‘10 Streets’ returns with road trip from NY to LA
The “10 Streets that Changed America” series on PBS returns this summer with three episodes that continue to explore aspects of the nation’s built environment. In the first “10 Streets that Changed America,” the series chooses 10 influential roads that have connected, divided and transformed communities across the country. It’s an interesting look at the role streets have played in shaping our lives and work.
Enthusiastic host Geoffrey Baer keeps the educational tone light and cheerful as he takes the viewer on a road trip from New York’s Broadway to Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard. Meeting with experts, Baer reveals a street’s backstory with the addition of early film footage, paintings and archival footage that together form a historical picture. The idea is to offer fun, bite-size pieces of learning.
Aside from the slightly gimmicky top 10 format and Baer’s overexcited delivery, the show offers worthwhile insight on the social and cultural impact of something we all take for granted. Broadway’s 400-year-old history from a Native American road to a Dutch thoroughfare to a brightly lit theater district is one example. Along with some fun facts, like how Wall Street got its name, the backstory of Broadway has broader social implications, namely the addition of lights, which changed how women lived. For the first time, it was acceptable for them to shop alone after certain hours because their safety was less of a concern.
The other featured streets include the Boston Post Road, a highway that carried vital information during the American Revolution; St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans where the electric streetcar lead to suburban development across the country; and the National Road, which ran from Cumberland, Virginia, to Vandalia, Illinois, and was the first road paid for by the federal government. Its establishment enabled settlers to travel in wagons to the West.
Highlighting the farreaching cultural and social impact of roads, the show also makes a point about the role of ingenuity in the country’s newfound mobility. Streets belonged to people and then they belonged to cars, which meant opportunities for business development. Roads meant travelers, which meant places were needed where they could stop to eat, sleep and be entertained. One 1920s visionary predicted that the automobile would take over Los Angeles, so he created LA’s “Miracle Mile,” a shopping district specifically for motorists.