Freewaytopia

How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles

De: Paul Haddad, Patt Morrison - foreword

Narrado por: Paul Haddad

Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles explores how social, economic, political, and cultural demands created the web of freeways whose very form—futuristic, majestic, and progressive—perfectly exemplifies the City of Angels.

From the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which began construction during the Great Depression, to the Century Freeway, completed in 1993, author Paul Haddad provides an entertaining and thought-provoking history of the 527 miles of roadways that comprise the Los Angeles freeway system.

Each of Los Angeles’s twelve freeways receives its own chapter, and these are supplemented by “Off-Ramps”—sidebars that dish out pithy factoids about Botts’ Dots, SigAlerts, and all matter of freeway lexicon, such as why Southern Californians are the only people in the country who place the word “the” in front of their interstates, as in “the 5,” or “the 101.”

Freewaytopia also explores those routes that never saw the light of day. Imagine superhighways burrowing through Laurel Canyon, tunneling under the Hollywood Sign, or spanning the waters of Santa Monica Bay. With a few more legislative strokes of the pen, you wouldn’t have to imagine them—they’d already exist.

Haddad notably gives voice to those individuals whose lives were inextricably connected—for better or worse—to the city’s freeways: The hundreds of thousands of mostly minority and low-income residents who protested against their displacement as a result of eminent domain. Women engineers who excelled in a man’s field. Elected officials who helped further freeways . . . or stop them dead in their tracks. He pays tribute to the corps of civic and state highway employees whose collective vision, expertise, and dedication created not just the most famous freeway network in the world, but feats of engineering that, at their best, achieve architectural poetry. And let’s not forget the beauty queens—no freeway in Los Angeles ever opened without their royal presence.

Freewaytopia is part colorful lore, part civic and historical critique, and part homage to the most famous freeways in the world.

©2021 Paul Haddad and Patt Morrison (P)2022 Santa Monica Press

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Freewaytopia deftly connects dreams, politics, new suburbs, and white privilege to tell the stories of L.A.’s freeways. Hostile to communities of color when they were built and loathed today by gridlocked drivers, the freeways still reveal a rough grandeur in their overpasses and interchanges. When the road ahead is unexpectedly open, L.A.'s freeways can be poetic. Paul Haddad has caught their vital rhythm.”—D. J. Waldie, author of Becoming Los Angeles: Myth, Memory, and a Sense of Place

“Los Angeles freeways often get a bad rap, but author Paul Haddad finds the beauty in them. . . . The author’s affection is reflected in his knack for unearthing fascinating facts about people and cultural events related to the creation of highways across the Southland.”—AAA Westways

“Paul Haddad’s Freewaytopia is a marvelous civic history of 12 essential routes that belt the urban expanse, all creations of the bikini and slide rule era. . . . Haddad writes with the love and skepticism of a native Angeleno, mining the archives for the distinctive news items that function as collective folklore. . . . [Freewaytopia] delivers exactly what it promises: a lively and fact-driven history of 12 freeways that adds up to a Los Angeles realist canvas. . . . Haddad’s prose shines. . . . Freewaytopia is an easy read that packs a factual wallop.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

A fun and thought-provoking history!

Having grown up in the LA area, the massive freeways there are, as the book says, both a blessing and a curse. This witty and insightful history of freeways in LA was written by someone who has lived with them his whole life. The deep research done on them really gives the details about how they were planned, built, used, improved, enjoyed, and hated. The reading by the author is excellent, and keeps you riding along with the story without any traffic jams. If you've ever been in Los Angeles my guess is that you'll find this book enjoyable. If you haven't been in LA, but have an interest in highways and how profoundly they shape our lives, I think you'll really learn some things from this book.

Excellent historic account of LA freeway system

As an urban planner, I found this book super interesting and fun to read with so many factoids and stories about the freeway system in the Los Angeles basin. This book really hits the mark in so many ways, from highlighting the inequities of community displacement for the ultimate goal of ramrodding a highway through established communities, (specifically minority neighborhoods furthering the racial segregation highway systems can bring, in addition to the financial disadvantages caused by redlining practices; all a sad reality of the highway system across this country) to the economic benefits realized from such a colossal system.

As native Angeleno, I loathe the freeways in Southern California, specifically in the LA basin. The author, Paul, has written an incredible account of how the freeways came to be in Los Angeles, a history I never knew of, but only heard about while growing up in the San Fernando Valley. And, yes, it is true, building more freeway lanes does not alleviate the congestion, but only makes it worse. The facts and research that went into writing this historic account of the LA freeway system is incredible! The attention to detail and little stories about the involvement of the major stakeholders, politicians, funding mechanisms is endless; Paul weaves a wonderful tale of planning, engineering, history, community involvement, and of course the politics around the endless efforts to connect the place of LA. The freeways, however, as much as we all dislike the congestions they bring, have also brought endless opportunities for Southern California to participate in the overall economic powerhouse of California, now ranked fourth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP.

The freeway system goes for what seems like forever, connecting so many cities and unincorporated areas together across the concrete jungle that is Greater LA and beyond. The book is organized by freeway name and when it was built, which is super helpful when piecing this historical perspective together. I especially like the clarification as to why us Southern California natives say “the 405”, “the 101” and so on instead of by their names; the Ventura freeway, the San Diego freeway, etc. Paul really clarifies this, as well as other myths surrounding the freeways, some true, some not, such as the story about the Curse of Cahuenga Pass and its buried treasures. The book is chock full of interesting, quirky, and funny stories about each freeway and the characters involved building said freeway. Remember the infamous blue call boxes, or the push for HOV lanes, and the metered ramps? The boxes appear as much a relic as the good old phone booth; the HOV lanes are abused by everyone, and the metered ramps! The frustration felt by all having to stop then get up to speed again to enter the freeway.

Paul really conjures up all the old (and for some new) memories of the freeways that spider their way around the LA basin. Thank you, Paul, for writing such a fantastic read and for awakening so many memories of the freeway system I had driven far too much—the traffic jams and the infamous SigAlerts! I’m so glad all of this is in my rearview mirror today, now that I live in another state with far less traffic.

Not a Serious History of the LA Freeway System

This would be better suited for podcast format. The narrator’s tone and snarkiness detract from his researched history of LA’s many freeways. He reiterates the “freeways are racist” idea published by the LA Times in recent years. Did I mention he can’t pronounce “Figueroa” correctly?