This is certain to be of interest to anyone interested in how cities developed in the second half of the 20th century.
From Time Travel Back to Los Angeles, Circa 1969 at the Atlantic Cities:
This three-minute video is almost haunting in its poetic but spare portrayal of what was then seen as the city of the future. In presenting L.A. from an outsider’s point of view, the little film was also unknowingly showing profound changes that were beginning to be experienced all across America in the form of sprawling suburban development, inner-city disinvestment, and an emerging culture of civic detachment and isolation. The perspective is not pejorative so much as presented with a sense of discovery and wonder.
The text accompanying the YouTube video:
Filmed as part of the French television program Point contrepoint this critical and poetic portrait of Los Angeles, a sprawling city where the automobile is king and millions of individuals live together but never meet. During the documentary students, a French chef, authors Henry Miller, Norman Mailer recall the positive and negative aspects of the city.
A still image from the video.