History Main / RockstarParking

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[[folder:Film]]

* In the TV movie ''Series/GetSmart Again'', Max actually ignores several decent parking spaces to park in a no-parking area. He then takes a fake parking meter out of his trunk (which is rigged to always claim that he has time left) and sets it up next to his car so he doesn't have to pay for the space.
* Often seen in urban-themed movies from the '60s, especially if Creator/DorisDay is involved (it's also been called "Doris Day Parking").

* ''Literature/HowToDitchYourFairy'' by Creator/JustineLarbalestier gives every character one mundane superpower, attributed in-universe to an invisible FairyCompanion. The protagonist will always get a perfect parking spot, even if she's only a passenger in the car.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' did an episode where George gets great parking spaces throughout and is extremely excited about it ("The Bris"). Then, of course, there is the eponymously titled "The Parking Spot", where George spends the entire episode fighting with a guy over a great parking spot, each with only half their car in the spot, holding up traffic and distracting pedestrians.
** Averted in the groundbreaking "Parking Garage" episode where they spend the entire episode wandering around the garage trying to find where they parked. To make it even sillier, Kramer was carrying a boxed air conditioner which fitness nut Michael Richards insisted contain an actual (CRT) television.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Taken to extremes; there is usually not only a free parking space but a virtually empty car park. Presumably nobody else in Cardiff owns a car.

* ''Series/TopGear'': The presenters pull this off more often than not. Having a camera crew on hand to keep a space clear probably helps. It was averted when James May and Jeremy Clarkson were challenged to take their classic luxury limousines into the center of London and find a place to park them. They fail.
** They eventually find a space but can't work out how to pay the parking fee with their mobile phones and give up.
* Mocked on ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', Michael (who is WrongGenreSavvy) needs to find a parking space quickly because Pam is going into labor. And sure enough, there's a space: The Ambulance Zone. Even after Pam is loaded into a wheelchair and taken in, Michael tries to leave the car there and ''throws the keys over the fence'' when the Paramedics challenge him. Naturally, when Jim and Pam go to leave, the car's been towed.

* Don't forget ''Series/TheEqualizer''! Robert [=McCall=] always found a parking space wherever he needed to be in New York.

* Averted in ''The Piglet Files''. Our hero is told to pick up a safecracker who's being recruited by MI5 for a break-in. There's no parking outside the prison, so the man driving the car decides to drive around the block. However, their boss has neglected to tell them that the man wasn't being released, but was actually escaping! Both end up fleeing on foot to the sound of a police siren.

* Pick any sandbox game (set in automotive times at least). Not only is there absurd amounts of parking on the streets and parking lots of what are analogues of real cities (Los Angeles, New York, etc) where parking is HIGHLY difficult in most places, there is of course a (mostly) complete lack of red zones, fire hydrants, etc., and only the occasional handicapped spaces if the programmers remember to put them in (which you can ignore anyway). And of course once you parked and have gone to do the mission/buy ammo/whatever, when you come back your automobile is always either right where you left it or neatly parked in a space if you had a more "creative" parking idea.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' sometimes averts your car staying where it is. If you leave any of your non-default cars anywhere too long that's not a designated garage/parking area owned by your character, they will disappear. Sometimes they show up in the game's impound lot, other times they are just gone forever (which can be frustrating if you poured a lot of money into them in the custom shop, but does make logical sense given [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles the setting]]).
* Actually mandatory in some games, such as ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest III'', where you can ''only'' park in front of the place you're going to. Anywhere else is ''verboten''.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', specific parking lots always have a convenient spot for Noctis or Ignis to park automatically if triggered. Most egregious in Lestallum during the ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' crossover; the Assassin's Festival has Ignis specifically note "all these cars", yet the same spot in the parking lot - closest to the descent ramp that connects the main through road to the parking area - is open for them to sit the Regalia in.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', this gets subverted in the one place everyone can relate: [[FauxHorrific mall parking!]]'''' Stan has to rush inside the mall to stop an evil plan, but he doesn't want to pay the valet $3 to park it for him. He then spends the next half hour trying to find a space. He spends even longer when the valet can't break his five, forcing Stan to try again.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Averted in "The Big Job" -- while pulling a heist/stopping a heist, Shego, Senor Senior Jr., Kim, and Ron all experience extreme difficulty finding a parking space in San Francisco. Shego eventually writes the heist off as more trouble than it's worth due to a mix of Kim's intervention and their parking woes. {{Truth in Television}} to be sure. Public parking will cost you [[{{SublimeRhyme}} $35 a day in the city by the Bay]] and any cheaper street parking only works '''IF''' you are lucky enough to find an available spot. It's so frustrating for both the heroes and villains that Kim and Shego momentarily stop fighting to commiserate:

