Plenty of ParkingDepartment stores solve the problem of how to lure in shoppers, by offering every product imaginable. But shoppers now arrive in cars, so the new problem is finding a parking space. If you can't find a spot, you keep driving. This is sensibly solved by integrating parking with shopping. Sears is an early innovator in Chicago, building its first mega-stores in suburban areas, where they can provide adjacent parking lots. Once you realize that parking is key to business, there's no end to strategies that lure in drivers. New concepts blossom first in California, where expansive suburbs and blue skies prove a perfect breeding ground. Americans everywhere are falling in love with their cars. Communities that coddle motorists are the trend-setters, while those that don't are left behind. Soon enough, everyone gets the message. |
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Bigger Lots The trend toward car-centric shopping arises naturally out west, where there is still plenty of room to spread out. Whether in town, or sprinkled down the highway, businesses find lots of available real estate. But suburbs everywhere are in a similar condition, with plenty of cars and lots of opportunities to create new shopping venues. Commercial strips grow into shopping centers. | |||||||||
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Delivered to Your Window The American romance with cars can be traced back to its earliest days in Los Angeles. Today, LA is a sprawling snarl of freeways, but in the 1940s it's ground zero for new ways to serve customers, who can now dine in the comfort of their own cars. | |||||||||
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Finding Parking Downtown shopping districts are gradually trying to adapt to the growing presence of cars, but with fewer options. Cities with little space for additional parking remain dependent upon public transit (left), while newer urban communities can adapt to growing car traffic as they develop (lower right). Los Angeles remains at the forefront of innovation, developing America's first organized battalion of motorcycle police (center top). | |||||||||
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Counter-Style Dining Urban restaurants are still enjoying healthy foot traffic, and making the most of limited seating space in some surprising ways. Los Angeles, always in the lead, is offering snappy new walk-up service (top left), and expanded outdoor seating (lower left), which both reflect the influence of Paris styling. Woolworth's compact counter-style seating is spreading in densely packed eastern cities (center top). Meanwhile, coin-operated 'automats,' that dispense ready-to-eat food, are spreading so rapidly that by 1941 there are 160 automats serving half a million meals per day in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Popular offerings are macaroni and cheese, baked beans and creamed spinach. | |||||||||
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Lost in the Past As always, progress in America is uneven, with rural areas enjoying very few of the benefits that are now common in cities and suburbs. The South, in particular, is effectively insulated from modern trends by its heavily rural heritage, and entrenched system of segregation. There aren't many photographs of Southern cities during this period, perhaps due to a lack of attractive subject material. The photos at lower left and right highlight the stark difference between the choices available to Whites and Blacks. | |||||||||