First day of school, I had just gotten my license, and from the moment I woke up I had a pit in my stomach. It wasn’t just first-day jitters. I had been worrying all week as I practiced driving to and from school where I would park when the day finally arrived. Well, it did, and arriving half an hour early, I drove slowly down Sunshine praying for a spot. After 10 minutes and one failed parallel parking attempt, I threw in the towel and parked a block away from school, leaving me even more anxious for the day ahead.

Unfortunately, this is no unique experience. The parking at McCallum is heavily scorned, and why wouldn’t it be? With the only official parking lot for students being the band lot, which is in use until around 8:40 when the band practices, and the senior lot being notorious for its wrecks, students resort to parking in the residential neighborhood streets nearby. This leads to frustrated residents and many illegal parking jobs. 

The question on every student’s mind is: where is the best place to park? Through this photo essay, I hope to give my honest opinion on each place to park and hopefully give students the answer. 

STARK

TOW-NY STARK Stark Street, my personal choice of parking, has troubles of its own. On the positive side, there are typically places available as late as 9 a.m., and you can usually avoid parallel parking depending on how early you arrive. However, you need to be careful of the no-parking signs on the furthest side near McCallum. The number of times I have walked past cars parked in that area is sometimes startling. As well as the walk to school, which can take a few minutes, it can sometimes be a downside. Although compared to other places, it is not the furthest.

One small horror story for you before you park on Stark, however: a few months ago, I was sitting in my math class when a student knocked on the door asking for junior Natalia Rivas-Micoud Rodriguez. He said that a woman called a towing company about a few cars on Stark, and she needed to move her car immediately before it was towed. 

“The lady had called the police, saying she was fed up with cars parking in front of her house, and was threatening to tow three cars. Luckily, I was able to move my car in time, but I don’t park there anymore because of it,” Rivas-Micoud Rodriguez said. 

I myself was worried, I had been parking on that street daily. Although I was always within the parking guidelines, rumors began floating around that they were going to begin towing the entire street the next day. Of course, this never ended up happening, but I’m still sometimes nervous to continue parking there. 

GROVER

NOT ALL SESAME STREET Grover, what I think of as a tier above Stark, has its drawbacks. However, on the bright side, it’s much closer to the main building than many of the other parking places, and with a last period in the small hallway across from the office, it’s incredibly convenient. The problem is, the spots get snatched up early in the morning. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t mind committing to coming a little earlier, but now I’d much rather be able to hit the snooze button than get a spot. Another thing, the traffic is bad everywhere, but I always feel it takes an extra year off my life to get out of that street at the end of the day. Not to mention the number of student pedestrians who seem committed to getting flattened. 

All this to say, Grover is a pretty solid choice on where to park, as long as you don’t mind a few minutes less sleep.

BAND LOT

MORE THAN BRASS HORNS The band lot, AKA the last resort. It may be the least desirable, but at least it’s always there for you. I’ve been whining that most parking places require you to arrive earlier, but to park here, I have the opposite problem. I usually arrive right when the band is packing up, and I’d rather hope for a spot elsewhere than drive in circles until they’re done. Although band season is over now, unless I’m out of options, I try to avoid the band lot. The trouble is, by the time you’re out of options, the band lot is almost guaranteed to make you late. The worst start to my day is to circle around the school only to end up at the band lot five minutes before the bell, and then trudge from there to Portable City, arriving disgruntled and late. 

But what really makes the band lot so bad? Obviously, the distance, but also plainly, any large parking lot filled with student drivers is going to be a nightmare. Politeness and McCallum spirit are often set aside when racing to get out first, and the competition for the best spots can be intense. Many times I’ve watched people leave water bottles or other things to mark their spot during lunch, leaving them either with a few unhappy classmates or a pretty banged-up water bottle. 

Admittedly, though, for all its unwelcoming qualities, I’m grateful to have the band lot. It’s comforting to know there is always something to fall back on.

DANCE LOT

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM I’ve always thought of the dance lot as the holy grail of parking. Maybe it’s the exclusivity of it, or the charming little trees planted around, but I always thought that if I could park in the dance lot, I would have made it. Unfortunately, this would require me waking up at the crack of dawn, as band kids and other early risers fill it to the brim long before I’ll ever consider coming to school. And really, can it be all that great? It’s only a stone’s throw from the band lot, and while you don’t need to walk up the hill, I could argue that I’m getting more steps in, so which of us is really winning?

If you’re committed enough to get a spot in the dance lot, I commend you. But as for me, I much prefer the comfort of my covers.

SENIOR LOT

SENIORITIS As a junior, you must take my opinion on the senior lot with a grain of salt, but I can tell you next year I won’t be going anywhere near it either. The lot has gained a reputation for being dangerous and usually messy, with Instagram pages like Mac Parking constantly finding people there with whacked-out parking jobs. Senior Kai Layden attested to this.

“I once saw someone completely rear-end a car and then pull out like nothing happened,” Layden said.

Needless to say, he doesn’t park there anymore. 

Although I do have some experience with it, it doesn’t sway my opinion. I participated in a few trash pick-ups around McCallum this year, and the senior lot was always the place with the most garbage. I would find entire lunch trays, or bags of takeout, food and all scattered across the parking lot. Not to mention many rumors I’ve heard of people claiming their friend’s car was keyed, or others of the sort. If you take my advice, I would steer clear of this lot entirely. 

SUNSHINE

SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS? Parking on Sunshine is probably the closest you are going to get to the school, which obviously makes it a hot commodity. Typically, if you arrive past 8:30, there’s likely no chance you’ll get a spot without a tricky parallel parking maneuver. The only time I was able to park here was when I arrived early to take a test at around 8:15. While the ones closest to the school go fast, as you near the residential area of the street may be more readily available. In general, Sunshine has all the perks of where to park, if you’re lucky enough to get a spot.                                                    

Although I’ve listed many places to park at McCallum are small and limited. Each comes with an issue, and because of it, student parking has spread over many blocks. This poses an issue not just for students but for residents in the neighborhood. Students may not be trying to, but many times ignorance of parking laws or careless driving can pose risks for others and inconvenience neighbors. The root of the problem is that McCallum wasn’t made to accommodate so many people, and while there’s no cut-and-dry solution, there are things that could be improved to better the situation. For instance, installing cameras or some other means of holding students accountable in parking lots could reduce reckless driving. In a dream scenario, further parking facilities added could greatly improve the situation. As McCallum grows, this is becoming more and more necessary. But for now, we’ll work with what we’ve got.