Learning to use a parking lot in old-time Phoenix


As a time-traveler, I often think what it would have been like to be confronted by something brand-new, which nowadays we just take for granted. Today I'm thinking about parking lots.

Using a parking lot is right up there with something that just comes no naturally that it's hard to imagine people getting it wrong, like knowing which way to go on a street, or what to do when a traffic light turns red. But of course there was a time when this was a brand new thing in Phoenix, and it really wasn't all that long ago. Automobiles (horseless carriages) were common on city streets of Paris many years before the first one appeared in Phoenix in 1904. And the first time any roads were paved in Phoenix (just a few, in the middle of town) was in 1911. Mostly you drove on dirt, and after it rained, mud. But things started changing very quickly, as more and more roads were paved, and more and more parking lots were built.

If you drove onto a parking lot in the 1950s, at the brand-new Park Central Mall, you would be sharing the road with people who probably learned to drive before such quaint rules as staying to the right were considered mandatory. And painted stripes on the roads would have seemed confusing.

The last time I sat on the tarmac at Sky Harbor Airport, looking out the window, I wondered what all of the stripes, and lights, and such, meant. I really had no idea, and I'll never learn because I'm not a pilot. Of course the pilots know what all of it means, but to me it's just so much decoration. My best guess is that the double green dashed lines mean that the pilot should ameliorate their aileron in order to avoid misconfiguration with any opposing jet right-of-ways (or something). In other words, I have no idea.

So if you lived in old-time Phoenix and were confronted with a parking lot for the first time, it had to be more than just a little bit annoying. The lines, and the arrows, and all that, would just be a jumble, and you'd probably just head over to your destination, in spite of the other cars honking at you, and people yelling.

Another annoying aspect of parking lots is that they tend to be crowded, with someone almost always right behind you, anxious to park. So you have to keep moving, find your spot, pull into it without hitting anything, and stop. I spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, where there wasn't just one car behind you, there were ten, all impatient for you to get into a spot, and get out of their way. To this day, to my amusement, I've ridden with people who go into a parking lot in Phoenix, come to a complete stop, and then start backing up. Yikes! Luckily, Phoenix really isn't all that crowded, compared to Los Angeles, unless you ask someone who's lived there for a long time, and knew that they could back up anywhere with little or no risk to anyone who may be behind them.

I admire people who park well. I've seen people in large vehicles slip them into spots with ease. I've even stopped to admire someone driving a big rig backing to a loading zone. And when I see someone struggling with it, I imagine that they're just learning, or they're just not used to it.

Thank you for learning how to use a parking lot in old-time Phoenix with me!
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