Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In

I know this commercial is for "last year's" L.A. County Fair, but they're using the same one this year and there's no expiration date on Cartoon Tuesday pieces.

In what I'm choosing to view as an indictment of car-culture, our three heroines have a little bit of trouble at the fair's bumper cars.  The whole mess of a commercial is a gigantic spectacle, and I've never been entirely comfortable with a children's game that encourages young people that it's fun to hit each other with their cars; but I'm convinced the people that wrote the advertisement are on our side and are using the fair's megaphone to spread our message that car dependence can have some awful side effects.  I could easily re-post this video with a "This is your brain on cars" tagline.

And for anyone bothered that Streetsblog would feature an advertisement with such blatantly sexist undertones, the advertisement would be just as powerful if they replaced the Valley Girls with some random male stereotype.  And, I hope you know that I have nothing but the strongest respect for the smart, powerful, amazing trailblazers that happen to be women that are a part of the Livable Streets movement in Los Angeles.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

This Week In Livable Streets

Metro meetings, Marmion Way, Jessica Meaney, Long Beach bridge alert, and more

February 17, 2026

Baldwin Park Greenway is Now Officially Open

The 2.3 mile walk/bike path circumvents the city’s busiest streets, and is slated to expand to a total of five miles in the years to come.

February 17, 2026

Updates on L.A. City Stopping Resurfacing, Instead Doing “Large Asphalt Repair”

Bureau of Street Services GM states that budget cuts forced them to pivot to "large asphalt repair." That practice ends up resurfacing streets partially, ineffectively, and inefficiently.

February 17, 2026

Tuesday’s Headlines

ICE, rain, Metro, L.A. mayor race, LAX, Inglewood, Pasadena, Measure HLA, Bell Gardens, Expo Park, car-nage, high-speed rail, and more

February 17, 2026

Friday’s Headlines

ICE, WeHo K Line, HUD housing, clean-ups, bikes on stairs, BBB, Long Beach, Irvine, car-nage and more

February 13, 2026
See all posts