In the middle of downtown Los Angeles is a square block known as Pershing Square. At 5 acres, it is 0.5% the size of New York's Central Park. And to call it a park would be a misnomer, as it was completely covered in concrete in 1994. There is a fountain that is supposed to represent water coming from the nearby mountains (the purple bell tower) via an aqueduct to irrigate the citrus trees (orange spheres), but it just looks stupid. The seating was intentionally designed to be uncomfortable to deter the homeless, but it turns out when you have no place else to go, uncomfortable seating is the least of your concerns. The smell of urine is overwhelming, and the only reason to go there is that in December they set up an ice rink.
Which is what I was doing in Pershing Square earlier this month, while I was in LA. Too bad I don't ice skate, but it's still fun to watch, and the view of the surrounding architecture (including the Biltmore hotel) is a fantastic backdrop.
Of course I didn't think about it after that. What I was thinking about was interstate highways, and why some of them (such as I-405 in Los Angeles) don't actually cross interstates. So I googled it, and discovered the interstate highways weren't set up for transportation, they were set up for military use.
In 1919, as part of World War I, the army needed to transport items from Washington DC to Oakland, California. The transcontinental railroad proved inadequate, so they set up a motor convoy which took 573 hours, at an average speed of 5.67 mph. Deemed completely inadequate, the federal government asked the military for a list of roads it deemed to be strategically important, and iIn 1922 General John J. Pershing submitted a detailed, 32-foot long map of 200,000 miles of interconnected primary highways.
However, not much happened until Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower was elected president in 1953. As a young Army officer, he had been part of the 1919 Army Convoy, and as a 5-star general in World War II he appreciated the need to move troops quickly. In 1956 the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act was passed. The initial cost estimate was $25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $114 billion ($425 billion in 2006 dollars) and took 35 years. It was declared complete in 1992, although even today there are some interchanges that are still unfinished. You can now drive coast-to-coast in about 40 hours instead of 573.
Many interstates were designed to connect strategically important locations, such as airports and sea ports, plus the US borders. The Interstates were designed to move troops, not encourage economic growth, which is why some of the highways seem so incongruous. (Note that, contrary to popular belief, Interstate Highways are not designed to serve as airstrips. It is an urban myth that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat.)
Which of course brought me back to Pershing. It turns out, General John J. Pershing was the head of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I, and promoted to General of the Armies of the United States in 1919. As this rank was created especially for Pershing, he was also invited to design his own insignia. At the time, the highest rank was a 4-star General, which used silver stars, so he created a 4-star gold insignia. During World War II, the 5-star general was created, but this is still outranked by Pershing's 4 gold stars. (Bizarrely, only one other person has been given 4 gold stars: In 1976, during the US bicentennial, President Ford posthumously awarded the rank to George Washington.)
La Plaza Abaja ("The Lower Plaza") -- declared a public square in 1866 -- had been renamed St. Vincent's Park, Los Angeles Park, 6th Street Park, and Central Park. In November 1918, at the end of World War I, it was renamed "Pershing Square" in honor of the General of the Armies and, not incidentally, the father of the Interstate Highway System. Sadly, it has been a neglected eyesore since it was "renovated" in 1952 to build a car park underneath. It's 1992-1994 "remodel" made it even worse. However, earlier this year it was announced that a task force had been set up to help "re-envision" the park. Of course, one 5-acre park is not going to help reduce decades of neglect in the city centre, nor solve the homeless problems, but it is a step in the right direction. General Pershing deserves better.
Which is what I was doing in Pershing Square earlier this month, while I was in LA. Too bad I don't ice skate, but it's still fun to watch, and the view of the surrounding architecture (including the Biltmore hotel) is a fantastic backdrop.
Of course I didn't think about it after that. What I was thinking about was interstate highways, and why some of them (such as I-405 in Los Angeles) don't actually cross interstates. So I googled it, and discovered the interstate highways weren't set up for transportation, they were set up for military use.
In 1919, as part of World War I, the army needed to transport items from Washington DC to Oakland, California. The transcontinental railroad proved inadequate, so they set up a motor convoy which took 573 hours, at an average speed of 5.67 mph. Deemed completely inadequate, the federal government asked the military for a list of roads it deemed to be strategically important, and iIn 1922 General John J. Pershing submitted a detailed, 32-foot long map of 200,000 miles of interconnected primary highways.
However, not much happened until Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower was elected president in 1953. As a young Army officer, he had been part of the 1919 Army Convoy, and as a 5-star general in World War II he appreciated the need to move troops quickly. In 1956 the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act was passed. The initial cost estimate was $25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $114 billion ($425 billion in 2006 dollars) and took 35 years. It was declared complete in 1992, although even today there are some interchanges that are still unfinished. You can now drive coast-to-coast in about 40 hours instead of 573.
Many interstates were designed to connect strategically important locations, such as airports and sea ports, plus the US borders. The Interstates were designed to move troops, not encourage economic growth, which is why some of the highways seem so incongruous. (Note that, contrary to popular belief, Interstate Highways are not designed to serve as airstrips. It is an urban myth that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat.)
Which of course brought me back to Pershing. It turns out, General John J. Pershing was the head of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I, and promoted to General of the Armies of the United States in 1919. As this rank was created especially for Pershing, he was also invited to design his own insignia. At the time, the highest rank was a 4-star General, which used silver stars, so he created a 4-star gold insignia. During World War II, the 5-star general was created, but this is still outranked by Pershing's 4 gold stars. (Bizarrely, only one other person has been given 4 gold stars: In 1976, during the US bicentennial, President Ford posthumously awarded the rank to George Washington.)
La Plaza Abaja ("The Lower Plaza") -- declared a public square in 1866 -- had been renamed St. Vincent's Park, Los Angeles Park, 6th Street Park, and Central Park. In November 1918, at the end of World War I, it was renamed "Pershing Square" in honor of the General of the Armies and, not incidentally, the father of the Interstate Highway System. Sadly, it has been a neglected eyesore since it was "renovated" in 1952 to build a car park underneath. It's 1992-1994 "remodel" made it even worse. However, earlier this year it was announced that a task force had been set up to help "re-envision" the park. Of course, one 5-acre park is not going to help reduce decades of neglect in the city centre, nor solve the homeless problems, but it is a step in the right direction. General Pershing deserves better.
