How Americans Fell in Love with the Open Road

As the Automobile Industry Took off, Drivers Discovered the Romance and Freedom of Long-Distance Travel

Tens of millions of Americans have hit the road this summer. The all-American road trip has long been a signature adventure, but once upon a time the notion of your own motorized excursion of any length would have seemed impossible.

In 1900, Americans were hampered by wretched roads and limited by the speed and endurance of the horses that powered buckboards, coaches, and wagons. If they had an urge to travel far distances, they had to rely upon the steam locomotive.

As fantastic as it might have seemed at …

By Peter J. Blodgett | August 13, 2015

L.A., You Suck at Parking

Many Angelenos Leave Their Cars in the Worst Places, so I Started an Instagram Campaign to Make Them Think Twice About Being Jerks

By Andria Farrell | July 22, 2015

I moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles on a whim six years ago to pursue a career as a makeup artist. I had two suitcases, a couple thousand dollars in …

The Car Is Not Dead

But the Car of the Future Is Something Entirely Different—and Only One of Many Ways We’ll Be Getting Around

by Sarah Rothbard | March 12, 2015

Don’t sell your car just yet—but be prepared to get to where you’re going in a lot of different ways. This was the conclusion of a discussion about car culture …

Are Cars Driving Into the Sunset?

How Our Love Affair with Automobiles Is Changing in the Face of Climate Change and Denser Urban Living

March 6, 2015

On a typical Saturday night in the 1970s, Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. would have been thumping with lowriders–those lacquered, richly colored sedans with chassis that could bounce up and …

Undocumented, and Riding Shotgun

I Thought I Was an Average American Teen Until I Tried to Get a Driver’s License

by Janine Joseph | January 13, 2015

Up until my early 20s, I rode shotgun. With my high school and college sweetheart, I flipped through the soft sleeves of our shared CD binder in search of the …

Will L.A. Escape the Tyranny of the Car?

We Love Our Freedom, But We Hate Traffic. And If We Want to Be a 21st-Century City, We’ve Got Changes to Make.

by Sarah Rothbard | December 11, 2014

Aaron Paley, native Angeleno and founder of the CicLAvia bike festival, is tired of reading the same newspaper and magazine stories over and over again proclaiming that Los Angeles is …

cars

How Americans Fell in Love with the Open Road

As the Automobile Industry Took off, Drivers Discovered the Romance and Freedom of Long-Distance Travel

L.A., You Suck at Parking

Many Angelenos Leave Their Cars in the Worst Places, so I Started an Instagram Campaign to Make Them Think Twice About Being Jerks

The Car Is Not Dead

But the Car of the Future Is Something Entirely Different—and Only One of Many Ways We’ll Be Getting Around

Are Cars Driving Into the Sunset?

How Our Love Affair with Automobiles Is Changing in the Face of Climate Change and Denser Urban Living

Undocumented, and Riding Shotgun

I Thought I Was an Average American Teen Until I Tried to Get a Driver’s License

Will L.A. Escape the Tyranny of the Car?

We Love Our Freedom, But We Hate Traffic. And If We Want to Be a 21st-Century City, We’ve Got Changes to Make.

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How Bikes Helped Invent American Highways

Urban Elites With a Fancy Hobby Teamed up With Rural Farmers in a Movement That Transformed the Country

The Postcards That Captured America’s Love for the Open Road

From Mid-Century Until Today, “Greetings From” Postcards Have Combined a ‘Fantastical View’ of the Country With Car Culture Obsession

The 1950s Were Not a Golden Age for Detroit’s Autoworkers

The Industry’s Booms and Busts Brought Instability That Kept Workers From Getting Ahead

Why Americans Invented the RV

In 1915, New Creature Comforts Created by Technology Merged with the Back to Nature Movement

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