The Great Red Car Conspiracy

99% Invisible

SiriusXM Podcasts and Roman Mars

Design, Arts

4.8 • 27.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2013

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Eric Molinsky lived in Los Angeles, he kept hearing this story about a bygone transportation system called the Red Car. The Red Car, he was told, had been this amazing network of streetcars that connected the city–until a car … Continue reading →

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars and this is Eric Molinsky.
0:07.0	Hi, I'm Eric.
0:08.0	Eric is an independent producer in New York City.
0:10.0	Brooklyn, of course, like most public radio producers here.
0:14.0	But before Brooklyn Eric spent 10 years in Los Angeles.
0:17.7	Yeah, when I was in LA I used to hear this story pretty often and the story
0:20.8	it's almost like a fable.
0:29.0	LA had this, you know, amazing transportation system called the Redcar and it was this trolley that covered the entire city.
0:32.0	And then after World War II, either Ford or GM bought the red car,
0:36.0	had it dismantled, and then built this, you know, horrible freeway system
0:40.0	that created the sprawl and gridlock of today.
0:42.8	What the hell's a freeway?
0:44.4	Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena.
0:48.5	Smooth, safe, fast.
0:51.0	Traffic jams will be a thing of the past. And you know, for some Fast.
0:53.0	Traffic jams will be a thing of the past.
0:54.0	And, you know, the first time I heard the story I thought, well, that sounds familiar.
0:57.0	It must be true.
0:58.0	I feel like I've definitely heard this story before.
1:00.0	That's because it's the plot of who framed Roger Rabbit.
1:03.0	Come on, man, he raises us the humor.
1:07.0	Or at least it's the evil scheme that Christopher Lloyd reveals at the end of the movie.
	...

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