cade5613 Our first section of the purple line should hopefully be coming online next year!
As a Dutch guy who is passing through LA for a few days.... I 1000% agree. Even getting food from 2 blocks away is a major pain in the ass due to slow pedestrian lights and still having to look out for cars going right during red lights etc.
Growing uo in an American suburb seems like growing up in a very clever prison. There are no fences, but even if you escape, there is nowhere to run. Until you have a car, you'r an inmate.
YOOO this channel is getting me hyped! LOVE this sort of content and LOVE that it's focused on LA. LA's car dependency is a huge mess. Everyone has to drive everywhere and since cars block each other it takes a really long time to get anywhere. There should be a NETWORK of protected bike lanes and pedestrianized streets and bus lanes. This would IMPROVE traffic for those that need or want to drive and make it several times faster for those that don't. And it would cost the tax payers LESS money because car infra is really really really expensive. They just spent $1 BILLION expanding the 405 and studies show it made traffic worse. There is literally no reason to not fix the other modes of transit.
THANK YOU. I don’t like how all the cars impact our social lives either. We get out of work and we’re too tired to bother to go anywhere cause we can see all the red on the map to get anywhere. Then, once we DO get there, parking can be a hassle. 40 min to go 6 miles is just insane.
Just came here from your Reddit post.
This is a really well made first go of things.
Great analogies and good story transitions.
Looking forward to the continuation of this series.
Great video
I spent 50 years in Southern California, in and around LA. 3 1/2 of those years were in Lancaster -- my first apartment after moving out on my own, because rent was so cheap there in the early '90s. And for good reason: it's fricking Lancaster. My first of many trips to Europe was in 2001, and it was the same transportation eye-opener for me. Actually, I think the first thing I found puzzling was "where are all the strip malls and parking lots?!"
This is a great video and I'm excited to see what else you do!
I'm trying to live car-light in LA and it's pretty easy to do within my neighborhood. I live close enough to work to ride my bike and I can walk to grocery stores, parks, the beach, etc. But if I want to get to other parts of LA, I pretty much need a car. My family lives in Burbank and the only ways to get there is either a car ride in soul-crushing traffic or a convoluted transit journey that takes 3-4 times as long as driving.
When my grandfather was growing up here he used to take the red car everywhere. It's heartbreaking to think about how that whole system was destroyed to make room for freeways instead of improving it to make it more efficient. It's also heartbreaking to see so many people living on the street when we are surrounded by giant parking lots that are empty most of the time.
I want to see this city do better, but I'm losing hope that it's going to happen in my lifetime. The proposed green line extension from Redondo to Torrance (4.5 miles) is projected to cost over a billion dollars and take 10 years to complete. This is a glacial pace especially considering that the proposed route is on an already existing railroad right of way. With a looming climate crisis, we don't have time for desperately needed infrastructure projects to take this long.
The red cars were not actually good. They were slow, had very harsh rides, and, especially in the end when they were losing tons of money, unreliable. Most passengers at the time considered the bus lines that replaced them to be an upgrade. But it makes for a good story, even if it's not really true.
Totally relate to this. That green line extension would be so useful to me as someone who has to commute to Inglewood every day. Sometimes I wanna move somewhere less car centric for mental health's sake but I've got a decent job that I don't wanna lose. I just hope that more and more people are being put on to this and hopefully more of us can demand our local government leaders to do better.
@@youngdidgy8948 It definitely feels like awareness is spreading. Hopefully that will lead to better transit options!
Perhaps you should change your voting habits.
That's the general ratio: it takes about 3x car travel time= bus travel time
I like how you emphasized that greater density does not necessarily mean skyscrapers and high-rises. It’s possible to still have a quiet, medium-density neighborhood.
It's sad he had to emphasize that. And even when he did, people still reply with "u want us all to live in tiny apartments!!!"
This is a great video and I wish you success in contributing to the new urbanism wave on YT which will hopefully transfer some momentum to the real world.
Your sledgehammer metaphor framing is terrific, but I think your brief illustration of how diverse options are within the city at 7:30 is a point that suburban advocates need to realize the most. Dense residential areas, even ones with more mixed use areas can be just as quiet as suburbs with much more amenities and less isolation.
Why do people think suburbs need cars or that cars are inconvenient? It's not like there's a massive forest or desert separating housing from the rest of the city. Everything is still a walk away.
