Park & Shop promotion, Martinsburg, VA, September 1962

Park & Shop promotion, Martinsburg, VA, September 1962
Originally uploaded by rllayman

It's always "troubling" when I think that I have great ideas, only to discover that "new" ideas aren't, or are repositioning/ repurposing of similar ideas.

As traditional commercial districts fought the onslaught of the suburban shopping centers, as well as a shopping public that increasingly used cars to get around, downtowns organized "park and shop" programs and committees to coordinate public parking, so that shoppers couldn't say that the city was uncompetitive compared to suburban options.

The committees organized a system of validated parking, so customers could park free.

Parking is the trade magazine of the industry, and issues from the late 1950s and early 1960s are full of articles about these kinds of parking systems.

Today, "enlightened" urban advocates call for shared parking systems, so that the provision of parking isn't provided on a lot-by-lot or building-by-business basis, but in terms of the overall district.

Last year, Mott Smith wrote a piece about this, called "Onsite Parking: The Scourge of America's Commercial Districts."

Like the old "Park and Shop" programs, one of the problems currently is simple, signage and wayfinding systems directing people to extant parking options.

Parking sign, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond


Parking sign, Wilson Blvd., Clarendon, Arlington County, Virginia