Looking forward to 2017 automotive news, best original streaming content in 2016, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the great "streetcar demolition" in L.A.'s history.
Who killed LA's streetcars, according to 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'
Los Angeles isn't a cartoon, but it is a main character in the 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
The movie will be preserved this year in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress along with 24 other important and influential films.
On the surface, it's a bright, noir comedy about cartoon actor Roger Rabbit who's wanted for murder.
But there's an important plot point that has a basis in history: Roger is framed as an elaborate scheme by villain Judge Doom to demolish L.A.'s mass transit trolley system known as the Red Cars.
In their place, Doom plans to profit on the new project being developed by the city: freeways.
"Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena!" he monologues in the film's climax. "Smooth, straight, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past."
In real life, the Red Car system did fall by the wayside as automobiles took over the roads. Some say there was even a conspiracy at work to make it happen, just like in "Roger Rabbit" (but without the cartoons).
What was fact and fiction about mass transit in the movie?
The Golden Age of the Red Cars
The Red Car network had veins that connected far-flung stretches of Southern California – Santa Monica to San Bernardino, Newport Beach to Van Nuys, Pasadena to Long Beach and more.
Between it and the more local Yellow Car system, riders could ride on the rails on one of these streetcars to almost anywhere they wanted to.
"It was the most extensive urban rail transit system in America, if not the world," says historian Colin Marshall. "It's farther than even the most ambitious Metro plans you see today of what's going to happen in, like, 2050 or 2060 with the current wave of construction."
Its true heyday was between 1901 and 1961, but unlike today's Metro system, they weren't public entities.
"These were essentially real estate development tools consolidated by magnate Henry Huntington," says Marshall. "He had huge amounts of real estate, and he ran his consolidated Red Car system out to the tracts of land that he owned."
And there was no better way to get home buyers to move to then-remote and relatively inaccessible areas that he was developing, like Redondo Beach and Huntington Beach.
Although the rails proved hugely popular with everyone.
"It was the system of choice to get around before cars really became the institution they became in Los Angeles," he says.
Who was behind the Great American Streetcar Scandal?
The Red and Yellow Cars ceased service by the early 1960s, and cars reigned supreme.
How L.A. got there was the subject of conspiracy theories.
In "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Judge Doom used his shell company Cloverleaf Industries to buy out the Red Car system. Then, he would dismantle it.
With mass transit out of the way, people would be forced to buy cars. And Doom positioned himself to profit from the freeway construction that would be built in the Red Cars' place.
But in real life, some people believe this truly happened. They call it the Great American Streetcar Scandal.
Instead of Judge Doom, the perpetrators were car companies.
"The idea was, simply, that General Motors and a bunch of other companies that were beneficiaries of the automobile economy got together and bought up streetcar lines around the country so they could dismantle them," says Marshall.
The theory sprung up in a 1973 paper by anti-trust attorney Bradford Snell, and gained more traction when it was distributed among the U.S. Senate.
"That really solidified the idea in the Los Angeles zeitgeist that the loss of the streetcars was foisted on the public by a shady cabal of automobile manufacturers, oil companies, tire manufacturers," he adds.
And with people of today frustrated by traffic congestion, this might sound reasonable.
"It's almost perfectly logical to think, 'This wasn't public choice. This wasn't us. This had to have been foisted on us, because nobody would choose this,'" says Marshall.
Angelenos killed the Red Cars, not car companies
Marshall says the Red Cars' demise wasn't because of GM or any other car company.
It's because fewer Angelenos were taking it.
"The ridership had plummeted. In the 1920s, you had almost a million people who were riding this thing," he says. "By the 1930s, it was far fewer in a city that was far bigger."
They became less reliable, too, and started to get a bad rap from the public. The Red Cars were never profitable nor were they meant to be, either, since they were privately owned.
As a result, the system started to shut down.
"And only in about 10 percent of the cases did General Motors and their National City Lines, the shell company they were using to buy the streetcars, have anything to do with it," says Marshall.
By coincidence, the greater availability of cars came onto the scene during those decades, too.
"The allure of the automobile was so great, especially in the postwar era," he says.
Los Angeles decided that cars would be the preferred way to get around, not the Red Car trolleys.
So, in reality, car companies were framed for the Red Cars' decline.
"It's very easy to look back on them as the Golden Age of Transit," says Marshall, "when in reality, it had its problems, too."
The Ride's auto predictions for 2017: Car sharing, electric vehicles and luxury automatons
There was no lack of news in the mobility world in 2016. Perhaps the biggest story: the VW emissions scandal. But it was also a year when autonomous cars began to look inevitable, and when the world's big automakers began to rethink their future as "mobility companies."
So, what's in store for 2017? Our motor critic, Sue Carpenter, identified a few areas and trends.
Car sharing takes off
GM is expanding its Maven service, which allows people to rent cars by the hour and is focused on linking them to public transportation. It's now available at Union Station and will continue rolling out at Metro stations during the coming year.
