First you find a parking space. Then you get a car small enough to fit into the Chicago parking space. Then you hope the cars at either end cut you some good old Midwestern slack and the meter maid only tags you once a day.
And just for fun...
The showroom sticker on the above Cadillac Fleetwood boasted the following specifications in 1967:
$10,360 (out the door)
156 inch wheelbase (13 feet)
5346 pounds
(notice how no one is parked anywhere near that much chrome and iron)
The 2008 Mercedes Smart Car:
$11,590 (through the window)
73.5 inch wheelbase
1808 pounds
(notice how no one respects your social distance when you pack such a small, well... package)
The top shot of old Methuselah was taken on Pensacola in Lincoln Square, the bottom at OZ Park in Lincoln Park. (also note The Tin Man statue in the background).
What
neither picture shows, though, and the original point of this mini-post, is the fact that
none of the cars in the frames were parked legally to begin with and all had orange stickers on their windshields. With private Parking Spaces listed in the MLS at upwards of $35,000 near the lake, you take whatever land you can shove between two bumpers in this town. The way I figure, at $50 per ticket, a guy can park wherever he wants to for a year and a half before he really starts losing money in Chicago Real Estate.
I'm just sayin'...
Geno Petro
follow me on twitter@genopetro
