Los Angeles in **1974** feels vast, sunlit, and constantly in motion. The city spreads outward in every direction rather than upward. Downtown has a few tall buildings, but most of the landscape is low and wide, filled with neighborhoods of single-story homes, palm trees, gas stations, and long commercial boulevards. Freeways cut through the city like concrete rivers. Traffic streams along routes such as the Hollywood Freeway and the Santa Monica Freeway from early morning until late at night, and nearly everyone depends on a car to get around. The air is warm and bright, though a faint haze of smog often hangs over the basin.