SECRETS OF THE BIG SHOW IN THE BIG APPLE

The contradiction is not lost here. 

In the Big Apple, only 45 percent of households own cars. In the Manhattan borough, it’s even less at 22 percent. And those that do will avoid driving if at all possible.

In contrast, Los Angeles (“the Big Orange”) is car culture ground zero. 

People find excuses for driving their cars. There’s a car show every Saturday and Sunday—not to mention at various intervals during the weekdays.

Southern California’s In-and-Out Burger is credited with introducing the first two-way speaker system for ordering food through a drive-through restaurant.

The first drive-through Starbucks was opened in Hermosa Beach, California.

In the United States, the “Blessing of the Cars” first became a major custom car show event in Glendale, California.

ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California is widely regarded as the top automotive design school in North America.

Even the car companies recognize the importance of Southern California as a center for creativity. Every major car company that sells cars in this country has established a design studio in Southern California.

So, with all this going on in Greater Los Angeles, why is the biggest auto show in North America in New York, where most people don’t own cars and try to avoid driving them if at all possible?

LA Car put the question to the organizers of the New York International Auto Show and have yet to receive an answer.

Nonetheless, we have a hunch a major reason for the New York show’s success is the same reason that keeps the LA show from getting bigger:

It’s All About Getting to the Show

The public transportation system makes access to the New York show’s Javits Center as easy and inexpensive as getting to any other place in Manhattan. And New Yorkers are thoroughly accustomed to its excellent subway and bus systems.

In contrast, LA’s public transportation system is a long way off from New York’s standard, and Angelenos are still not used to using it. “Los Angeles drivers know less about riding public transportation than they know about driving in the rain,” said one enthusiast transplant from the east coast commenting about how terrible Angelenos are driving in the rain.

The Angeleno aversion against taking public transportation means most people attending the LA Auto Show end up paying as much as $42 for parking in the show’s Los Angeles Convention Center.

It’s a huge deterrent against attending the show at all.

At the Javits Center, the cost of parking is equally high, but New Yorker already know how to get there without a car.

BTW, there ARE car people around NYC. Ask Bruce Springsteen.

Truth be told, while those in the Manhattan borough are mostly car-free, the surrounding areas are full of car culture.

Bruce Springsteen sang about it on his album Born to Run, when Magic Rat drove his sleek machine over the Jersey state line, and the visionaries in the parking lots dressed in the latest rage.

At the New York International Auto Show, some of the most interesting machinery was in the Javits Center’s Level 1, with cars presented by R2XPO, which also had actor Sung Kang on hand to talk about his new movie Drifter, the Long Island Street Road Association, NYC’s Infamouz lowrider car club, cars presented by KarParts 360 and Two 12 Media (Luis Da Silva), and a number of local law enforcement entities.

Level 1 featured JDM vehicles, lowriders, drifters, custom cars, hot rodders, offroad and adventure vehicles, EVs, and a separate track for electric vehicle ride and drives.

Let’s Go Crazy

So, here’s a wild idea for making a trip to the LA Auto Show as easy as it is for New Yorkers to go to the NYIAS at the Javits Center—and ultimately for turning the LA Auto Show into the most well-attended car show in North America:

1.        Get LA County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make public transportation free for attending the LA Auto Show.

2.        Offer a substantial admission discounts and extend show access for public transportation users.

3.        Create software that can be downloaded to phones from the LA Auto Show site that make it incredibly easy to take public transportation to the show.

4.        If this works and far fewer people park at the LA Convention Center to attend the show, they can re-purpose the inherently dark lots and have Larry Chen’s highly successful Night Lights event take over most of the lots as part of the LA Auto Show.

Let’s do it!