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Averted in "The Big Job" -- while pulling a heist/stopping a heist, Shego, Senor Senior Jr., Kim, and Ron all express extreme difficulty finding a parking space in San Francisco. Shego eventually writes the heist off as more trouble than it's worth due to a mix of Kim's intervention and their parking woes. {{Truth in Television}} to be sure. Public parking will cost you [[{{SublimeRhyme}} $35 a day in the city by the Bay]] and any cheaper street parking only works '''IF''' you are lucky enough to find an available spot.
-->'''Shego''': "Ugh, three times around the block. You think someone would just leave!"

'''Ignis:''' And all these cars.
-->''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed Assassin's Festival]]''[[labelnote:*]]immediately following this, they park in '''the''' most convenient parking spot in the lot[[/labelnote]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': A Season 1 episode, "False Arrest," sees egomanical TV star Buddy Goodrich use a handicap parking spot as one of these. As he explains, it's so he can run (as fast as he can) to his car and leave the studio, so he doesn't have to associate with his child co-stars, whom he considers something worse than brats, after his scenes are taped.

* ''How To Ditch Your Fairy'' by Justine Larbalestier gives every character one mundane superpower, attributed in-universe to an invisible FairyCompanion. The protagonist will always get a perfect parking spot, even if she's only a passenger in the car.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': A Season 1 episode, "False Arrest," sees egomanical TV star Buddy Goodrich use a handicap parking spot as one of these. As he explains, it's so he can run (as fast as he can) to his car and leave the studio, so he doesn't have to associate with his child co-stars, whom he considers something worse than brats.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', specific parking lots always have a convenient spot for Noctis or Ignis to park automatically if triggered. Most egregious in Lestallum during the ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' crossover; the Assassin's Festival has Ignis specifically note "all these cars", yet the same spot in the parking lot - closest to the decent ramp - is open for them to sit the Regalia in.

* Averted in the orginal ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' series episode "The New Car". With Felix's help, Oscar wins a new car in a radio contest. It turns out to be more trouble than it's worth as they are constantly driving around looking for a parking spot.

* Often seen in urban-themed movies from the 60s, especially if Creator/DorisDay is involved (it's also been called "Doris Day Parking").

* Pick any sandbox game (set in automotive times at least). Not only is there absurd amounts of parking on the streets and parking lots of what are analogues of real cities (Los Angeles, New York etc) where parking is HIGHLY difficult in most places, there is of course a (mostly) complete lack of red zones, fire hydrants, etc., and only the occasional handicapped spaces if the programmers remember to put them in (which you can ignore anyway). And of course once you parked and have gone to do the mission/buy ammo/whatever, when you come back your automobile is always either right where you left it or neatly parked in a space if you had a more "creative" parking idea.

* Averted in ''Film/TheKillerElite''. While on an assignment in Chinatown, their wheelman has to drop them outside the door and circle the block until a parking space becomes free. However, when he does find a space it's right outside the door, which is convenient when they have to flee the scene during the subsequent shoot-out.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In the TV movie ''Series/GetSmart Again'', Max actually ignores several decent parking spaces to park in a no parking area. He then takes a fake parking meter out of his trunk (which is rigged to always claim that he has time left) and sets it up next to his car so he doesn't have to pay for the space.