And Waivecar is growing, too. It offers free "rentals" by wrapping its electric cars in advertising. After gaining a foothold in Santa Monica, Waivecar is expanding its fleet to 150 cars available across L.A.
Electrics are here to stay
Analysts covering Tesla are convinced the company will keep its promise and begin delivering the first of its Model 3s in the second half of 2017. Meanwhile, GM will beat Tesla to the market with its Chevy Bolt, which offers 270 miles on a charge. And Faraday Future, a local company backed by Chinese investors, says it will have its luxury electric in production this year as well.
Some hot and sexy new stuff
Alfa Romeo is joining luxury car makers like Bentley and Porsche in offering a very high-end SUV, the Stelvio. Audi goes autonomous with its A8 luxury sedan. For the first time, BMW will offer an electric version of its popular 3 series. And for anyone who ever wanted a Toyota RAV, but smaller, the Japanese company offers the C-H4.
Click on the blue bar to listen to the full conversation.
Binge on the best of 2016: 10 shows to catch up on
Every month we take a look at all of the options you have to stream, from Hulu and Netflix to Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Showtime Anytime. Our very own Mark Jordan Legan offers his top picks for 2016.
- Atlanta (FX NOW)
Mark's first pick is what he calls an entertaining and thought provoking show. Donald Glover plays a young man struggling to find himself, and he tries to create a career by helping his cousin, who's found a level of fame as a rapper named Paper Boi.
- Rectify (Netflix)
Originally on the Sundance Channel, Rectify is now streaming. It tells the story of an innocent man, Daniel Holden, on death row freed after almost 20 years. The show follows the effect this has Holden and his family but also the community, the local police and the prosecutors who put him away. Full of deep, complex characters, the show tackles such issues as injustice and the power of forgiveness.
- Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
This series has been on for four years and the most recent season was one of its best. When the show first started, it followed the story of a young privileged white girl named Piper who is incarcerated in a women’s prison on drug charges. But as the show progressed, it would slowly reveal the backstory to many of the other characters – both the prisoners and the guards. Like a great American novel, it takes its time unravelling the complex psychology of the many multi-ethnic characters who inhabit Litchfield prison.
- The Night Of (HBO Go)
A loose remake of a British crime series, the show follows a young Pakistani-American, who meets a girl and after a night of sex and partying he awakes to find her murdered. He doesn't remember what happened, so he runs from the scene but is later arrested. The whole production is mesmerizing and superbly done – it really shines a light on race relations and immigration and the fact that there are still people in the legal system that will fight for what they know is right – no matter what.
THE BINGE LIST - THE TOP TEN STREAMING TV SHOWS OF 2016
1. THE NIGHT OF (HBO Go)
2. FLEABAG (Amazon Prime)
3. ATLANTA (FX Now)
4. HUMANS (Netflix)
5. THE AMERICANS (FX Now/ Amazon Prime)
6. RECTIFY (Netflix)
7. BETTER CALL SAUL (Netflix)
8. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix)
9. BLACK MIRROR (Netflix)
10. UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMITT (Netflix)
Catch up on past installments of The Binge here.
To listen to Mark's recommendations, click on the blue media player above.
New Calif. laws, political news to watch for in 2017
On this week's State of Affairs, the big year in politics that was 2016, what and who to watch in 2017, plus a rundown of some new laws coming into effect January 1st.
, Political Reporter for KQED, and
, Senior Writer for Politico's California Playbook, joined Take Two for our weekly look at government and politics in the Golden State.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue media player above.
Debbie Reynolds' private memorabilia collection headed to auction
In a movie career spanning more than 60 years, Debbie Reynolds has starred in some legendary films... from "Singin' in the Rain", to her Oscar-nominated turn in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
But it turns out she's not just a Hollywood star, she's also a Hollywood collector. And she's somewhat of a veteran memorabilia dealer at this point.
Reynolds began auctioning off costumes, props, and other Hollywood relics in 2011. Her sale of Marilyn Monroe's iconic white dress from 1955's "The Seven Year Itch" brought in $4.6 million back then.
And once again, auction house Profiles in History is set to auction off items from her private memorabilia collection - and this time she's offering up the whole lot. The final pieces from her extensive collection, many of them her most treasured, will be offered up at the Debbie Reynolds dance studio in North Hollywood on May 17 and 18.
Highlights include:
- Harpo Marx's signature top hat and wig
- “Scarlett O’Hara's” pale peach bonnet from Gone With the Wind
- Charlie Chaplin's Signature Bowler Hat
- Elvis Presley’s Grand Piano From His Holmby Hills, California Mansion
- Orson Welles’ Mink Coat From Citizen Kane
- Personal out-take photos from the Star Wars films
Previews for ‘Debbie Reynolds—The Auction Finale’ are going on now at the Debbie Reynolds dance studio. Interested bidders can participate in person, by telephone, by absentee bids, or in real time online at ProfilesInHistory.com.
Take Two spoke to none other than Debbie Reynolds herself, and she described some of the pieces of Hollywood history to be offered and why she's decided to part with them.