When you think of Los Angeles you think of a drivers city. A place with roads as far as the eye can see with cars blanketing every inch. Which, for the most part, is true. We love our driving out here. We love driving so much that our city transportation is decades behind other major cities. No one ever wanted to build anything until we were already over crowded. But I’m not here to talk about public transportation today.
Today, I’m talking about what might be the single worst road in all of Los Angeles. Considering the city has over 20,000 miles of road, so that’s a pretty prestigious spot to be in.
The road I’m talking about is Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles near the 10 freeway. It’s basically an off-road training ground. I didn’t know this when I began driving it for the week I had to drive it (I had a job in that location), but I figured it out pretty quickly.
Before I drove the street, everything in my car was attached and working properly. After the week on it, my spare tire had fallen off its holder (it’s a Boxster, the tire is bolted in place inside the frunk) and my drivers side window came of its tracks (a bolt loosened to the point that the window slid out when I tried to lower the window – plus side, my seals are super tight!). I’m sure there is more damage to my car than just these two things, but I can’t honestly blame every new rattle on this terrible, terrible road. However, I’m sure that many others can blame their new rattles on this piece of shit Los Angeles likes to pretend is maintained.
Now for you to see exactly what I’m talking about.
This is a minute of driving the worst stretch in my car:
Notice how embarrassingly bad it was? Did you notice that? Because it was. If you were a city official and you drove down this road, you should feel like you’ve let every single person you represent down.
Did you notice that it was so bad that my camera shook off it’s mount? Yep. That happened a few times on this car hating road.
Anyway, my lesson is learned. Don’t drive in Los Angeles. At least not on roads in the industrial part of downtown.
