"Carmageddon" weekend was fantastic!
One city official said it would be "the mother of all traffic jams."
A European newspaper predicted the entire city of Los Angeles would "grind to a halt."
Happily, all dire predictions turned out to be wrong.
Anticipating gridlock, I left Burbank at 1 pm on Saturday to arrive in Venice Beach by 3 pm.
It took me five minutes to get from Burbank to Hollywood and Highland. The usual thousands of tourists were there, but I kept driving and turned onto Sunset Blvd. By the time I got to Beverly Hills, the street was wide open, only a few cars, so I decided to stay on Sunset.
I drove down Sunset through Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. I never take that route to the westside (because it's the roundabout way) but there were so FEW cars out that I had extra time.
I drove past the 405 overpass at the corner of Sepulveda and Sunset---near the Getty Museum. Several people were standing at the overpass, taking photos of the empty freeway.
I ended up on PCH....again, no traffic. So I drove slowly, enjoyed the ocean and eventually found Lincoln Blvd. and my destination--- Nowita Place.
There was hardly any traffic anywhere, even in Venice and Santa Monica.
On the way home, I could have chosen many routes. Again, no traffic. I drove down Washington Blvd. and all of a sudden there was Sepulveda Blvd!
On a whim, I turned left onto Sepulveda and decided to stay on it for as long as I could. The police earlier said they wouldn't allow anyone on Sepulveda if they didn't live in the area.
Well......it was surreal and so much fun! I drove the entire ten miles alongside the CLOSED and deserted 405 freeway. I felt like I had Sepulveda all to myself and I practically did.
At each freeway on-ramp police stood by, making sure no one tried to get onto the 405. I saw a few construction workers and I saw the Mulholland Bridge, which was half torn-down. I also saw several TV news vans on the other side of the freeway. And there were helicopters above me.
But the entire time it was just incredible. No traffic, no gridlock, no people---nothing!
Even at the Skirball Center, there were no cars.
Apparently nearly everyone stayed home or they stayed in their neighborhoods.
It was really fun driving alongside a totally empty 405.
Whenever "Carmageddon" is mentioned in the future, I'll remember how I drove ten miles next to the vacant freeway, instead of staying home like everyone else....!!!
