I don't live in LA, so my situation might only partially comparable. but there are quite a few things that make it possible for me not to own a car that my parents didn't have access to. For example car sharing/ride hailing services that were not available 20 years ago, delivery services that didn't exist in that form. Electric cargo bikes make it feasible to carry medium loads without too much physical effort.

I can quite well imagine not buying a car for the next decade and instead rely on a combination of all of the above, something that would have been very hard for my parents generation.