The biggest sense in which it lacks citydom, of course, is density: cities have tightly-packed, purpose-interleaved downtown areas, in which you can meangingfully walk to most places you'd want to be. This of course also lends itself well to public transit; taxis, busses, and rail are well suited to taking you just a bit beyond the range of easy strolling.

I used to think that Los Angeles lacked a downtown entirely. Sure, there's that little cluster of a few tall buildings, but not much seems to actually happen there. People go there during the day to work at office jobs, and then they turn the whole zip code off at 8pm.

But I realized a few years ago that I had been mistaken: Los Angeles does have a downtown. A place where people congregate to spend their social hours; where they converse, plan, drink coffee, eat meals, read. A place in which walking really is the fastest and easiest way to get around. A place that drains all those suburbs of their people, and brings them all into close proximity, constantly interacting with one another. The true heart of Los Angeles.

I am speaking, of course, of the 405 freeway.

I recently made the mistake of attempting to use the 405 as a method of transit. For getting from one place to another. I knew I was being foolish, but the depth of my error took a while to manifest.

I spent about 45 minutes on the interchange from the 10 to the 405. It's a tall two-lane affair, that interchange, that I found really doesn't have the depth of character required to supply 45 minutes worth of entertainment.

About a third of the way along the interchange there was a car stalled in the left lane. But... that wasn't the problem. Traffic was every bit as dense and slow five feet beyond the car as before it.

About two thirds of the way along the interchange, another car was stalled, and its driver was pushing it along in the right lane. But... that wasn't the problem. Because he was keeping up with the flow of traffic. He actually had to stop and sit down periodically, because the car in front of him was moving too slowly.