Economists have lots of ways to measure the woes of the auto industry. There's the decline in the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate, the increased days of inventory and the bailout billions. To these I would add one more: the Tunnel Index.
The 2nd Street Tunnel in Los Angeles is probably the most recognizable city landmark most Americans have never heard of. The tunnel -- a 1,500-foot-long bore lined with white tile, like a bathroom that never ends -- has been used as an exterior in dozens of films and TV shows, most famously in the sci-fi masterpiece "Blade Runner." The tunnel will get more big-screen love this weekend in "The Soloist": The once-homeless violinist Nathaniel Ayers used to be a regular at the tunnel's west entrance.
But purely as a function of screen time, the tunnel has achieved its obscure fame for the number of car commercials shot there. Since 2006, 73 commercials for brands from Alfa Romeo to Volvo have been filmed in the tunnel, where the structure's white-glazed tile pours a strangely liquid and idealizing light over the cars. The effect can make even the most dog-ugly cars on the planet -- Pontiac Aztek, you're wanted on the set! -- look desirable.
"It's a beautiful reflective surface," said Tom Dunlap, senior vice president for Deutsch in Los Angeles, who has shot several car commercials at the tunnel. Particularly at night, when the city would prefer commercials were shot, the tunnel "creates really interesting light textures," Dunlop said. "It really is an amazing backdrop."
But the light has gone out of the tunnel of late. According to FilmL.A., the nonprofit organization that coordinates on-location shooting in the city, no permits have been issued in 2009 for car commercials. Although commercial production in the city is flagging anyway -- down 34% in the first quarter -- the 100% drop in tunnel permits suggests "very tough times in the car business," FilmL.A. spokesman Todd Lindgren said.
It would be impossible to metricize the tunnel's number of impressions -- that is, the total number of times the tunnel has been seen by individuals in all media -- and so it would be hard to defend the assertion that the tunnel is the most-seen landmark in L.A. But it would also be hard to refute. Sure, landmarks like the Walt Disney Concert Hall or the Santa Monica Pier show up a lot in film and TV. The U.S. Bank Tower downtown is a standard establishing-shot trope in the sleazy landslide of reality TV shows based here.