@@MisterHeroman This may be enlightening. Although I'd prefer forests and deserts to stroads and highways ruclips.net/video/f83G5xBvdt4/видео.html
@@MisterHeroman I'm not sure what city you've lived in the suburbs of, but I've experienced the opposite of this. There may not be a desert or forest separating the suburbs from the nearest city, but there may as well be in just how much land is dedicated to roads & single-family homes.
in fact they can be quieter.
@@rishabhanand4973 leafblower goes brrrr
As a new LA resident moving from the much greener, much less car dependent north, I feel this on a personal and emotional level. Keep up the good work! You have my subscription (and thumbs up)
I’m from LA and spent the last few years living in europe on and off, specifically london. I’m back in LA now and i gotta agree it pains me because LA would truly be one of the best cities in the world (even moreso than it already is) if they fixed the transport issue and maintained it so people felt safe :/ great video, hoping things get better along with you!
I really appreciate how your video is your experience with cars and suburbia, not another abstract "cars are bad" RUclips video essay. Thanks for adding your voice and your story to the discourse on cities and not just another "y no transit" gripefest.
The story of the Pacific electric railway really breaks my heart as a youngster who grew up taking the Metro and the A Line to school. I can't believe the city built transit 100years ago that could accommodate the transportation needs of today.
Even more tragic is the story of Frederick Law Olmsted's emerald necklace park system. Los Angeles was first pillaged by the Spanish colonists and then the American empire. Everyday here is a sad day in utopia
Such a solid intro to a channel. Was engrossed the whole time. Looking forward to seeing you get more in-depth on this!
Thank you for the video, very interesting. I was in LA last month for two weeks helping my sister (sold her house after 46 years) pack and move back to Ohio. Everything we did involved a lot of driving. I live in an area of Cleveland that's walkable or a short bike/scooter ride. I have a car and use it for inclement weather or transporting people/groceries etc...That said people will generally relocate to a locale with pleasant weather.
East sider here: getting around Cleveland is much more better than Los Angeles.
Cleveland Rocks! I’m in a Westshore suburb and it’s embarrassing how hard it is to walk in LA. Cleveland has done a lot of auto retrofitting too, but it’s still so much more walkable and easier to get around than most of LA. There are so many simple things that would improve it…like just dedicated bus lanes and transit-priority signaling, not to mention just relieving exclusionary zoning restrictions that prevent mixed use and more density like row houses, mid-rises and high-rises, especially within walking distance to transit stops. Cleveland could improve a whole lot on this too, especially in the burbs, but LA _should_ have the resources to do all this and…it just doesn’t. There’s no reason it should take AN HOUR to go 10 miles in LA…I’m sure I could do better than that on RTA.
Moved to suburban Pittsburgh, PA from overpriced California...paid cash for our house😀
Great to see a dive into these issues on a localized scale!
Amazing video. That transition into Chicago was amazing. I grew up in Bucktown (near where you lived in Chicago) and never owned a car. you're 100% correct about what makes those type of neighborhoods great.
No, he's really not. I feel like he's never been to the suburbs before.
@@MisterHeromanPlease elaborate. He said he grew up in the suburbs. And this video is about cities, not suburbs.
There are so many things I love about Los Angeles- mostly the people and food. And the weather! Do we think there’s hope?
Everything you’ve outlined here I get so upset about nearly every day. I spent a week and a half in Tokyo in 2019…they make it work. So many of the neighborhoods are “human sized” and public transportation…unparalleled.
I’ll subscribe- maybe we’ll start a movement. ❤
Nimesh, I am so glad I had your video recommended to me. Like you I was born and raised in Southern California. I started attending USC in 2018 and am now in my final year and am studying abroad in the United Kingdom. I have travelled all throughout Europe recently and with the exception of Iceland because of its largely rural nature, there has been no place I couldn't get to without the use of planes, trains, or busses. It really is a massive shift from what I thought was possible. Going to town is often easier, walkable areas are so peaceful, and this is just a personal anecdote, but it seems as if small businesses THRIVE here because of the number of pedestrians and how close the community seems to be.
Los Angeles is the polar opposite of this. I can't imagine having to get around LA without a car. As a freshman at USC, my ability to explore the city I moved to was extremely hampered because I didn't have a car. Once I got one, the city finally opened up to me and I was able to truly explore but that wasn't an option beforehand. It's a shame because Los Angeles is truly an incredible city but it is being held by by the myriad of problems you mentioned. I will say, I'm not sure the golf course argument is valid as from what I understand, most courses have been a part of Los Angeles for decades and the city was built around them and regardless, it doesn't really seem relevant.
I will say, I miss the freedom of having a car. Getting to drive somewhere at a moment's notice and not having to wait for a bus is great. Busses can be late, slow, and inconvenient at times so if I had the option to own a car here I would but as you mentioned, not having a car isn't as debilitating as it is in suburbia.
