How is L.A. like ancient Rome?
If a citizen of ancient Rome were brought back from the long dead, he could very well feel comfortable in Los Angeles — language barriers aside. The similarities are numerous: a culture of financial and Bacchanalian excess; a relatively successful mingling of cultures, ethnicities and races; a supposed “everyman” democracy that facilitates porn stars and washed-up child actors running for governor. But perhaps the most direct link between ancient Rome and Los Angeles is the infrastructure that makes up what may be the most crucial city utility: the water system. Thousands of years before aqueducts showed up in L.A. to support an exponential rate of population growth, engineers in ancient Rome were constructing a similar system to support a city of more than 1 million people. And they built the brilliant system for the same reason L.A. did: The water supply in the immediate vicinity simply was not enough to provide water for everyb
