Los Angeles: Concrete
If I had to describe Los Angeles in one word, that word would be “concrete.” It clads the earth as slabs of highway. Concrete columns, dwarfing those of the Parthenon, hoist overpasses. It’s the material of choice for wide streets, seldom used sidewalks, parking garages, swimming pools, runways and tarmac. The hotel I’m at, the Westin Bonaventure downtown, is mostly concrete, inside and out, a weathered artifact from an era when the material stood for the strength of bright, modern promise.