Revenge of "A Good Walk Spoiled"
Malcolm Gladwell revisits his 2017 episode criticizing private golf courses in Los Angeles for occupying valuable public land while avoiding property taxes through legal loopholes. A decade later, LA City Council member Audre Nazarian heard the podcast and introduced a ballot proposition to tax these clubs fairly, sparking negotiations and public debate about land use and inequality.
Summary
Malcolm Gladwell opens by reflecting on the frustration of ideas disappearing into obscurity, then replays his original 2017 episode 'A Good Walk Spoiled' examining why massive private golf courses occupy some of Los Angeles's most expensive real estate while runners are squeezed onto narrow dirt tracks outside their fences. The original episode explores several damning facts: a typical golf course uses 200 acres but can only accommodate 72 golfers at a time; CEOs obsessed with golf play at destructive levels (one played 148 rounds annually); and golf courses exist in a legal tax haven created through clever maneuvering. In 1960, California's country clubs secured a constitutional exemption from 'highest and best use' property tax assessments by using Bob Hope—America's most popular entertainer and self-proclaimed 'everyman'—as their spokesperson, despite being exclusive, expensive institutions that historically excluded minorities. This was followed by Proposition 13 in 1978, which froze property values at pre-1978 levels. Most devastatingly, when challenged about whether country clubs that gradually replace all their members constitute a 'change of ownership' requiring reassessment, LA County lawyers invoked the Ship of Theseus philosophical thought experiment to conclude they haven't changed hands, despite member turnover meaning only 10% of Bel Air's current members were there in 1978. The result: LA Country Club, valued at approximately $9 billion, pays roughly $200,000 in annual property taxes instead of the $90 million it should pay—an $89.8 million annual public subsidy. Ten years after the original episode aired, Nazarian's staffer brings him the podcast. Inspired, Nazarian proposes a $4-per-square-foot parcel tax, which would require LA Country Club to pay approximately $55 million annually—potentially forcing them to triple membership dues or close. Initial polling shows 64% public support. The clubs negotiate while Bel Air fights back, with the Society of Golf Historians defending the clubs as cultural institutions equivalent to Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Gladwell and Nazarian discuss potential compromises, including offering one of the dual parcels straddling Wilshire Boulevard as a public park. Gladwell makes a personal request: simply move the fence three feet to create a proper running path.
About this episode
<p>Ten years ago, Malcolm inveighed against the exclusive country clubs of Los Angeles in an episode of Revisionist History called "A Good Walk Spoiled." This November, thanks to a Los Angeles City Council member who heard the episode, Los Angeles voters will have the opportunity to take up Malcolm's cause. Today, Malcolm revisits "A Good Walk Spoiled," and speaks with Councilmember Adrin Nazarian about his proposed ballot measure. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
Key Insights
- CEOs who play excessive golf perform worse professionally and are more likely to be fired, with one CEO recorded playing 148 rounds annually, despite golf rounds taking 4-5 hours each
- California's 1960 constitutional exemption for country clubs was achieved by leveraging Bob Hope's everyman persona despite country clubs being exclusive institutions that historically excluded Jews and Black people except as workers
- LA County's legal conclusion that country clubs haven't changed ownership despite 90% member turnover applies the Ship of Theseus philosophical principle to protect aristocratic privilege, a framework historically used to perpetuate inequality across generations
- Los Angeles Country Club's $9 billion property should generate $90 million annually in taxes but instead generates $200,000, resulting in an $89.8 million annual public subsidy for a private club
- Proposition 13's 1978 freeze on property values created a two-tiered tax system where long-term owners pay vastly lower taxes than new buyers, compounding the golf course advantage by permanently locking in artificially low assessments
- The most expensive land in Los Angeles is occupied by golf courses rather than parks—when flying over the city, visible green space consists of cemeteries and golf courses rather than public parks like Golden Gate Park or Central Park
- Public polling showed 64% support for Nazarian's proposed $4-per-square-foot parcel tax, which would require LA Country Club to triple membership dues from roughly $20 million to $55 million annually just to cover property taxes
- St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and Rosedale Country Club in Toronto remain open to the general public despite being elite institutions, while Los Angeles maintains medieval-style exclusive privilege despite being a democratic society
Topics
Transcript
Pushkin. prose until it's shiny and perfect. You put your work out for the world to see, and in the back of your mind is always the thought that all that effort will sink quietly into the sea, like a corpse weighted down with concrete shoes. Have I had this fear? Oh yes. Worse, I've seen it happen to me again and again. There was a time in my life when I was obsessed with the relative age effect, wrote about it, did episodes about it on this very podcast. You look at a room full of third graders or fifth graders and you say, Tommy is a poor student. Alice is a good one. But what if Alice was…
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