The Joy of No Place to Park!
I spend most of my waking hours at my office, 1044 E. Fairview in Cloverdale’s Five Points. Weekdays, I arrive before 8:30 and stay until at least 6:30, often 7:30 or so. And because we have Halle, our office cat who insists on eating on Saturday and Sunday, weekends find me here every morning and evening — tempting this workaholic to stay for hours.
We have occupied this space since July 1993. At that time, and for many years thereafter, there was no Cloverdale Village: no Pine Bar, no Roux, no special events in the courtyard of the A&P Lofts. Everyone in the neighborhood who wanted to recreate did so along Fairview at Sinclair’s, Tomatino’s, El Rey, 1048, Bud’s and Jubilee. So on an occasional Friday night, parking could be a real challenge.
Over time, that changed. First it was the smoking ordinance that cost Sinclair’s much of its early-evening bar business. Then it was the advent of new choices in Cloverdale Village. We rejoice for the resounding success of the new businesses along Cloverdale Road and confess to being sad at the sight of empty parking spaces in our neck of the woods.
Well, so much for that! The weekend before last, the grand opening of the Cloverdale Playhouse packed the streets. You couldn’t “buy” a place to park on Fairview, in the old Wesley’s parking lot or at the “point” of Fairview and Woodley. Would it last?
Last week I got my answer. Thursday night Stonehenge had an opening and the Playhouse staged its second weekend of “The Gin Game.” Sinclair’s was, as they say in the hospitality business, “slammed.” There were people everywhere, and it looked as it most of them had come in cars. Parking was “tight as a tick.” Whoopee!
If you live in the neighborhood, it might be tempting to be disgruntled because you have a problem parking or find someone parking on the street in front of your home. I beg you instead to rejoice.
Halle the office cat with her heater.
The best thing that can happen for all of us—both to enrich our lives and to add value to our properties — is that more merchants attract more people. The joy of no place to park is the assured good health of the businesses that add so much to our quality of life in this little corner of Midtown Montgomery.
Sandra Nickel has been listing and selling residential real estate for over 29 years, most with an intense focus on Montgomery’s Midtown neighborhoods. Sandra serves on the Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless, the Cloverdale Business Coalition, Historic Southview, the Volunteer and Information Center, Landmarks Foundation and her own neighborhood Garden District Preservation Association.
The cat must be a politician! A classic “fat cat” photo!
She actually rather svelte. Just not a very flattering angle. Bet any one of us would look similarly rotund if shot from the rear sitting down!