Scott L. Bottles

A theme that the author develops in this book is that the long-standing urban legend that GM, Firestone, et alia killed off mass transit in Los Angeles is simply not true; in fact, the author points out that GM & Co. put capital into the mass transit system that kept it going for a few more years. The author shows how mass transit was pretty much doomed in Los Angeles after World War I, owing to some mismanagement by the transit companies, vicious political infighting, the advent of the car, and then-unexpected consequences of building roads and freeways (i.e., that they fill up, a point Robert Caro made in his biography of Robert Moses). There's also a great deal of discussion about homeownership culture in Southern California, and how that tied in with auto ownership to doom streetcars. A very interesting read.… (mehr)