Spots Everywhere, but Not a Place to Park
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — At some point, every Downtowner has come into contact with a stack of "No Parking" signs so tall that it makes them simply stop and stare.
That's saying something, too, since we who live Downtown see more of the red and white signs than one would imagine anyone else possibly could.
This quartet of overlapping restrictions is currently posted on the east side of Spring street, between 6th and 7th streets.
Ever tried to break down where all the signs were from?
"Atlas Shrugged"
An indie feature based on Ayn Rand's novel will be at the Haas Building (7th and Broadway) on Friday, and it appears that two of the four signs are from this one shoot. Their filming notice (Permit #F00028927-B) lists "No Parking" restrictions for the east side of Spring between 6th and 7th running from 6:00pm to 6:00am on Thursday, June 24, and all day on Friday, June 25. Filming is permitted for 11am to 4am.
DESCRIPTION OF SCENE: Driving scenes. Camera and equipment on property, sidewalk, in curb lane and across the street. Interior & exterior dialogue. Occasional traffic and pedestrian control. 1 condor on Eastside on Broadway, North of 8th St for limo driving scenes. 4 bum barrels on Westside on Broadway at 7th St on sidewalk. Interior filming in empty penthouse. 2 static picture cars parked on Westside of Broadway, South of 7th St. Generator & camera in Frank Ct alley. Relocate MTA stops on Spring St, 6th St - 7th St. Scissor lifts. Camera Picture vehicles.
Little Debbie
Saturday and Sunday, Curious Pictures will be at 6th and Spring filming scenes for what would appear to be a snack spot. To do so, they've got parking removed on both sides of the scene both days. They'll also have parking restrictions on the west side of the street from 5th to 6th and a full closure of 5th street between Spring and Broadway.
DESCRIPTION OF SCENE: Equipment on sidewalk, in curb lane & across the street. Exterior dialogue. Occasional traffic and pedestrian control. Condors, generator & picture vehicles, Condors, generator, & picture vehicle.
And that top temporary sign? The one that contradicts the others by saying times you can park? That's likely from utility construction that has been taking place in the street in front of new nightclub Exchange LA (618 S. Spring).
The city's permanent parking rules for block don't help either. The peak hour "No Stopping" times make for just one more item a frazzled driver has to read before putting it in park.
LAofAnaheim on June 24, 2010, at 07:34PM – #1
Thanks for bringing this to the forefront. I don't mind the "No Parking" film shoots...however, we really need to get rid of this "Anti-gridlock zoning". It just creates our downtown streets to act as miniature highways during the rush hour. Pedestrians have to walk by while cars zoom over 40 mph in a downtown urban street. That's bad. Instead of "anti-gridlock"..make it a bus and/or bike lane if parking is not warranted. But, let's reduce the width of streets for cars and make it for people!
Sara Jones on June 24, 2010, at 09:10PM – #2
Thanks for posting this story, Eric! I've run into several issues with no parking signs being posted in area where their permits do not apply. Parking in DTLA can be a pill sometimes.
Bert Green (@bgfa) on June 25, 2010, at 10:14AM – #3
One problem is the DOT does not create custom "no parking" signs. The times are usually standard lengths (7-10 pm, 6am-6pm, etc.), so that a short shoot might end up causing the parking to remain restricted for many hours after they are finished, or before they start. Productions have been asked to turn the signs around and lower them to the ground when they are finished, but only DOT is authorized to actually remove them.
Guest on June 25, 2010, at 10:48AM – #4
The parking is a joke in general! Also, when there are film shoots, it gets worse! With every film permit and no parking sign, there should be a mandatory permit to provide ALTERNATIVE parking when those spots are taken by the film crews! We LIVE here and the parking is unsafe as it is overnight etc! If we want downtown to be a better place to live, we have to stand up for ourselves!!! There is NO incentive from the city for the people who actually live downtown and have been putting up with this nonsense!
Rachel Rose on June 25, 2010, at 11:27AM – #5
hahaha, I thought that the picture was a joke till I read the article.