Not sure if you read all that but if there's one thing you should take away from this comment it's that this was an excellent video and you have earned yourself a sub. The amount of work you put into this is clearly evident, shit, you travelled to Lancaster, UCSD, and Chicago all in one video?? Awesome. I look forward to your future work.
amazing video my fellow Angeleno!!!!
the mention of air quality is interesting and sad, Southern California (and really California at large) has some of the strictest air quality regulations and laws in the country, and an extremely good air quality management district that takes air pollution a step further than the EPA. all that being said... you still can't keep up with the sheer number of cars on the road. EVs won't solve that problem since the majority of PM pollution comes from the tires (made worse by the insane speeds on freeways), has to be less cars!
Yeah. I wonder if electric cars make the tire pollution problem worse. One of my professors at my university (Arizona State) owns two electric vehicles, and she has to get heavier-duty tires that don’t last as long.
I live in L.A. What most folks in other states don't know is that California's cars don't emit noxious exhaust fumes, thanks to "California Emission." (I remember always hearing that phrase on The Price Is Right with Bob Barker when I was a little girl in the 80s.) Every now and then I smell an out-of-state car and it reminds me.
For the 15 years I've lived here, I've assumed that the dark grey "city grit" which accumulates on everything is made mostly of tires.
@@myoldvhstapes You are absolutely right, and we can thank smog checks for the massive turnaround in smog/air pollution from cars in the past 20+ years. But like my original comment suggests, there's a lot of particulate matter that comes from a car regardless of it having an ICE, not just tires but ultrafine particulate from brake pad wear and tear as well. The extent of it and its harmful effects haven't really been fully explored yet!
I am a med student (MS 2) also passionate about urbanism and from LA and it is so cool to see someone like you in the field! You're an inspiration to someone like me
Please keep this channel going. I recent moved to NY and living in LA for several years and being in a city that prioritizes walkability and train access is so beneficial. I keep thinking about how LA can adopt these methods and ideas and how huge of a positive different it would make
My first job was in downtown while I was still living at my parents house. The 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop followed by the 1.5 hour bus/subway ride to get to work was not fun at all. And then the whole ordeal in reverse to get back home. Happy to see you're calling it out as it is (because it really does suck) and that there is room for change.
Great video! I've been thinking a lot about LAs failures in urban planning lately. Its great to see someone start a channel on the topic! Maybe you could talk about how we can go about fixing the city.
Amazing first vid! Loved the Chicago zoom out shot at 6:20
What's even the point of putting a huge fence around a public park??? The only times I've seen a fence in a park it was either: A) for a school, B) private, or C) actually a baseball diamond and the non-baseball parts of the park were open and accessible from all sides.
Very happy to see another walkable city advocate running around. I'm living on a college campus at the moment and omg it is so much nicer then the place I grew up. I live so close to the grocery store that I don't even bother biking because the extra fuss doesn't feel worth the slightly shorter trip. I honestly dread moving back in with my parents once I graduate, and I definitely will be looking for walkable neighborhoods when it comes time for me to move out for good. They can be so hard to find though, and when you do find them, they tend to be pretty expensive because, _surprise,_ people like walkable neighborhoods!
Thanks for bringing up the golf courses because those country clubs are some of the most perverse wastes of water and space in the region.
Also why is it that every commercial center doesn't not have apartments above it??? Triplexes, townhomes, park space, transit, and local shops should be the norm for every real estate development in the city.
LA even paved over the river. THE RIVER!
I live near Korea town and bike to work in Hollywood every day. For a city that has amazing weather year-round and is relatively flat, it’s amazing how car-centric the infrastructure is.
Please explain to me why Pico, Olympic, SM Blvd, Wilshire need 8 lanes all dedicated to cars (with the occasional bike shoulder)
Also why does every neighborhood street need to be a through street. Like Ohio and veteran are just used as side streets driving 35 mph straight through neighborhoods . Why would city planners let this happen
Yes! I just moved here to Los Angeles from Chicago and really miss the walkable urban density 😢
Los Angeles could be so much more sense, walkable, and connected.
I loved this! I think it's super important to discuss how our cities our built and how that can affect our lives. Very reminiscent of Not Just Bikes content as well :)
I'm in utter awe at your restraint at not adding a stab sound and a Wilhelm scream when you threw the scissors... Bravo.
Great video! I'm not an LA resident, but I'm excited to hear your thoughts on the city and what it can do to improve its livability
this is such a great first video with lots of great footage! Nimesh really puts the problem succinctly and the sledgehammer metaphor is awesome haha. Nice job!!
