[NicknamedBob]

"No warning signs around the tar pits?"

You're thinking of L.A.

The asphalt parking lot felt like a shag rug.

[sionnsar]

One hot-climate city is much like another.

And while it may have felt like a shag rug, I'll bet there were those in L.A. who would have said the same. At first. Assuming they had shag rugs back then. (And aren't shag rugs, like, forever?)