Oh, downtown, what will we do with you... ?
FLEA on June 25, 2010, at 12:45PM – #6
I agree with Bert. Why can't they have the actual times they are really going to be there posted. Film L.A. needs to try and work with the city on this. It gets crazy. I had a film shoot in front of my store on 6th and they had the meters covered up with those red hoods starting on a Thursday early AM for 4 spaces, which left only 2 meters for customer parking. The frustrating thing was that this independent film group of 5 people didn't show up until Saturday morning around 11am and were done Sunday afternoon. I contacted Film L.A. about these people and they didn't know anything about them. They weren't working with Film L.A., which they were supposed to. They went to the city directly and had no problem getting the city to post the NO PARKING and RED HOODS and they told me it only cost them $40. $40 for 4 days of No Parking and no revenue for the city. And they keep making more and more cuts cause they have no money? Maybe if they managed things a little better they wouldn't be loosing so much revenue all over the city. And to top things off the people who reserved these spaces were very rude and nasty to the shop owners here and didn't seem to care that they had a huge truck blocking our stores, which they refused to move to the end of the street where it wouldn't block so much.
Guest on June 25, 2010, at 01:48PM – #7
One more reason I don't miss City Lofts.
Bert Green (@bgfa) on June 26, 2010, at 09:47AM – #8
Caryn- Filming with no permit is illegal. If you encounter it again, call the police.
Guest on June 27, 2010, at 08:02AM – #9
It is not a God-given right to provide car storage in Downtown LA. The streets ought to be made more friendly for people, not just the cars they drive. Of course, the confusion wrought by this many signs (some contradicting each other) isn't fair to motorists, but if the place in in such high demand for other uses, perhaps a permanent NO PARKING ANY TIME sign is in order.
Robert Moran (@RobertMoranLA) on June 28, 2010, at 04:03AM – #10
This actually reminds me of the confusing street signs you often see in New York. There they just laugh about it as they are walking to the subway.
Guest on June 28, 2010, at 10:29AM – #11
Slowing the traffic creates gridlock, gridlock creates pollution, downtown is a key piece in the entire city gridlock. Once downtown is paralized the rest of the city follows.
It is illogical to say that all the traffic should stop just so people can walk, that is what sidewalks were created for.
Accidents in downtown do not occur because of the speed limit.
Collissions in general occur more often in traffic under 30mp/h.
Downtown residents and bussiness won't be able to do anything against filming crews unless a non-profit organization is formed to fight the constant abuse.
They don't care for us and the city it's in their side, what are we waiting for?
Oscar
Guest on July 21, 2010, at 02:13AM – #12
Has anybody noticed when they post the new signs? I swear the "No Parking 2 am- 5am for Street Sweeping" sign is popping up all over the place and I was ticketed for it 2 weeks in a row. The first time it was an old sign- on 6th near Spring- that was so faded the times couldn't be read, especially not in the dark. The second time, when I should have been more aware and KNOW I read at least one of the posts, it was a brand new sign. I wonder if it was even there when I parked! I'd admit that I can be stupid sometimes and assume that nobody is enforcing parking at 2:30 am, but I am aware of that sign in a lot of places near Spring so I probably looked for it. Plus, at least 4 people got ticketed that night. We can't all be that stupid. Has anybody else experienced this? Know about any tricky LADOT practices that result in unfair tickets? I want to contest the tickets but don;t have evidence of all the other ticketed cars or the possibility that the sign was installed while I was parked.
Guest on September 05, 2010, at 11:20PM – #13
I had the exact same thing happen when I lived at Premiere Towers on Spring. I parked on the west side of the road overnight, and read all the parking signs. When I got to my car in the morning to move it for the 7am tow away, there was a parking ticket. I took a picture of all the signs around my car (none of which said no parking 2-5am), and contested the ticket, but they said the parking attendant was correct, and I still had to pay. There were three or four no parking signs, but none of them prohibited where/when I was parked. It sucked.