Really excited to see what he does with the channel
Wow, so very true. Really love the way you put this video together in such a thoughtful way with such a hopeful and productive message at the end! I moved to LA several years back and while I find it beautiful in many ways, I of course find its cityscapes and suburban layouts leave much to be desired!
Dudester We are almost neighbors. From mtw in L.A. Del Rey. Yep. It's all about Urban Planning. Thank you for your work. Really.
This is one of the best videos I've seen for explaining the situation of planning the U.S. to the average person who isn't into planning. I'm going to send this to one of my friends who sort of understands my position on prioritizing trains/buses/bikes/walking but worries about how life would go on without the car.
Thanks for the great video Nimesh. The analogy at the beginning really drove the point home. I think your friendly approach to car-free urban planning is better suited to people who are just getting introduced to the topic.
Just moved to LA-ish (southbay area) for an aerospace engineering job after college. Holy crap I got super lucky finding a place to live near work/grocery/restaurants. But if I want to go to any sort of bars or nightlife I have to drive. How does that make any sense???! I live close to a metro stop too, but the metro here is thin like too little butter spread over too much toast.
Riviera village on Avenue I and PCH is good for that.
Yeah, the South Bay is perhaps one of the worst areas as far as segregation of zoning and use-types. It has some good areas, but most of the cities in the South Bay are so hostile to almost any new development to "preserve their character." Even most of the cities through which the C Line extension is being planned opted out of having a station so that it just bypasses them (and Torrance's station is within an oil field, so how helpful will that be, exactly?). But it could be worse, I would imagine large parts of the San Gabriel Valley might be a bit worse.
This popped up in my recommendations and I'm glad I clicked on it. This is a really good 1st video and I'm looking forward to seeing what'll be on this channel in the future.
There's a few topics that other urbanist channels mention in passing or just completely ignore. Hopefully with someone new in the urbanist RUclips realm some of those topics will be discussed in further detail.
Great video and great journalism, you got some potential going here.
I love this video! I ride my bicycle everywhere in Los Angelesbut it can def get scary. I hope LA becomes more pedestrian friendly and walkable :(
Great to have another channel onboard the urbanism train!
You have such a (for now) underrated urban planning channel Nimesh! I 100% resonate with the commentary on college towns'/campuses' walkability ease of meeting people and community. Hoping to see this channel blow up in the coming months and years alongside Not Just Bikes, Strong Towns, and everything else.
Perhaps this is a great population for urban walkability advocates to reach out to expand support. College students and recent grads who remember how fun/easy it was living in that environment.
I am in awe of your deliberate blocking and cinematography. Subbed and please keep it up!(: Growing up in OC and not appreciating LA until college, one of my dreams is to help bring LA into the 21st century in terms of public transportation in order for it to realize its potential to be one of the greatest cities in the world and your channel is a meaningful step in that direction so kudos to you and thank you ❤
-Jared
Looking forward to what your channel has to offer. I would love to see more walkable communities around here.
Wow Dr, this is amazing! So glad to see more content like this, RUclips recs does work sometimes. Please keep it going!
Awesome video. Excited to see where you go with the channel!
The aerial view of Brickell highlighting the different uses like each restaurant near you was awesome nicely done
Fantastic channel, really love finding new creators like you. Shocked that your a doctor in Los Angeles with time to make content like this.
This is why I'm moving to San Francisco next year. I've been living in Texas for three years now and am done with driving everywhere. A requirement I have now is that wherever I choose to live, it must be a walkable city with good public transport and no need for a car. My two choices were SF or NY. I chose SF.
I live in a neighborhood with everything I need on a daily/weekly basis within a few pleasant blocks' walk from my apartment, right next to a Muni "Metro" (tram) line & a few blocks uphill from BART, and also a few other bus routes nearby. I've never owned a car and have said "thanks but no thanks" to a free one, for lack of need & anywhere to put it.
I have a friend who lives on a residential-only hill in the southern part of the city that isn't so well-served by transit, so he still has to drive all the time.
I hope you've found a reasonably-priced place in a walkable neighborhood well-served by Muni & BART.
I hope you're willing to pay SF prices...
