I'll give you half a bag of apples and half a bag of oranges, GW......
True, it was a lot easier to lay PE track across a mostly empty San Gabriel Valley in 1910 than it is to construct a Gold Line in an urbanized area. In retrospect, I agree that analogy doesn't hold much water.
But I still maintain that empty State Building site is an unintentional monument to LA's general
shnide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire
 Amazon
Well, 1900 = apples; 2011 = oranges. A fraction of the land area; a fraction of the population, and one that was homogenous vs. polyglot; year-by-year accumulation of political interests and purposes; myriad and differing civic goals; and Harrison Gray Otis. The book pictured above is sort of interesting, though I'd recommend getting it from the library or buying a used copy--the introduction especially is almost comically, obtusely academic. The book itself does remind you of how much was accomplished 100 years ago, but it also helps you understand that, as history has shown, getting the trains to run on time can sometimes involve tyranny. Anyway--Viva Los Angeles, then and now! |