Technically speaking, today’s photo is vintage – it’s from 1954 – but it’s more of an artist’s conception of what some Angelenos thought the 101 Freeway might look like in the future. Actually, I’m kind of surprised it didn’t happen. The freeways were already there, and a suspended monorail would have been way cheaper than digging subway tunnels. They’d give mass transit passengers a nicer view. AND they look cool. Alas, it never happened. The only monorail in LA today is the one at the Getty Museum.

Richard said: “After they provided Disneyland with one, Japan wanted to build a monorail system all over LA for nothing just as an experiment, but was turned down. Some say it was due to still having strong negative feelings toward Japan after World War II. We certainly have the wide boulevards for it from the streetcar era. Also, so much of downtown is above street level with all the skywalks. I certainly would rather be above ground rather than underground in an earthquake.”