Bitchy! It's What's For Breakfast! (Don't Scrape My Bumper!)
I taped this on my car window on on Monday, after three cars nearly scraped mine while trying to park behind it after we all have to move our cars for a few hours of street cleaning.
I saw them -- three ginormous vehicles that wouldn't have fit into the space -- because I have to wait in my car after I move it back until a little before noon (grr, annoying), so I won't get a ticket.
To give you a little background, now that Venice, where I live, has become "hot," we get a lot of assholes parking on our street.
Rude drivers (visitors, not neighbors) scrape my bumper while parking, and one recently sideswiped my car -- including doing some damage to my driver's side mirror -- and I'm sick of it.
I don't hit or scrape people's cars; in fact, I sometimes will do eight little mini-turns so I get out of a space without any nickage of another person's vehicle...which is just rude as hell.
Oh, and I did witness one jerk of a girl hitting my car. Her insurance company ended up giving me $661 for the damage, which I used to buy a plane ticket (annoyingly pricey!) to the ev psych conference in Missouri instead of fixing my vehicle. (Priorities!)
What can I say? Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck Don't Scrape My Fucking Car.
(My agent refers to me as "Emily Postal.")
Venice must a strange place where driveways are illegal. That's the only explanation I can think of for people parking on the street all the time.
And I don't blame you for being angry. How can people be so indifferent to actually hitting someone's parked car?
"Eh, it don't matter. I'll just slip away and they'll never know who did it."
Patrick at July 24, 2015 2:57 AM
Driveways aren't "illegal" -- this is just an old community with small lots that were built without them. The house I rent was built in 1907 (from a Craftsman kit from Sears) and the streetcar ran through across the street.
By Zipcar's Robin Chase:
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/cambodia/30486/Publications/everyone_in_america_own_a_car.pdf
"Until World War II and into the late 1940s, many Americans did not own cars. People lived in cities and towns, and 40 percent did not own cars but used public buses, trolleys and trains. Soon after the war, a surge in low-cost, mass-produced houses occurred outside cities to accommodate returning soldiers and their growing families."
Amy Alkon at July 24, 2015 5:53 AM
Sounds like someone needs to upgrade her housing with all that best-selling author money. . .
(diving for cover, grinning madly: I **KNOW** what most authors make. . . )
Keith Glass at July 24, 2015 6:09 AM
Sorry that the housing situation in Venice didn't plan for driveways when the area was built. But perhaps Keith has a point. Maybe it's time to invest in a home with a driveway, and a house with a garage?
And I do agree that these people are horrible. Yes, accidents happen but carelessness and thoughtlessness are still preventable.
Patrick at July 24, 2015 6:27 AM
So Venice is becoming fashionable again? Interesting how fast those things cycle in SoCal. And yeah, in that region there are a whole lot of neighborhoods of pre-war housing that weren't designed to accommodate automobiles. Grandma working the swing shift at Lockheed probably took the bus.
Cousin Dave at July 24, 2015 7:01 AM
"Maybe it's time to invest in a home with a driveway, and a house with a garage?"
Patrick, I can't afford to move.
Venice was declared the hottest city in America by GQ a couple of years ago. It's been hot for years. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
PS Abbot Kinney is now a street you can't afford to buy anything on, save for a latte at Abbot's Habit or a slice at Abbot's Pizza. Also, I do get half 'n' half in a pinch at the liquor store.
Amy Alkon at July 24, 2015 7:43 AM
Maybe it's time to invest in a home with a driveway, and a house with a garage?
Moving is technically an option, I guess. But it's not always a practical one. I have a lot of complaints about my current place, but I stay because I've been there so long I am paying WELL below market rent in a city that is booming. To get a new place just as close to work AND the city (aka my social life), I'd have to pay at least $300 more a month. To get anywhere close to my current rent, I'd have to move to the 'burbs or take a really shitty apartment.
While moving may seem like a silver bullet, it might actually hurt Amy more than help.
sofar at July 24, 2015 7:51 AM
Maybe parallel parking should be reintroduced as part of the driving test. It's a skill drivers actually need to learn.
I watched in San Francisco along Sansome Street at the foot of Telegraph Hill as people attempted to parallel park in unmarked spaces and almost always bumped the car ahead or behind them. Many attempted to drive forward into the space between two cars and got frustrated when they could not fit their car into the space that way, often pushing the car in front to make more room.
The Smart Fortwo driver who backed into a space between to cars did the best parking job - until the guy next to him needed to leave and bumped his door trying to get out.
Conan the Grammarian at July 24, 2015 10:24 AM
Having bought a new car last year I keep an eye on where I park so as to avoid dings. I know that eventually they will happen, but still . . .
I had just parked my car on the far side of the grocery store's parking lot as far away as possible from anyone else's car. And, just my rotten luck some big, fat, (insert race different from mine here), woman pulled up beside me in a big, fat, SUV and swung her door open and bang! it went right into the passenger side of my car while I was sitting there.
I had just parked! She had a large, nearly empty, parking lot to park in. Why on earth did she choose to park next to me?
As she got out she realized I was in my car and said, in a rather annoyed and gruff voice: "sorry."
It sounded more like she was annoyed that she was caught or that my car was in her way than actually being sorry for dinging my car.(make that "denting" since it is a rather large dent not just a small ding)
Given that her race was different from mine I didn't say a word because I know that with PCness I would be on the losing end of anything that escalated.
charles at July 24, 2015 12:59 PM
I took a road trip to New England and Canada earlier this month. In Canada, the asshole content seem much lower, and the people are more friendly, for some reason.
mpetrie98 at July 24, 2015 7:07 PM
mpetrie, I noticed that, too, when I was in Toronto. Strangers would say hello to me in passing as I was walking down the street. Doesn't happen in the U.S., at least not in Tampa Bay.
Patrick at July 24, 2015 8:56 PM
Venice is a terrific place to live, sadly, I haven't lived there since Killer Shrimp (is it still there?) was a new thing.
Can't imagine what a house in Venice actually costs. But I have no need to wonder why a resident there would want to stay.
jerry at July 25, 2015 7:46 AM
I live in Nyc. Same issue. None of the damage/dings/dents are mine and all were done while I was parked. For some reason, someone walked along the passenger side one day and keyed it. I dread getting a new car.
Another issue is the painted bumpers. Rubber covered bumpers do not scratch.
CatherineM at July 25, 2015 9:57 AM
Amy: Venice was declared the hottest city in America by GQ a couple of years ago. It's been hot for years. And I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
I hear ya.
If you love a lot of pricey new restaurants then you love this wealth and growth. But I couldn't care less about pricey new restaurants. I prefer the good old pre-tech-boom days when traffic wasn't horrendous and housing prices were reasonable.
JD at July 25, 2015 12:04 PM
I remember reading, in a walking tour book about LA, that there used to be many more canals in Venice than the 4-5 that exist today, and that they were the brainchild of a developer who wanted to create his version of Venice, Italy. Too bad most of them are now gone but at least those few were saved.
JD at July 25, 2015 12:31 PM
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