Not your usual March Madness: how you can help crown LA’s worst parking lot

Almost every Angeleno has a personal vendetta against a particular parking lot or garage in the greater L.A. area.

Whether you’ve spent hours snaking out of Dodger Stadium on game day, lugged your groceries blocks away from the store, or questioned your sanity turning off Pacific Coast Highway — parking here can be a uniquely frustrating experience.

But now, in a truly L.A. twist on March Madness, you can help crown the worst of the worst in a competition run by Americana at Brand Memes on Instagram.

The anonymous account holder, who goes by Mr. Glen Dale, told LAist that in a city where so many of us are conditioned to be in our cars, those coveted spots can feel like an unavoidable competition.

“One of my, like, top five things to complain about is parking,” he said. “And I’m sure a lot of Angelenos also agree with that.”

How it works

The competition kicks off Saturday with 42 lots and garages entered.

Each day at 11 a.m., @americanaatbrandmemes will post the competitors on Instagram with a poll attached.

The poll will open for 24 hours, with the winner moving onto the next round to face off against the others.

To complete the lineup, Mr. Glen Dale started with a list of his personal worst before turning to his followers for some suggestions.

“The Beverly Connection was one that I got a lot,” he said. “ But last time I was there, it was like, a $5 flat fee, there is no free parking, and I was like I don't need to go to the Target that bad, so I've never gone inside that one.”

However, there is also a wild card option. So if you’d like to enter another lot or garage, drop a comment that includes “WILD CARD: (your suggestion).”

Americana at Brand Memes has asked his audience for feedback on the brackets.

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Americana at Brand Memes

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Instagram

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Those comments with the most likes will advance to that bracket in the “rest” division. Fun, healthy debates are highly encouraged.

So far, the popular wild card comments include all of Koreatown, the Pub at Golden Road in Atwater Village, the In-N-Out on Harvey Drive in Glendale, and Portos in Burbank.

Koreatown and West Hollywood almost made the list, but Mr. Glen Dale felt they didn’t fit the format and would buzz through the rest of the competition. Americana at Brand Memes did put up an Instagram poll on Wednesday asking if Koreatown should be added to the bracket, and a majority of the votes were for the “Yes! CHAOS!” option.

He also considered adding the lot in the middle of LAX, but a similar poll voted that if you park there, “that’s your fault.”

The Arenas / Tourist Attractions Division

The first section pits some of L.A.’s most iconic parking lots against each other.

There’s nothing quite like struggling for a spot along with thousands of your neighbors. Parking can be so brutal, even the newest Laker Luka Dončić knew it could be a way into fans' hearts.

The options include:

• Intuit Dome vs SoFi Stadium vs Dodger Stadium vs Crypto.com Arena (which is still listed as the Staples Center on the bracket because “that's what everyone calls it,” according to Mr. Glen Dale.)
• Citywalk vs Hollywood / Highland
• Hollywood Bowl vs The Greek Theatre vs The Forum
• Rose Bowl vs The Coliseum

But Mr. Glen Dale had high praise for the Hollywood Bowl, which he called the “gold standard” of balancing public transit access and parking.

The Grocery Store Division

Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake is an early favorite to win the division.

At least @mariah.michael seems to think so.

“I’m telling you right now it’s Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake,” they wrote in an Instagram comment. “It is a place where cars and souls are destroyed.”

The TJ’s on Hyperion Avenue can be challenging with turning cars poking out and blocking the busy intersection.

Shopper Jamie Solomon told LAist it’s never a good time to park in the lot as she pushed her cart full of groceries further down the street.

“ Sometimes I think I can come in the middle of the weekday, but it's always chaotic,” she said. “Getting in and out always gives me anxiety that I'm going to get into a car accident.”

But are some of the L.A. locations worse than Grand Central Market, Whole Foods, Ralphs, AND Costco?

The options are:

• Trader Joe’s Round: Studio City vs Encino vs Silver Lake vs La Brea
• Grand Central Market vs Ralphs Western / Hollywood
• Costco: Alhambra vs Burbank vs Torrance vs Marina Del Rey
• Whole Foods: Silver Lake vs Santa Monica Boulevard

The “Rest” Division

At the Griffith Observatory, Finn Wittrock was hiking down the hill back to his car with his son Jude on his back. Wittrock told LAist he’s not sure why the signs direct you to park “like a mile away” when there’s spaces available closer.

“ But I see other people just disobeying the sign and driving in,” he said.

The brackets include:

• Cedars-Sinai vs UCLA Medical Plaza vs UCLA Health Burbank
• AMC Burbank 16 vs Studio City Plaza vs Fryman Canyon vs 8000 Sunset
• The Getty vs Griffith Observatory vs Santa Monica Pier vs Will Rogers Beach
• Wild Card Round
  

Although the Griffith Observatory can be a bit of a work out, especially with Tuesday’s unusually warm winter weather, Wittrock said the Glendale Galleria parking garage takes the cake.

“ The Americana one they kind of got figured out,” he said. “But that old one is…I've gotten so many near fender benders in that one.”

The Mall Division

Both the Glendale Galleria and The Americana can go head to head in the mall division if the voters so choose.

But they have tough competition.

The options include:

• Westfield Century City vs The Grove
• Sportsman Lodge vs The Americana
• The Bloc vs The Beverly Connection
• Glendale Galleria vs Burbank Empire Center

For showrunner Mr. Glen Dale, The Bloc is the worst of the worst in L.A.

“ You have to go up that crazy spinning entrance … have to go to the seventh or sixth floor,” he said. “ And God forbid, if that level is like full, you have to exit the whole thing, go down to reenter, to go up to another level. It's just so badly planned … and on top of that, it's expensive.”