A look back -- Jerry Person
While writing this column the weather outside turned very warm and
with the heat comes the migration of inlanders to cool off on the beach.
Of course, they will be driving here in their cars and trucks.
And with that sound of traffic on Main Street, comes the sounds of the
clicking of coins being fed to the parking meters -- a sound that brings
smiles to city officials.
But there was a time when the generosity of our city officials allowed
motorists to park at the beach and on Main Street for, do I dare use that
word, free.
This week we’ll look at how that all ended when the city put in those
moneymaking sentries of time.
This all began back in the closing days of World War II when City
Councilman Ted Bartlett proposed to his fellow councilmen on Feb. 19,
1945 that parking meters be installed in the downtown area.
Bartlett’s suggestion would have to wait for a year, but in April of
1946 Huntington Beach Councilman J.P. Terry stated that “parking meters
is a matter for businessmen of the city to decide. It is not a matter for
an individual or small group to decide. We [councilman] are here to help
the city and if parking meters are wanted, the businessmen should make
that decision.”
It didn’t take long for the council to act on Terry’s statement.
At their May 6th meeting the council voted to install one-hour parking
meters on both sides of Main Street between Coast Highway and Orange
Avenue and on both Walnut and Olive avenues from 3rd to 5th streets.
The council also voted to put in two-hour meters on the inland side of
Ocean Avenue (Pacific Coast Highway) and five-hour meters on the ocean
side.
The Retail Merchants Division of the Huntington Beach Chamber of
Commerce, at its May 16th meeting, favored the plan.
The city received 254 Miller manual parking meters at a cost of $75
each, plus $4 for installation from the manufacturer.
The city didn’t have to come up with that money because it made a deal
with the manufacturer to split the money collected from the meters until
the meters were paid for in full.
These parking meters were the same type as used successfully in Santa
Ana.
Once installed it would cost a driver five cents to park his vehicle
an hour on our streets or 12 minutes for a penny.
Yes, in those days a penny could buy something -- 12 minutes of
parking time.
A date of Aug. 1 was selected as the date to begin the installation of
the poles and meters.
But before any meters could be installed on the ocean side of Pacific
Coast Highway, written permission was needed from Standard Oil Company
that owned the right of way from 2nd Street to 6th Street.
In those good old days there was no such thing as eminent domain laws
to seize private property.
A parking ordinance was drafted that even included recommendations
made by the Downtown merchants.
The merchants asked that Sundays and holidays be excluded except in
the first block of Main Street and on both sides of Pacific Coast
Highway. This was included in the ordinance.
Holes were drilled for 168 bases of the meters beginning Aug. 1. Of
course the ordinance didn’t become effective until Aug. 5, 1946.
Huntington Beach Police Chief Don Blossom appointed Officer Gale
Bergey as the ticket giver. He was assigned to patrol the meters during
the eight hours a day they were to be enforced.
The first snag in the plan came from the meter company when they
installed one-hour meters on Pacific Coast Highway and Walnut and Olive
avenues instead of the two-hour ones.
But the company did install the eight 12 minute meters on the corners
properly.
Then the next snag developed, it seems the meter company hadn’t sent
the city any of the ticket books so Bergey could begin handing out those
parking citations.
When Tom Baker was installing meters for the city, he told me that
people used just about anything (foreign coins, tokens, beer tabs, etc.)
in the meters so they could avoid coming up with that red cent.
Who knows what the future holds for our Downtown meters, maybe one day
they will take only $100 bills.
* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach
resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box
7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.
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