Road ‘Discipline’ Is All the Rage
We’re all used to hearing snide remarks about L.A. from Northern California, which has never gotten over the failure of a bill in the 1850s to make Southern California a separate state.
But ex-Angeleno Marcia Simonson of Fremont actually found a complimentary article about these parts in the San Jose Mercury News.
Gary Richards, author of the “Mr. Roadshow” column, praised L.A. drivers, asserting they practice “lane discipline” and are satisfied with “just maintaining alertness and steady progress, even at a slow pace” in heavy traffic.
By contrast, he wrote, drivers in the increasingly crowded San Jose area, “haven’t yet acquired the wisdom that comes from long experience with chronic congestion.”
So, you mean to tell me that L.A.’s freeway fliers are disciplined compared to those in Richards’ city?
If that’s true, I don’t want to know the way to San Jose.
DRIVING NO-NOS: When Richards surveyed Mercury News readers for their pet driving peeves, frequent lane-changers were No. 1, followed (perhaps I should say tailgated) by lane-changers who don’t signal, SUV drivers in general and cell-phone users.
I recall seeing a similar poll of Southern Californians a while back, and their biggest complaint concerned slow-moving drivers. I hate to say it, but it didn’t sound as though L.A. commuters were satisfied with “steady progress, even at a slow pace.”
OVERLOOKING THE VALLEY: L.A. City Hall might try appeasing secessionists in the San Fernando Valley by doing something about those directional signs where the Santa Monica and San Diego freeways meet. The guideposts declare the destination to the south is Long Beach and the destination to the north is . . .
Encino? Van Nuys? Panorama City?
Nope. Sacramento.
L.A. INSULT OF THE DAY: Rita Wiegand noticed this passage in the novel “Death in Lovers’ Lane,” by Carolyn Hart:
“No wonder he felt lonely. Los Angeles is a sprawl of broken dreams and lost opportunities, disconnected souls and entertainment junkies. The sunny skies and graceful palms don’t redeem jammed roadways to nowhere.”
That’s no way to refer to Long Beach and Sacramento.
UNREAL ESTATE: In today’s handy home shopping guide (see accompanying), this column brings you:
* Just the thing for the really small family--a 29-square-foot home (spotted by L. Prince) proving the real estate boom is indeed back.
* A “marble home” (submitted by Dee Dee Ruhlow, who suspects it may also be mobile).
* A closet that would have a short walk to school (from David Blacher).
* And a college-area apartment that has water, cable and trash. (The last was something that students usually furnished when I was in school.)
miscelLAny:
Regarding the item here about the champion snorer who was filmed by a tabloid TV show at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, film historian Lee Harris writes: “The Andy Warhol film ‘Sleep’ records an art dealer sleeping for six hours. At one theater, someone ran up to the screen and yelled ‘Wake up!’ ”
