We Be Jammin'

Newsflash: Traffic in LA sucks.

But we knew that. That's why we're always twenty minutes late for everything. That's why the sky turns that peculiar shade of brown during hot summer days. That's why that asthmatic kid who lives down the hall has to stay inside during smog alerts. That's why we spend more time idling in traffic, in our hybrid or German sports car or SUV, listening to bad LA radio. Hating other LA drivers. Wishing traffic wasn't so bad.

But we don't get out of the car. We don't take the subway, or (God forbid) the bus. We don't live closer to work, or work close to where we live. We don't carpool. We don't like high density development. We're suspicious of public transit in general: Too expensive. Doesn't work. Uncool.

Truth is, we don't want to get out of our cars. We like driving. We want to believe in the LA car culture. We want to cruise Sunset Boulevard with the top down on a warm summer night. We want to fly down the PCH, splitting the difference between the rugged Santa Monica Mountains and the placid blue sea.

Even if it takes an hour to travel from Crescent Heights to Doheny. Even if the smog obscures our ocean view.

In the end, they'll have to pry the steering wheel from our cold, dead fingers.

We're hooked.