* Averted in ''Film/TheKillerElite''. While on an assignment in Chinatown, their wheelman has to drop them outside the door and circle the block until a parking space becomes free. However when he does find a space it's right outside the door, which is convenient when they have to flee the scene during the subsequent shoot-out.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' did an episode where George gets great parking spaces throughout and is extremely excited about it ("The Bris"). Then of course there is the eponymously titled "The Parking Spot", where George spends the entire episode fighting with a guy over a great parking spot, each with only half their car in the spot, holding up traffic and distracting pedestrians.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Taken to extremes; there is usually not only a free parking space, but a virtually empty car park. Presumably nobody else in Cardiff owns a car.

* ''Series/TopGear'': The presenters pull this off more often than not. Having a camera crew on hand to keep a space clear probably helps. It was averted when James May and Jeremy Clarkson were challenged take their classic luxury limousines into the center of London and find a place to park them. They fail.

* Averted in ''The Piglet Files''. Our hero is told to pick up a safecracker who's being recruited by MI5 for a break-in. There's no parking outside the prison, so the man driving the car decides to drive around the block. However their boss has neglected to tell them that the man wasn't being released, but was actually escaping! Both end up fleeing on foot to the sound of a police siren.

[[folder: Video Games]]

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' sometimes averts your car staying where it is. If you leave any of your non default cars anywhere too long that's not a designated garage/parking area owned by your character, they will disappear. Sometimes they show up in the game's impound lot, other times they are just gone forever (which can be frustrating if you poured a lot of money into them in the custom shop, but does make logical sense given [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles the setting]]).

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Averted in "The Big Job" -- while pulling a heist/stopping a heist, Shego, Senor Senior Jr., Kim, and Ron all express extreme difficulty finding a parking space in San Francisco. Shego eventually writes the heist off as more trouble than it's worth due to a mix of Kim's intervention and their parking woes. {{Truth in Television}} to be sure. Public parking will cost you [[{{SublimeRhyme}} $35 a day in the city by the Bay.]]

** [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV GTA V]] sometimes averts your car staying where it is. If you leave any of your non default cars anywhere too long that's not a designated garage/parking area owned by your character, they will disappear. Sometimes they show up in the game's impound lot, other times they are just gone forever (which can be frustrating if you poured a lot of money into them in the custom shop, but does make logical sense given [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles the setting]]).
* Actually mandatory in some games, such as ''VideoGames/PoliceQuest III'', where you can ''only'' park in front of the place you're going to. Anywhere else is ''verboten''.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Books]]

* ''How To Ditch Your Fairy'' by Justine Larbalestier gives every character one mundane superpower, attributed in-universe to an invisible FairyCompanion. The protagonist will always get a perfect parking spot, even if she's only a passenger in the car.

[[/folder]]

* In ''Series/MacGyver'', Mac is also always able to find a parking spot directly in front of whatever building he needs to visit, which are always on suspiciously empty streets.

* Often seen in urban-themed movies from the 60s, especially if Doris Day is involved (it's also been called "Doris Day Parking").

* Averted in ''Franchise/LawAndOrder''. The detectives' unmarked cars frequently got ticketed by zealous meter-maids while they were on a case, much to their annoyance. Parking tickets were also frequently used to track the movement of suspects or break/confirm their alibis.

* Played with in ''Film/TheKillerElite''.

* ''The Mandarin Cypher''. Averted when British spy Literature/{{Quiller}} is in Hong Kong. At one point he lose his temper at his backup officer because he left his apartment to move his parked car (Quiller had told him to stay by the phone and only leave at certain times). While following his target, Quiller picks up a parking ticket and gets remonstrated for parking in an ambulance-only zone.