Lock your car, take your keys, in old-time Phoenix


Something that I remember from my childhood in Minneapolis is an advertising campaign to encourage people to lock their car, and to take their keys. I can hear the stern voice in the commercials, and when I learned to drive, in the 1970s, it was something that I did. I really can't imagine leaving my car unlocked, and definitely not leaving the keys in the ignition, but apparently it's was so common at one time that people had to be told with ads and TV commercials not to do it.

I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, where if you turned your back for a few seconds your stuff would be stolen, and never, ever saw anyone walk away from their car without locking it, and taking their keys. When I moved back to Phoenix in 1989, failing to lock your car and take your keys was unimaginable, as it is today. But when I time-travel in my imagination to old-time Phoenix, even as recently as the 1970s, I know that it was a common thing to do. And that's because it's a small-town thing, and I like that.

As recently as 1995 when I visited my grandma is a tiny town in northern Minnesota, I saw unlocked vehicles, with keys hanging in the ignition. And I saw it not as "what a bunch of idiots" but with the warmth of knowing that they were surrounded by friends, and people that they could trust.

To this day, I see people in my neighborhood of Glendale (which is a suburb of Phoenix) get out of their car, leave the door open, engine running, and walk over to the mailbox. I like to walk around my neighborhood a lot, and as I stroll by I'm smiling. I would glance over, knowing that in a heartbeat I could, if I wanted to, be miles away in their car. But, as you know, a life of crime never interested me.

When I time-travel back to old-time Phoenix, I'm not looking over my shoulder all of the time. I feel safe, and I leave my car unlocked, and the keys in the ignition.

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