Car Culture: A History

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Here's Mad Men star Vincent Kartheiser talking about how he lives in Los Angeles.....WITH NO CAR. He's been car-less for four years and a vegetarian as well. Now that's pretty green if you ask me. He also talks about how he doesn't have a toilet -_____- [This video is about a month old, so maybe he's gotten a toilet now? Let's hope.]

But NO CAR??! IN LOS ANGELES? That's crazy! Trust me, if I could go sans car, I totally would. But the fact of the matter is, I simply cannot. I work at 5 o'clock in the morning five days a week, and I'd be hard pressed to find a bus running that early in the morning. Also, none of my friends live close enough to me where I could reasonably walk over to their place and meet them. And grocery shopping? The only place I've ever walked to and shopped was Trader Joe's. Everything else is too far where I am, not to mention too inconvenient.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be all GREEN and blahblahblah (this IS my blog by the way). But the inconvenience that comes with not having a car in Los Angeles is not MY fault. It's Los Angeles'. Or I should say more specifically the San Fernando Valley. Or actually more specifically: THE SUBURBS.

Here's a little history: A long, long time ago in America, when the war was over and things were starting to look up for people, some genius decided to build areas that were just comprised of homes. These would be quiet places away from the hustle and bustle of the city where people could raise a nuclear family and live a happy life with white picket fences and a dog. People were happy, and more suburbs were built.

Unfortunately, the main definition of a suburb is "residential" and "away from the city." Because of that, people had to commute to work. Multiply that by the thousands of suburbs that cropped up around America in the mid-20th century and you've got a lot of cars on the road and gas being guzzled. Fast forward to now and you can start to understand why it's hard for suburbanites (like moi) to commute.

If I were to ever go car-less, the only way I could do that (and still maintain a decent living) would be if I moved out of this suburb and into a city where I could live and work and still have a social life.....OR if I worked from home, ordered in, and had no friends. I patiently await for the former.

So kudos to this Vincent fellow for braving the crappy public transportation system here in Los Angeles (although I'm sure it's a lot better than here in the Valley)!!