The end of Smile- Some big questions, any takers??

[Mark H.]

I've always found the Hollywood freeway to be inspiring, too.

Seriously.  I know I'm in a minority, but I always loved driving on LA's freeways.  This glorious secular communion...

I find a weird sense of oneness when driving on LA Freeways.  See I don't live there so when I'm there I rarely have time constraints....so I just dig the scenery.

[Alex]

How is San Fransisco compared to L.A.? Just curious...I'm intrigued by the West Coast.

[Jon Stebbins]

How is San Fransisco compared to L.A.? Just curious...I'm intrigued by the West Coast.

I grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, left when I was 19 and then lived in L.A. for ten years...now I live on the Central Coast half way between the two(near Morro Bay)...I live in a beautiful traffic and smog free environment right on the ocean, but i travel to S.F. and L.A. a lot for business...and in my opinion the S.F Bay area traffic is much worse, harder to negotiate, less predictable, worse drivers, again... my opinion. L.A. is always about the same, its kind of slinky like a Doors album...don't drive between 5 and 6:30 p.m. or your gonna get stuck, stay off the 405 if you can, and use the canyons and the coast highway to get around it all. Driving in L.A. can be an okay experience if you know how to deal with it, personally I'm okay with it. Smog can be bad, but if you stay on the west side or near the coast its rarely a problem. But you gotta know there are certain areas you just can't drive without experiencing gridlock, Santa Monica Blvd. from the 405 to Bev. Hills, parts of Orange County near Newport, parts of Sunset and Hollywood late in the evening, and like i said the 405 is a bad scene if you wanna move...but L.A. is a big sprawling place with lots of options for routes. And it smells much better than NYC.

[brianc]

Of course, staying on the westside of Los Angeles excludes one from the Silver Lake/Echo Park area, which is pretty much the best place in L.A. for art, literature and indie sounds. It's gotten more commercialized these past five years, but between Silver Lake and Downtown L.A., so much is happening outside of the westside.

In fact, besides Venice and some leftover cool in Santa Monica, I can't see why you want to spend any time on the westside. Maybe go to the beach. But there's nada happening on the Sunset Strip, unless you like pay-to-play hard rock bands, or want to be in the Paris Hilton scene.

[KokoMoses]

I've always found the Hollywood freeway to be inspiring, too.

Seriously.  I know I'm in a minority, but I always loved driving on LA's freeways.  This glorious secular communion...

I find a weird sense of oneness when driving on LA Freeways.  See I don't live there so when I'm there I rarely have time constraints....so I just dig the scenery.

Wow, you guys are awesome!

I'm a lifelong LA resident who despises the freeways, but since this thread, I've been looking at them from a different point of view. Going south on the 405 can be an amazing experience when you pass the airport at dusk and exit on El Segundo Blvd or Rosecrans and drive toward the ocean.