@@Yuvraj.SF is cheaper than nyc lol
@@tykara3404 but not more than any Texas city… look at the comment I replied to
SF is more expensive than NY in many ways actually. Rampant petty crime, major problems with homelessness (rude very aggressive homeless) and mentally ill, car windows broken everywhere. Feels like a monoculture a lotta people with the same jobs. Way less going on, way less diversity, really boring nightlife except if youre a college kid and hang in the Marina. People tend to mind their own business in NYC where in SF they seem to put you in it randomly. NYC is miles better if I had to live in the bay area I’d live somewhere normal like Palo Alto or maybe Berkeley. Lotta ambulance chasers bumped a car with a scooter the people pressed me outta $250 to not escalate it to the police, in NYC they’d have brushed it off said don’t worry.
This was such a well-stated video Nimesh! As a fellow soul who moved just from to LA from San Diego, I still resonate with this pain. I hope your mission helps to turn the dial towards making LA a less traffic-infested, and more human-friendly city, and I’m here to support it!
Excellent video and great commentary. I've been to most of the places in the video, and I agree with you. Looking forward to more.
Nimesh, this is a truly fantastic video. It also painted Chicago and Miami in a positive light that I hadn't seen before, and I appreciated that perspective. I have this sort of "west coast exceptionalism" that I haven't examined in some time, and it seems like we have a lot of catching up to do. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this channel in the future
I live in Los Angeles and am on Next Door. The amount of hate that is spewed by people everytime an old building is torn down to build a Multi Use Building is intense. People don't want further commercial entities, they don't want further housing--it is infuriating because things are only defined by what people don't want.
I love how explained this and all of the footage you used nice job!
Yessss, I love this type of video. Super well done Nimesh! I hate cars and remember driving through that Seattle freeway. I'm so glad it's being opened up to more pedestrian foot traffic. I'm also super glad that more of us are voting for people who support better public transport, walkable cities, and also related - affordable housing :D
I’m excited to see more from this channel! Loving all these new videos in walkability youtube
Awesome video, and I can’t wait for more! Los Angeles has so much potential
Hey! Love your videos about LA also!
This is very high quality content! A similar experience shaped my views on car dependent suburban life.
I am Canadian (from a suburb near Toronto) and have spent the last year studying transportation design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I am now in the process of transferring to the University of Toronto to 1) study something non-car related 2) LIVE IN AN ACTUAL CITY WHERE I WON’T HAVE A COMMUTE. It drives me insane living in such a car dependent place. Subscribed.
I'm a fan already. Can't wait to see what's in store for this channels future.
Outstanding video definitely needs more coverage also Miami is beautiful glad to see it get some love
Really well-made video with a great, relatable message. Soon we'll be seeing you up there with Jay Foreman and Not Just Bikes!
New LA resident, and Urbanist enthusiast here. Looking forward to following your channel and learning more about how LA is improving :D
This is inspiring. It's great to know that there may be some semi-suitable places that I could move to! Thank you!
Looking forward to seeing what this channel gets up to. I've been carless in LA for about a year and it's been troubling often finding myself as the only person on the bus or train lines in the South Bay.
Great video! I really appreciate that you show good walkable areas in the US to highlight the contrast with LA/car-centric suburbs, compared to Europe where the solutions can feel too far removed culturally or practically (a lot of people say the "oh but those cities were built before cars etc" counterargument). Seeing areas that function well domestically and knowing that they made it happen gives me a lot of hope!
this is one of the best videos I've seen on all of RUclips. well done!
I hope your channel gets huge, great video! - LA resident, new subscriber, and person who wants a city designed for people
Thank you making this, I hope you continue to make these great videos!!!
Great first video Dr. Rajakumar! My gf is a 4th year medical student there at Geffen and for her 3rd and 4th year rotations, I convinced her to move away from Westwood and we moved here to my home neighborhood of Echo Park. I got her to start riding her ebike and she'd just take into any of the hospitals she rotated at! Los Angeles has a long way to go BUT things are moving upward, especially with people like you advocating for us who wish to ride our bikes, walk and take public transportation! Can't wait for you next video!
Nice video ! I can hear and see snippets of inspiration from a certain other channel here and there, and I think it's great ! I find urban planning to touch on so many issues, from health and psychological well being to climate change. There's an increasing need for cities to be better designed and become more efficient, as the population keeps on climbing, and there can't be too many people spreading the word in my opinion.
This was a great video! Awesome edits, flow and jokes.
Excellent video 💯 keep it up! I’m also in West LA, getting around via e-bike, so I relate to this!
Nimesh, that was enjoyable. I hope to see more so you have earned my subscription.
Nice callback at the end! And a fun video! Hope you get a lot of support trying to improve LA.
This is really well edited and I like your personality. I don't usually watch content like this but this was es good.
those intro analogies are such a great examples of how urban land use tend to be in los angeles.