There seems to be a significant misunderstanding today of what “parking” means in America. Before the modern virus named C.A.R. started to propagate widely, Americans had a clearer understanding of the difference between parking vs. storage and public vs. private.
1881 – O.K. Corral, Tombstone, Arizona
The Wild West had a clear set of rules about parking. Any cowboy riding into a new town went to the saloon first to spend a few coins for drinks. The price of doing business made the on-street parking of his horse acceptable. If a cowboy, however, expected to stay a few days longer, he would throw a few coins to a stable boy who stored the horse in a stable overnight. Let’s call that early Valet Parking.
Saloon parking was temporary (two hours or until the first shootout), but staying longer than one day required finding shelter for the horse. Short-term on-street parking was free, and overnight storage required a stable and a fee.
Here is the real story of what happened on Oct. 26, 1881 – as told by an eyewitness and friend of mine:
The gunfight at O.K. Corral came about when several cowboys didn’t want to pay those overnight storage fees. The cowboys argued that since on-street parking is free, there should be off-street storage. This was such an outrage in the old Wild West that brothers Virgil and Wyatt Earp shot the guys dead. As a former constable (latin for “keeper of the horses” or “count of the stables”) Virgil Earp was very well versed in all parking regulations.
1905 – East Coast Cities
Automobiles left unattended on streets or in public areas were a major problem for cities at the turn of the 20th century. Several cities introduced regulations about on-street “ranking” and off-street “parking.” The word “parking” was borrowed from placing cannon carriages side by side, and “ranking” was taken from lining up horse-drawn carriages along the curb. You couldn’t leave your vehicle if “ranked” curbside; your car needed to be “live.” At the same time, unattended or “dead” cars must be stored off-street, usually for a cost.
An eyewitness and friend of mine told me the truth behind what happened in Chicago on 02/14/1929: the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in a Lincoln Park garage – was a result of various parking violations by the North Side Gang. Seven members were lined up against the garage wall and told where to stick their vehicles when “dead.” But when those seven insisted on storing their cars in a public garage for free, Al Capone – himself a huge believer in the live car/dead car system – lost his cool and ordered the shootings.
1945 – Central Park West, New York City
A former neighbor of mine and an eyewitness told me this story about old New York:
The ban against permanent parking on the city streets extended back to the mid-19th century and was considered a sacred contract. New Yorkers considered the streets as built for transportation and not automobile storage. Sidewalks were much more expansive, making the pedestrian route a real boulevard rather than a little escape ledge. Most of the wide cross streets were special “Park Streets” with trees under the care of the Department of Parks.
On-street parking was limited to one hour, for overnight parking everyone needed to have a garage spot. However, more and more automobile squatters were too cheap to pay for private storage and slowly but surely extended free and “temporary” to “overnight.”
Few defended those squatters:
- There was overwhelming public sentiment against “public streets being used as garages.”
- The police thought long-term parking encouraged car thieves and permitted loitering.
- The Fire Department complained about parked cars blocking the streets and the hydrants.
- The Department of Health lamented about the difficulty of keeping the streets clean.
- And garage owners were complaining about their empty garages.
- Merchants understood the damage parking was doing to their businesses.
Merchants concluded overnight parking cost businesses $1 million a year in traffic delays. To this very day, high-density downtowns have a higher value and more revenue per square foot than low-density ones. But the squatters eventually took over most cities. Park Streets with trees and lots of “stables” and no dead cars in 1925 are now storing 200 ugly metal boxes for days and weeks at a time.
1963 Menlo Park, CA
Historically, there was always a distinction between short-term, business-related parking and long-term costly storage of someone’s private mode of transportation. Nobody would dare to leave their horse, their boat, their bicycle, their boots, their sneakers curbside long-term and expect this to be tolerated and accepted by society. Only the car is allowed to waste all that costly transportation capacity for private gain. This would not have been acceptable in the Wild West. The Wild East wouldn’t be amused either. And New York once called it the gravest problem in the city.
In 1963 Menlo Park issued an ordinance that prohibits on-street car storage between the hours of 2 am-5 am. This way, every single resident has to think about how many cars they really need and where they store their private vehicle on their private properties. This creates friendlier neighborhoods, safer streets, and faster residential services (mail, package deliveries, food deliveries, garbage collection, and street cleaning).
Post.Scriptum.
Leaders in Old Tombstone, Chicago, New York City and Menlo Park allowed on-street parking. Usually, it was connected to some business transaction and a very temporary arrangement. Storing your mode of transportation long-term, however, requires taking some responsibility for your own property and/or paying some fee.
In Redwood City (and other “modern” cities) you get long-term car storage for free and pay for business related downtown parking. Who gets it wrong, who got it right?
More Information:
- MenloPark.Gov: Overnight Parking Regulations
- From Chaos to Order: A Brief Cultural History of the Parking Lot
- NYT: When Streets Were Vehicles for Traffic, Not Parking
- Parkwell: History of Parking
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
