It's nowhere near as bad - I live in the Valley & have a nice 20-30 min commute into the office with otherwise pretty tame traffic around just about every day in my 2 1/2 years in the area. Meanwhile every visit I have had into LA had pretty bad traffic at many times you'd expect it to be normal, including after 10 am on a random Tuesday and ~1 pm on a Sunday.

There is far worse traffic in many of the worst traffic areas in the US than the Bay Area, I'm still confused as to why some try to perpetuate this myth on here.

Visitors say this. I don't buy it...I feel like LA natives avoid these kind of traffic disasters by avoiding peak times and knowing traffic patterns.

If they have to avoid traffic then there's bad traffic.

Is 1 pm on a Sunday a peak time for LA?

My sense is that 1pm Sunday is when lots of people are either a) just getting out of church or b) just waking up with a hangover. They then try to go somewhere they don't normally go to and don't know the directions to. Normal weekday traffic patterns go totally out the window and it's chaos.

Prime time at the beach.

Yep, Sunday afternoon in Venice was one of my peak traffic moments.

After-Brunch Rush Hour, of course.

Depends on where you are, time of year, weather, sporting events.

Rush hour on the bay bridge is hell on earth.