it's one of our greatest tragedies in the U.S. that the region most suited for walking/cycling/"active transit" is also the region completely obsessed with appearances and specifically with appearing like you just stepped out of the makeup trailer and onto the set for each scene. I honestly think that the social faux paux of looking like you might have been exercising, or exposed to wind, or the hair and clothing style limitations imposed by arriving via bicycle are major factors for SoCal, moreso than in many other parts of the country and world.

For ~6 years my wife and I lived in Santa Barbara without owning a car. We'd occasionally rent one to get out of town - there were a couple times I left my bike locked up at the airport for a long weekend.

I used to fantasize about making a documentary called "the disappearing bike" where you would video somebody cycling around town but every time the bike lane disappeared and then reappeared a quarter mile later, you'd show them just gliding across the street without their bicycle.

Even in SB, which has a much more chill attitude on the roads than anything south of Thousand Oaks (as you head into the LA metro area), some drivers would be bizarrely unsympathetic to the fact that you were traversing a short strip with no bike line in order to connect two bike lanes, with reactions ranging from honking, yelling, revving the engine to loudly pass, "buzzing" you by passing much too close, ... but I think it generally follows that rule that most of us are kind and some small constant percentage (5? 10%?) of the world is jerks.