One of Los Angeles’s biggest exports is trends, which is to say that by the time we get tired of something, it’s usually on its way everywhere else: Enjoy college students frolicking nude on-camera, Middle America! But there are still a couple of things we’d like to hold on to a little longer, including CicLAvia—which turns eight miles of closed-down roads into a bicyclist’s Sunday paradise. The city has even started reclaiming its past: The masses can’t wait to explore 1947 Los Angeles in the video game L.A. Noire. That’s also why we’re over the Times Square wannabe L.A. Live in the middle of downtown. Sometimes, noir trumps new.

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• Articles by Kyle Buchanan
• Table of Contents: Apr 25, 2011 issue of New York | Subscribe!