Carless in LA

This is the story of the chance meeting of Jon Bernad and Isabelle le Normand on an LA bus, as told by writer, Deenah Vollmer. I met Deenah at a BBQ when she first told me this story. It turns out she wrote her masters thesis on this character, her friend Jon, who has a special way of blending fiction with reality and relationships with artwork.

What do Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, Odeya Nini, Geico Insurance, and The Secret self-help audiobook have in common? They all figure in Episode 5 of Carless in LA! Host, Alex Wand, discovers the law of attraction as described in The Secret which leads him into a potentially costly predicament involving Odeya's Prius. Upon witnessing its mystical power through the medium of Richard, a homeless karaoke singer Alex befriends on the bus, he ultimately harnesses the law of attraction to make a deeper commitment to non-car commuting.

Musician/adventurer, Joanna Wallfisch, travelled 1,154 miles down the Pacific Coast Highway, from Portland to LA, carrying her whole world in four small pannier bags, including a ukulele and loop pedal. Pushing through challenge and triumph while traversing the coast with only her body and two thin wheels propelling her forward, what transpired was a concert tour made richer by the beautiful encounters, struggles and challenges she faced and overcame. Joanna calls this journey “The Great Song Cycle.” Find her music at https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/greatsongcycle and at https://joannawallfisch.bandcamp.com/

This episode chronicles the second half of Alex's three week journey down the Pacific Coast. Adventures include biking through the redwood forest in the black of night, outrunning a state trooper at Richardson Grove, a grocery store encounter with famed economist Robert Reich, riding with a motley crew of bikers including Billy the wrestler, Mariam the Egyptian Epidemiologist, and world adventurer, espiritulibre.

It's the summer of 2017 and host, Alex Wand, gets a one-way ticket to Seattle and cycles back to Los Angeles with a road bike that his cousin Felix welded for him. This episode chronicles the first half of his three week journey!

The first episode of the Carless in LA podcast! Host and LA resident, Alex Wand, tells the story of how and why he became carless in one of the car capitals of the world.