As I rode my bicycle in the beach areas of Los Angeles this past Monday, I couldn't help but notice the fireworks. I didn't think much of them, other than the lack of opulent displays that pepper the beach in times of economic excess. It seems the city of Los Angeles canceled almost all of their large displays, so that people were going greater distances (mostly by car, often drinking) to see fireworks.
Then today, as I was in the historical map section of the downtown public library putting dozens of over-sized early maps of the city in chronological order, it dawned on me that the cities and their surrounding fiefdoms, were like fireworks, that explode from a central point, radiate out, and linger and often fade away, only to be replaced by other explosions at different times. Seeing all the clusters of development explode in a timeline made a city that didn't always fit together in it's different sections, not to mention obstructions like the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains, breaking up the grid of development.
Then today, as I was in the historical map section of the downtown public library putting dozens of over-sized early maps of the city in chronological order, it dawned on me that the cities and their surrounding fiefdoms, were like fireworks, that explode from a central point, radiate out, and linger and often fade away, only to be replaced by other explosions at different times. Seeing all the clusters of development explode in a timeline made a city that didn't always fit together in it's different sections, not to mention obstructions like the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains, breaking up the grid of development.
