Parking in Phoenix, Arizona before it got really crowded


You can get a real insight into someone's personality by watching how they park their car in Phoenix, Arizona. Some of it has to do with whether they're a visitor to Phoenix, or have newly-arrived from another city, or have been driving in Phoenix for a long time. It's the latter category that catches my eye. And seeing Phoenix through their eyes gives me a window into what it was like before it got so crowded there.

Since I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, Phoenix has never seemed crowded to me, especially the parking lots. Even back then LA was so crowded that you were happy to just find a parking spot at all, and you grabbed the first one you saw, you didn't drive around looking for one that might be closer to the building, because if you passed that spot, it would be taken immediately after you, and there might not be another one. Not just handy, but at all. You might have to go looking for a parking spot blocks away.

Sharing the road, or sharing a parking lot is indicative of someone's ability to be in an area with other people, in a crowded space. Using a turn signal is an indication that the person is aware of a shared space, the same way that suddenly stopping, and backing up into traffic behind you, indicates a lack of consideration for people around you. But I see more than rude behavior, I see what would be perfectly natural if it wasn't so crowded. If you strip away the density, and see an empty parking lot, maybe of dirt, with no lines painted on it, you get an idea of what many parts of Phoenix looked like not so very long ago, and definitely within memory of the people who are, ahem, "of age" (like I am!) driving around Phoenix.

When I look at photos of old-time Phoenix (like the one at the top of this post, which is the late 1960s or early 1970s), it makes me think how ridiculous it would have been to criticize if someone was parking crooked, or didn't signal before they turned. That's 24th Street, near the airport, and there's so little traffic it looks me as if you could stop your car in the middle of the street, and not only consult a map, but also take a nap. And I'll bet'cha a nickel that the keys are in those cars, and the windows are rolled down. After the sound of the airplanes roaring overhead went by the loudest sound would be the fluttering of that paper bag.

So there you go - the next time you want to time-travel to old-time Phoenix, just watch someone park their car. The newbies will be shaking their fists with anger, and they'll never know.
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