Re: “South Pacific Avenue: A Metaphor for Post-Industrial America”

I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from your recent essay, “South Pacific Avenue: A Metaphor for Post-Industrial America,” in the “At Length” section of the Aug. 4-17, 2022, edition of Random Lengths

News. I am not a resident of LA/LB Harbor Area, but I have visited it several times and definitely appreciate the rich history of San Pedro and its environs. Using the colorful history of South Pacific Avenue and the erosion of its legacy to ultimately get at the problem of “modernization” and how the mindless installment of automation can harm communities and their workers—in this case, longshore workers, their families, and so forth—was a writing strategy one can admire. Thanks for this one and for highlighting the challenge that “the machine” can present to us all.

Harvey Schwartz El Cerrito