Quote:
Originally Posted by Handsome Stranger
I'm a little stunned at how sparse the traffic appears to be on those crazy freeways! It would be interesting to know what the population of L.A. County was then vs. what it is now.
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Downtown traffic has always been a serious problem in L.A. My guess for why there's so few cars in this aerial photo is that it was probably taken on a Sunday. Until the later '60s, almost everyplace was closed on Sundays (especially in the PM hours). Some restaurants and almost all movie theaters were open Sundays, but you couldn't go shopping anywhere. So, generally, after church in the morning, most people stayed at home or went to the movies (which is what we did) or went "Sunday driving." Angelenos nowadays have no conception how dead things were on Sundays prior to the 1970s. There really was almost nothing to do and nowhere to go.
-Scott