Yep that particular area is really bad from Santa Monica to downtown and LAX, yep the 10 and 405, really really bad.

Most the rest is not nearly so bad.

Very few people actually work downtown, that’s mostly the city workers,

In L.A. most people work in the burbs,

So you end up driving from say Simi Valley to Agoura hills, or from westlake to Valencia, and visa versa
Maybe Pasadena to Encino, these are the typical commutes that people end up with when they first started out 15 minutes away,