Court Street Parking Lot: The Last Day
On August 1, 2003, I was downtown when one of my favorite places to park was about to disappear. I grabbed my camera and photographed the Court Street lot one last time.
AUGUST 1, 2003 · DOWNTOWN SLO
I always enjoyed going downtown in San Luis Obispo. It had a chill atmosphere, people were out shopping, and I could usually find a convenient place to park.
Back then, there were three downtown parking lots I used regularly.
The three lots I used
1. Court Street
This was always my first choice. It was easy to get in and out of, whether I was coming from Higuera, Monterey or Osos Street.
2. Behind Bubblegum Alley
It wasn’t a huge parking lot, but if you entered from Marsh Street, you could drive through the entire lot looking for an open space.
3. Palm to Monterey
If I couldn’t find a space in the first two lots, I could almost always find one here.
One last walk through the lot
On Friday, August 1, 2003, I happened to be downtown on the last day the Court Street parking lot was open. The property was going to be developed, eventually becoming the Court Street area where Sephora is today.
I knew the parking lot was about to disappear, so I took my camera and photographed it one last time.
These are those photos.
Looking across the Court Street lot toward the buildings along the edge of the block.
Another view across the parking lot on August 1, 2003.
The large shade tree and parked cars in the Court Street lot.
Public Parking Lot 6 — the Court Street lot — on its final day.
Looking down one of the driving lanes through the lot.
A final view across the busy Court Street parking lot.
What I notice now
Looking at these pictures now, what strikes me is how ordinary everything looked that day. Cars were parked beneath the trees, people were going about their business, and the lot still looked like it had always looked. But the next day, a familiar piece of downtown SLO was gone.
Eventually, the other two parking lots I regularly used disappeared to development as well.
Do you remember it?
Do you remember parking in the old Court Street lot — or any of these other downtown lots? If you have a SLO parking memory, add it in the comments.