Editor's note: Take a look back into the archives of The Dallas Morning News
In 1970, some people felt confident the parking lot as we knew it was obsolete.
"The parking lot as it is known today may be as outmoded in 10 years as the old country store," Dallas Morning News reporter Carolyn Barta declared in July 1970. In her piece she also quoted an Associated Press story that "predicted that by the end of the decade downtown street parking may be a thing of the past."
The Ferris wheel for your car did actually happen
In the article, Barta mentions a possible new futuristic trend for reducing parking problems: a series of Ferris wheel-like parking structures all around Dallas.
This structure actually existed at the time. Barta described it as an "oblong-like Ferris wheel system that can accommodate about 20 cars" in the same space that is "normally required for [only] two."
The Morning News' Bryan Martin wrote a follow-up story on this wacky structure built at Elm and Hardwood streets. It was "push-button controlled" and "loading or unloading a car" took a record time of "approximately 35 seconds."
There is always a shortage of space in a city. So this structure allowed "a relatively small area," that wasn't "appropriate for a parking garage, to be used for one.” It also "virtually [eliminated] the possibility of vandalism and the likelihood of cars getting bumped by other cars."
The end of the ride
Unfortunately this might've been a little too futuristic for the times. A year later, George Proctor wrote an article declaring that the Ferris wheel was ending. Express Park, as the structure was known, ended up being a "financial failure."
According to the franchise owner, Jim Sargent, "cities seem slow to adapt to a new idea." Sargent claimed the city of Dallas had "placed the most restrictive and expensive parking code they could find" on the structure since there was "nothing in the building codes" to cover a piece of equipment like Express Park.
"In a way it is pathetic. This could have been so cool. People who use the equipment liked it and came back."
Any other bright ideas?
Barta also thought, in addition to the car Ferris wheel, there would also be a "computerized conveyor belt," outside the city. The idea would be that you grab your things, get out of your car, and without your having to lift a finger the system parks your car "automatically in under a minute." Even Dallas city officials thought this system would be doable. To get people to work from these robo-valets, Dallas city officials thought a "mini-transit or people-mover" would easily take you where you needed to go.
The 1970's optimism that we'd have parking solved by now is hilarious. In 2018 we still have the standard parking lot and parking garage. We're still stuck with street parking. But on the bright side, we're apparently getting flying taxis soon.
