For years getting a limo in LA was a matter of picking between black and white, with a short list of customization options (liquor, media including music and/or movies). The stretch limo enjoys a privileged place in not only LA culture, largely encouraged by the patronage of Hollywood and its denizens, but also in US culture. Limos have represented the gold standard of personal transportation—assuming you’re not driving yourself that is! Gracing not only the red carpet but also the silver screen itself, the limo long held fast its place as the chariot of the privileged and prestigious.
But the universal constant of all industries is change. Economic prosperity throughout the majority of the 90’s made this once exclusive vehicular rite something within the projected budgets of high school seniors on prom night. The stretch limo had its heyday throughout the late 70’s and 80’s, but as the car industry boomed with innovation, and public tastes turned away from the opulence of the “long luxury car,” the stretch limo line failed to catch the eye of current clientèle, whose lowered average age brought demand for something with more “pop” cultural clout.
Enter the hummer limo, a stylized reimaging of the military personal carrier, this new mode of “fancy travel” rolled up with its army boots laced up tight. Having long enjoyed a place in pop culture as the gritty ride of Beverly Hills elite, and “rich kids” everywhere, the Hummer limo was inevitable. Soon other popular models got the limo treatment, their designers banking on their popularity with the consumer masses and marketing these new-fangled rides to the thrill seeking with bucks to burn. Yet these [vehicle]-limo hybrids offered little more than their stretch predecessors. The addition of a pool or hot tub is an innovation of the late 80’s and nothing worth writing home about. And while limos like the Hummer and others with higher profiles allowed for more movement and accessibility, all activity still surrounds around cramming all your friends into a vehicle to sit.
Now is the time of the party bus. This new behemoth comes equipped with more than just increased size, all the amenities of your average party come stocked on a made to order basis. You can choose a theme for your party, or select from a ready-made list of packages that often include extensive catering and other such improvements to the booze and babes days of the stretch limo. The party bus beats out even the hulking Hummer limo with a further increase in square footage and the opportunity for bathrooms onsite (in the bus) allowing the party to keep on going—at least until someone needs to visit the hospital. Against the exponentially increasing intensity of the limo lineage, the stretch limo of the LA limo rental service heyday had little chance of keeping its foothold in an industry that profits the most from the avarice and capriciousness of its fickle clientele. For those who still enjoy the nostalgia of a good old stretch black limo, the cars are still running, but whether they are moving into the past or the future is anyone’s guess.
After working for years in the field of transportation in Los Angeles, the author has gathered enough experience related to the roads and different kind of means of luxurious transportation like, limo service in Los Angeles, LA Limo etc. Now, he wants to discuss his experience with us.
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