Automobiles occupy lots of space in Los Angeles, a city that does not cater as much to pedestrian traffic as much as it caters to cars. In fact, many Angelenos feel as if they need a car to get around. While some have a car out of necessity, others have one as a luxury. Whatever one's reason may be for owning a car, we all generally like to keep it as clean as possible.
Some car owner's like to clean their vehicles in their driveways; others prefer to use a car wash. The car wash that I visited is the self-service type where you wash your own car without paying someone to do it. The most obvious distinction between a self-service and a full service car wash lies in the people who make it a more public or more private space.
The self-service car wash that I visited serves mostly people who are not necessarily poor but not affluent either. Most people who use this car wash use it because they do not want--or cannot afford--to pay ten or twelve dollars to have their car washed when they can do it themselves for five dollars. Because this is a self service car wash that runs more like a service station and not a business, it is open to anyone. The lot is open and without gates, offices, or service workers to keep "unwanted" homeless people and solicitors out. The people who were using the car wash, including me, did not mind having solicitors and a homeless man nearby. Without any type of restricted entrance, this car wash definitely functions as a public space. But some may feel that this space is too public. Does making a completely open space jeopardize the public's security, or are we responsible for our own security no matter where we are?
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5 comments:
ea, I think that a car wash is a very interesting public space because of how important cars are to the city of LA. When I think of car washes, I usually think of a more private expirence where customers sit in their cars and pay unfornunate people to clean their cars. This car wash however seems like a more public expirence, although not very personal. There might have been tension or egos because of the type of cars that were being washed. Although I have not been to this car wash, I can assume that there is not really an opportunity to talk to strangers. Did you find people helping or even talking to each other or mostly keeping to themselves?
EA, i find your analysis of a car wash very interesting, especially as a representative of a public place. I am curious if you found a lot of social interaction on the car wash site? or was it more of a get your car washed as soon as possible in order to get on with your day? I wonder if people recognized the self serve car wash as a public place if it would become more popular then car wash service station.
KJS, you brought up an important aspect that I did not even consider. There really is hardly any interaction among the people at the self-service car wash. The only type of interaction that I noticed was between the people using the car wash and the solicitors. Every time a solicitor approached someone to sell an object, most rejected his sale. Other than that, though, people kept to themselves and talked only their family, if they were accompanied at all.
So I guess the space is public in a physical sense since there are no gates on the lot that keep people out. However, the private aspect lies in the fact that people do not socialize. People who use the car wash have the "privacy" of keeping to themselves.
ea:
I like your choice of public space. these self service car washes are definitely shady in some part of town, and im not sure i would use one at night if i were alone, since someone could easily jump in your car (with or without you). but your question of: are we responsible for ourselves (safety-wise) anywhere we go? is an interesting question. I think as adults, one is. childrens' public spaces should not have such a request however. and i would like to hope that there are some public spaces in LA, or pseudopublic spaces, where one does not need to be alert and careful 24/7. how did you feel while you were there, washing your car?
HB, I felt okay security wise while I washed my car. It was at around 4 pm when there was still plenty of sun to be outside. The only type of potential danger that I noticed was the homeless man who lingered at the site, but then again he was just scrounging around and not even talking to people. You are definitely right about not being outside at night. I really don't think anyone uses the car wash late.
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