Where Do You Park Your Car at Night?

There is no such thing as the one car family anymore.  Most households now seem to own two cars minimum and sometimes even 3 or 4.  I can only imagine what families are forking out weekly with the price of gasoline lately!  The other day I stopped at Delta for a mere $25.00 worth and it barely budged the needle on the gas gauge. 

Nutley has been enforcing this no overnight parking law for decades.  I like that Nutley enforces this law because it helps to deter crime, allows the snow plows through to do a better job and it gives the town a nice overall appearance.  However, many in town take issue to this parking ban because parking is a real problem for the multiple car families.

Some years back I came across an article about new home construction in the 1920's.  One part of the article that struck me was how the builders (back then) were including garages with these new houses.  They boasted how the garages could mimic the houses exterior and design and be very attractive and useful at the same time.  The above picture is a great example of how this garage has the same brick exterior as the house.

 In the 1970's car designs got so wide and so long that the cars would no longer fit into these antiquated structures.  Some people broke through the back of the garage for more length, others would take the easy route and close the garage door down and rest the door on the car trunk lid.  Some just gave up on the garage and used it as a place to accumulate the overflow from the basement and attic.

I have a 2 car garage and my old Chevy just fits in between the antiquated barn like doors.  The doors are my biggest complaint but when I see what others have to go through to get their car off the streets at night, I realize I have it pretty good.

There are more garages in town than I realized that are built right into front terraces.  I did a quick count of the front steps...26 give or take!  This garage is a perfect example of the front bump out in order to fit the car inside.  The roof top would be a great place to hang during the summer.

Another bump out and lots of steps to climb.  I actually can have an appreciation for the curved top facade.

It's better than no garage at all especially with the no overnight parking law.

Looks like a long dark tunnel.  There is so much potential for more outdoor living space directly above.

I was surprised when I saw this driveway.  I like this old look as long as the middle stip has good grass or even well trimmed ivy.  You'd have to make a pretty hard swing to the left at the top to get a car inside that garage on the right.

Similar to the one above but this driveway comes to an abrupt stop.  It's like taking a step back in time.  You can easily imagine a horse and buggy at the top.

The window is what caught my eye first because of the fancy scroll like supports holding the small awning above.

When a garage is the prominent feature of a house, it better look really good and this one does.  Looks like the rooftop is put to good use too.

This is a neat little house for a single person or a couple.  The addition to the left looks to have been a garage at one time.

Because this post was about garages, parking and cars I thought I'd add this picture too.  This copper like tower was once a traffic signal at the intersection of Broad and Market streets in Newark, NJ.