SMT ON VECTOR FOR DOWNWIND AT LAX BELOW THE TCA HAD CLOSE CALL WITH VFR SMT NORTHWESTBOUND; NO TRAFFIC ADVISORY FROM ATC.

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WE WERE INBND TO LAX. NORMALLY WE MAINTAIN 5000' UNTIL SMO; THEN DSND AND CLRNC TO LAND IS GIVEN BY THE CTLR. BUT; ON 5/FRI/88; THE CTLR DSNDED US FROM 5000 TO 4000' ABOUT 10 NM W OF SMO. BY DOING THIS THE CTLR TOOK US OUT OF THE TCA AND PLACED US IN AIRSPACE KNOWN AS THE LAX VFR CORRIDOR. AT NO TIME PRIOR TO OR AFTER THE INCIDENT WERE WE GIVEN TFC INFO. THE F/O HAD JUST FINISHED GIVING A PAX BRIEFING FOR LNDG AND WE WERE DOING THE BEFORE LNDG CHKLIST. I LOOKED DOWN TO CHK THE LNDG LIGHTS ON AND WHEN I LOOKED UP THERE WAS A LIGHT TWIN ENG ACFT IN FRONT OF US; IT APPEARED TO BE A SMT TYPE. OUR ALT WAS 4100-4200' MSL. THE SMT Y WAS ABOUT 200' HIGHER AND ABOUT 1/8 MI IN FRONT OF US. HE APPEARED TO BE IN LEVEL CRUISE FLT AND WAS HEADED N OR NWBOUND. THERE WAS NO TIME TO TAKE ANY EVASIVE ACTION. I THINK THERE ARE SEVERAL SOLUTIONS TO THIS INCIDENT. FIRST ELIMINATE THE LAX VFR CORRIDOR OR MOVE IT (OFFSHORE OR INLAND). SECOND; DO NOT DSND; CLB OR TURN ACFT SO AS TO PLACE THEM OUT OF THE TCA WHEN THEY ARE WITHIN 25 NM OF THE ARPT. THIRD; IF TFC CONDITIONS ARE SUCH THAT ACFT MUST BE TAKEN OUT OF PROTECTED AIRSPACE; THEN THE CTLRS SHOULD BE MADE TO SEPARATE THE ACFT FROM ALL OBSERVED RADAR TARGETS. I HAVE 3600 PLUS HRS AS A PLT AND 7 YRS EXPERIENCE AS AN AIR TFC CTLR. IT IS MY OPINION THAT DEP AND ARR ROUTES AT LAX ARE ABOUT AS SAFE AS THEY CAN GET W/O DOING A COMPLETE AIRSPACE OVERHAUL. I ALSO THINK THAT THE REQUIREMENT FOR GIVING TFC INFO SHOULD BE GIVEN A HIGHER PRIORITY INSTEAD OF BEING ON A WORKLOAD PERMITTING BASIS.