Los Angeles has a car culture.* Freeways are a central part of life here. Some cities have a single artery, a major thoroughfare that connects one side to the other. Los Angeles has about ten. You need to get on a freeway to go anywhere. I sometimes get on one to go just a mile or two because it avoids surface streets; this behavior is common.
In rough geography, the major north-south freeways are the 1 (aka Pacific Coast Highway), the 405, the 110 (to Pasadena), the 710 (to Long Beach), the 5 and then the 15 way out near Riverside. The major east-west freeways are the 210 along the south edge of the San Gabriels, the 134 which turns into the 101 (aka "Ventura Freeway) on its western extent, the 10 which goes past downtown and terminates at Santa Monica Pier, and the 105 which I think I've never been on but is one possible way of going to the airport. Most of these aren't worth discussing further, but a few are.
Interstate 5
If LA can be said to have a main arterial freeway, it is Interstate 5. Along different stretches it's officially alled the Santa Ana Freeway and the Golden State Freeway, but it's best known as The Grapevine. It runs straight down the middle of LA north to south and from San Diego all the way to San Francisco.** Anyone who has made the trek from LA to SF will remember it for the huge cattle farm at about the halfway point which, despite having all your windows closed and internal circulation on, you will be able to smell five miles away.
The Pasadena Freeway
The 110 freeway runs from Downtown to Pasadena and is part of Historic Route 66. Most people call it "The One-Ten," although its official name when I moved here was the Pasadena Freeway and it has recently been renamed to the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The 110 is also the oldest freeway in the country. It was built in the 1940's. Do you know how fast cars went in the 1940's? Not very fast. And this fact is reflected in every aspect of the 110.
Just for starters, the ramps for the 110 are about three and a half inches long. Some are better than others, but none really have enough runout to get to freeway speeds (even in a Bugatti Veyron). Also, the road exactly follows the Arroyo Seco waterway, so it twists and winds in a way that was maybe acceptable when cars had a top speed just above a brisk jog but is extremely unsafe at 70mph. It's not uncommon to come to a complete stop at the end of a ramp while attempting to merge and then, having found an opening, get honked at by someone coming around the bend who you've cut off. This is why I assert--often while getting honked at while trying to merge--that only assholes drive in the right lane of the 110.
While it can be a lot of fun to take the turns at highway speeds (and I've heard legend of a street racing problem in the 70's), the 110 is not a safe road. It straightens out a little bit to the south, but if you can avoid driving on it, you should. And if you must drive on it, don't do so for long. And if it's raining, stay home.***
The Ventura Freeway
All of the poor suckers who live in towns along this stretch of road to the north of Malibu State Park--Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Woodland Hills, Calabasas--have to take this regularly. Last summer I played ultimate weekly at the big sports complex in Encino, and I always hit traffic. It's especially bad at the interchanges which are ingeniously designed to bottleneck.
Interstate 10
If there's a main east-west thoroughfare, this is it if only because it goes the whole width of the city, right down the middle, and past downtown.
The Pacific Coast Highway
The PCH is the coastal highway from San Diego to San Francisco. It's very scenic, especially to the north. It's also where you find the beaches, which I will have a whole post about later.
Interstate 710
This is pretty much the only way to Long Beach. You can theoretically take the 110, but I don't think anybody does unless they're coming straight from the airport. The 710 isn't really a fun road. You go through a bunch of industrial areas, so the freeway has a lot of semi traffic. You also go through Commerce where they keep the casinos and Compton where they keep the gang violence. This makes Long Beach, to my mind, feel extremely isolated from the rest of Los Angeles.
Interstate 15
Take this about four hours north, past some stinking desert crossroads called Baker, to Vegas.
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*Some words on driving in LA: It is absolutely possible to not have a car in LA. The public transportation is actually pretty good. I think the trains are comparable to the NYC subway, except they're cleaner and go fewer places. But if you are carless in LA--as I was for two years--then other Angelenos will be offended by your existence. Offended like you've said something racist and slapped a puppy. It's just not done.
The driving style in LA is fast and aggressive. Nobody maintains safe follow distances, everybody passes on the right, and you should not expect anybody to slow down to let you merge. Anywhere else in the world, and this type of driving would make me uncomfortable. But it's kind of like bumper-to-bumper traffic in NYC: that's just how we do it here. People aren't being jerks; they're aware of your existence and just indifferent to it. When all the drivers have that attitude, it mostly works.
**If you want to get to San Francisco quickly, I-5 is the way to go. If you have a convertible and a few days to kill and some extra money to pay for a nice hotel, you should take the Pacific Coast Highway for the scenic trip. You can also take SR-99, but the only reason you'd do that is because you were trying to take the 5 and took a wrong turn. The 5 and the PCH are pretty much equivalent for getting to San Diego; the train is also a good option.
***Despite armies of gardeners and a trillion miles of sprinkler plumbing to try to hide it, Los Angeles is pretty much in the desert. We don't see rain often. And when it does rain, the city shuts down completely. If it rained anytime in the last 5 hours, theaters can expect poor attendance. And while this is partly attributable to desert-dweller's fear of the unknown, it is mostly because when it rains, a year worth of oil and grime floats up out of the pores of every road surface and makes them slick like ice. Combined with the usual aggressive driving of LA motorists, travelling anywhere after a rain is considered very dangerous.
I'd like to drive those roads, just for the sake of it. I haven't been to LA before, but it would be good a road trip. Do those roads give scenic views?
Posted by: Nicole Vickers | 05/31/2011 at 10:50 AM