6 things to know about the worst places to park in LA

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

If you park at eastbound Wilshire Boulevard and Irolo Street in Koreatown, your odds of getting a ticket are higher than anywhere else in Los Angeles. 

So far this year, parking enforcement officers have issued 2,595 citations there — more than any other location in the city — generating more than $760,000 in fines.

Through June 12, the city had issued nearly 800,000 parking citations overall — about 7% fewer than at the same point last year. In recent years, LADOT has typically issued close to 2 million citations annually.

The numbers point to how concentrated enforcement can be in certain locations, where repeated violations drive a large share of tickets and fines.

Analyzing data from our partners at Crosstown, The LA Local looked at the worst places to park in LA. Here’s what we found and what you need to know.

1. Do not park at Wilshire and Irolo in Koreatown

At Wilshire Boulevard and Irolo Street, all tickets issued to drivers had to do with buses. 

That wasn’t the case until LADOT began camera enforcement in February 2025 on Metro’s 720 line along Wilshire Boulevard and the 212 line on La Brea Avenue. 

If you park at eastbound Wilshire Boulevard and Irolo Street in Koreatown, your odds of getting a ticket are higher than anywhere else in Los Angeles.

Before that shift, bus-lane citations were rare. In 2024, there was just one issued all year. Since the cameras went live, locations along those routes have quickly become some of the city’s most-ticketed spots. All citations in the top 10 worst places to park were bus-related. 

Driving or parking in a lane reserved for buses results in a $293 fine.

Although bus lane violations accounted for just 6.5% of all citations issued this year — up from 5.4% last year — they generated over $15 million, more than one-fifth of all the money collected from citations.

2. Keep an eye on those expired parking meters in downtown 

Downtown L.A. remains the neighborhood where drivers are most likely to get a parking citation. Since at least 2020, downtown has consistently received more tickets than any other neighborhood in L.A. — roughly twice as many as Koreatown, the second-most-ticketed area.

Last year, drivers in downtown received about $24 million in citations, compared with nearly $15 million in Koreatown. One of the most common violations there is expired meters. 

3. Anyone who parks in Koreatown knows it’s difficult — and it’s getting worse

Five of the city’s 10 most-ticketed locations are in the neighborhood, and ticketing there has increased 37% since 2023 — outpacing citywide growth. Overall, LA has seen ticketing increase by about 7.2%.

This year, drivers in Koreatown have coughed up nearly $7 million in parking citations. The most cited offense in the neighborhood is the bus lane violation, with nearly 15,000 tickets. This amounts to more than $4 million.

The average fine in Koreatown is $160.57, while the city average is $89.70. This is likely because of how often drivers commit traffic violations in the neighborhood.

4. Street sweeping and red curb violations are still the biggest traps for drivers

Street sweeping violations are by far the most common reason drivers get parking tickets in Los Angeles. 

About a quarter of all citations issued this year fall into that category, generating more than $15 million in fines citywide. 

Some of the most concentrated enforcement happens in unexpected places. The single most ticketed street sweeping location this year is a small alley behind a middle school in Carthay, where 68 citations were issued. 

Other hotspots include Venice, Boyle Heights and Koreatown — neighborhoods that consistently see some of the highest volumes of street sweeping tickets. 

To help avoid tickets, the city’s Bureau of Street Services offers an automated alert system that sends text reminders 24 and 48 hours before street sweeping on a registered block.

Register your address here.

Red curb violations are another major source of citations. One curb near Canyon Lake Drive in the Hollywood Hills received more than 1,000 tickets in 2025, largely from drivers stopping to take photos of the Hollywood Sign.

5. Parking enforcement costs the city more to run than it brings in through fines

Parking tickets can bring in hundreds of millions in LA, but that still doesn’t cover the cost of enforcement. In 2025, drivers in LA were fined $166 million overall — the highest in the dataset, even compared with 2022, which saw more tickets issued. 

Even though 2022 had about 78,000 more tickets, it still brought in over $20 million less in fines than 2025. 

In the past, the city could rely on parking tickets as a reliable source of income, but this hasn’t been the case since 2016. Between 2017 and 2021, LA reportedly spent nearly $200 million more on traffic enforcement than it collected in fines. 

More recently, a 2025 Crosstown analysis of city budget data found that in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, the city spent more than $176 million on parking enforcement and collected about $110 million in fines.

6. If you want no part of this ticketing stress, head to Porter Ranch 

At the other end of the spectrum is Porter Ranch. The neighborhood received just 163 tickets this year, with the most common violations tied to registration and no-stopping zones. Despite its low ticketing, the city collected $17,754, with its average ticket outpacing the city by about $20.

If you are interested in where your neighborhood ranks in parking tickets, email us at David@thelalocal.org