Parking Lots, A History

I have often lamented (yes, I lament) that part of my soul will forever be with my friend Yolanda in the withering 1983 heat, as we search aimlessly for my lost Toyota hatchback in the endless desert that the promotors of The Us Festival referred to as a parking area. An unmarked desert-scape in San Bernardino was used to park cars for 670,000 people.

In 1997, I lost my car in the multi-level parking garage of the Glendale Galleria. After an hour and ten minutes of solid searching, including a ride in a Galleria golf cart with one of the sketchy parking dudes, I was forced to call a friend to pick me up. I vowed never to return. I returned later to find my car once the lot was mostly empty and I could spot my brown Volvo easier, but then I really, really vowed never to return. I never returned.

I followed this event with subsequent missing-car situations at the Beverly Center, The Grove, and LAX Economy Parking Lot C. My current master plan to not have to UBER everywhere for the rest of my life, involves an intricate allegiance to using the same, sometimes extremely out of the way,  parking spot whenever I go anywhere with a lot bigger than my two-car driveway.

During my thirty-five years of living in Los Angeles, I have visited the Cedars Sinai Medical Center dozens of times. The hospital itself is comprised of ten buildings totaling more than 2.8 million square feet. There are eleven parking lots not including employee parking. There is one small outdoor lot, P2, where I always park. P2 is located on the corner of George Burns Drive and Gracie Allen Drive. I can see my car  parked in P2 from any west facing window in the hospital complex, rendering my car virtually un-losable.

 The Prius, Exact Location

When I arrived at Cedars yesterday, New Year's Day, I was horrified to find that P2, my lot, was closed for the holiday. I was forced to park in the dreaded multi-level P1 in the North Tower. In order to find my way back, I took the following photos:

Space #

Lot/Floor/Section

Elevator Bank

Yes, the photo-system worked. I found my way back. In the name of all that is holy, let's never do that again.