Walking in L.A.

A Jon Weisman post at Dodger Thoughts that is not about baseball inspired a long run of comments on being a pedestrian, here and elsewhere. Jon began by addressing an L.A. sidewalk conundrum and ended up channeling Seinfeld.

You know when you get to the crosswalk of an intersection when a pedestrian is already there ahead of you, and you're tempted to press the button, but you don't do it, because you feel it would be insulting to the person who got there ahead of you? Or you press the button, but you feel a little guilty or stupid about it?

Anyway, the last two times I've gotten to the crosswalk with other people there, they haven't pushed the button. They've just been standing there, waiting to cross - thus forcing all of us to scramble through the intersection against a red "don't walk" sign. Talk to the hand, indeed.

People, I implore you, keep up your end of the deal. Trust begets trust. It's like the squirrels getting out of the way of your car. We live in a society, you know.

My favorite comment, at #21 in the thread: "I was once with my dad when he got a jaywalking ticket. He asked the officer if he could go to Walking School. The officer didn't seem to find it as amusing as I did."

8:49 AM Friday, May 4 2007 • Link
More by tag: Los Angeles | Los Angeles life
Email or share:
© 2003-2008   •  About LA Observed  •  Contact the editor
LA Biz Observed
4:02 PM Tue | "This American Life" has another terrific radio hour on all the stuff you're reading about but still might not understand.
1:02 PM Tue | Maybe one day you can tell your grandchildren about the days when it stood at 14,000.
Featured bloggers at LA Observed
Denise Hamilton | It was 59 years ago today that brunette starlet Jean Spangler vanished, leaving behind a young daughter, gangster pals, movie...
Veronique de Turenne | Remember when retailers had the decency to wait until Thanksgiving to start the big Christmas push? That's when the symbols...
Adrienne Crew | Over at Design Observer blog, Steven Heller just posted a lovely tribute to Los Angeles graphic designer, Mike Salisbury, and his innovative art direction at West magazine.
Sara Catania | What do Joe Biden and Sarah Palin have to say about poverty in America? Nothing.
Judy Graeme | Monica Almeida has the perspective of a native Angeleno who photographs Los Angeles for an East Coast newspaper: the New York Times.
Phil Wallace | Am impressive sweep over the Cubs sends the Dodgers to the National League Championship Series.
Phil Wallace | Dodgers are up 2-0 in their series, while the Angels are facing elimination.
Phil Wallace | For the first time in 20 years, the Dodgers lead a playoff series.
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Premium Blogads

 
Books, Blogs & Events

Get RSS Feeds
of LA Observed
LA Observed publishes several Real Simple Syndication feeds for easy scanning of headlines. If you wish to subscribe to a feed, most popular RSS readers will do it for you. You can also enter the web address from the XML button below or click on a specific feed. For more help with RSS, try here or here.




Add to Google