Auto Lore

Stuck in Traffic

According to the Texas Transportation Institute, residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties spend 93 hours a year stuck in rush-hour traffic. If it’s any consolation, that’s 10 fewer hours than the amount of time spent in traffic in 2000.

SIGALERT Confidential

During the 1940s, the LAPD began alerting radio reporter Loyd Sigmon whenever a major automobile accident occurred on city streets. These notices became known as "SigAlerts," and were later issued to alert all local media. The term "SigAlert" eventually came to apply to any incident on greater Los Angeles area freeways which block two or more lanes of traffic for two or more hours.

The Long and Short of It

The longest street in Los Angeles is Sepulveda Boulevard which runs 26.4 miles through the city.The shortest street in Los Angeles is Powers Street, located in downtown Los Angeles. It extends a mere 13 feet.
Source: Los Angeles A to Z by Leonard & Dale Pitt

The Second Detroit

Between the 1940s and the 1960s, Los Angeles County became the second largest automobile manufacturing region in the nation. Chrysler, Ford, Studebaker and General Motors all operated assembly lines here. At its peak, more than 15,000 workers built more than half a million cars per year.

Car manufacturing started to decline in Southern California in the 1970s with the rise of foreign imports. The last auto plant to close was the G.M. facility in Van Nuys in 1992.

Car One

The first car in Southern California took to the streets in 1897. It was built in a shop on Fifth Street in Los Angeles by S.D. Sturgis for J. Philip Erie. Within 7 years, 1,600 cars were cruising the streets of Los Angeles. The maximum speed limit was 8 mph in residential areas and 6 mph in business districts.

Drip Drip

At one time, Long Beach limited all automobile parking to no more than 15 minutes. It was feared leaking oil from motor vehicles corroded the streets.