I was born in LA, currently live in Northern California, and I get back to LA from time to time. Nobody'd call LA a "pedestrian-friendly" city, but walking isn't a crime. LA isn't all freeways (where you would be nuts to walk). It does have very long blocks, and sometimes you have to walk as much as a mile to find a StarBucks or convenience store (though they're working 24/7 on filling in those gaps). So maybe it's more accurate to say that anybody who walks in LA is going to be very, very, good at it. Walking in LA's not for the faint of heart or fallen of arches, but lots of people do it.

You should shouldn't believe everything you read in that there foreign press of yours. Foreigners, you know how they are...;-)