Parking Spaces: The Final Frontier By Eve Zibart Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 3, 1998

By Lon Tweeten/The Washington Post

The most likely place to find a parking slot at night is, not surprisingly, in the public garages. At 7:30, prime time on Friday and Saturday nights, the ground and first levels may be full but the next levels thin out; and middle floors and rooftops are apt to be good bets for even last-minute slots. Recent surveillance disclosed that even the most centrally located facilities, including the five-story garage at Woodmont Corner (No. 11), which straddles the Woodmont Avenue-Old Georgetown Road intersection, and the Cordell-St. Elmo Garage (No. 40) had plenty of spaces on the upper levels. Nearly all levels of the new Bethesda-Elm Garage (No. 57) in the "south" triangle of the neighborhood, were wide open. And the Metropolitan Garage (No. 49), across Edgemoor Avenue from the bus entrance to the Metrobus/Metro stop under the Hyatt Regency, was only sparsely used all day. Obviously, things vary, but seek and ye shall find. (And, if you really want to walk off the calories, there are county facilities on the often neglected east side of Wisconsin Avenue as well.)

The other reason to head for the public garages is that they're cheap, except when they're free. Metered garages such as the Woodmont-Rugby Garage (No. 35) are free after 7 on weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. Typically, they have short-term meters on the ground floor, two-hour meters on most levels and all-day (nine hour) meters up higher.

County-run flat lots are metered as well; and there, too, the meters only have to be fed until 7 on weekdays. Again, some meters are good for an hour, some for two and a few for only 30 minutes. Still, this probably means you can pull into one after work, fill the meter to get you through happy hour and forget about it – that is, if you're fully covered: Like the street meters, these off-street lot meters are regularly checked for violations. These lots do fill up on weekends, but they seem to turn over more frequently during the week, since some are used by local workers.

At timed-ticket garages such as Woodmont Corner (No. 11), the automatic ticket gates operate until 10; however, if you come in after 6, there is a flat $1 charge.

Most of the griping about Bethesda parking comes from the competition for street spaces. There aren't many, and they make you pay. Meters on the street in the Woodmont Triangle (the crescent bounded by Wilson, Old Georgetown and Woodmont) must be fed until 10 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays. Some, especially those near stores and in high-turnover areas, will take only an hour's worth of change at a time; most will take two hours' worth. Some will accept only quarters – again, usually those in the high-turnover areas – while others take dimes and nickels as well.

Generally, the metered spaces along Woodmont, Norfolk, Fairmont, St. Elmo and Cordell avenues are filled; there is a continual low simmer of turnover during the week, but on weekends there are always those drivers who lurk, double-parked, waiting longer to pounce on a vacated space than it would have taken to head for the garage and order a cocktail. Spaces are easier to come by at the outer edges of the neighborhood, not surprisingly: along Del Ray and Auburn and in the lot there (No. 36) to the north; and Lot 31 and the Bethesda-Elm Garage (No. 57) to the south.

There are several privately owned lots scattered around town, but these are never free, of course. Most charge $2.50 to $3 after 5 weekdays and for all day Saturday and Sunday. Typically there's an attendant on duty until 10 or 11 p.m., and while outdoor lots are generally not chained up once the attendant leaves, it never hurts to check. Be sure to ask about closing times at the private lots under office buildings and apartments that take outside business; the lot under the Chevy Chase Bank at Old Georgetown and Edgemoor, for example, is open only during business hours, and the one on Hampden across from the Pines of Rome closes at 11.

Finally, there is the lazy driver's fallback, valet parking. More and more restaurants are making deals with area businesses to use private lots after hours, but the trend is already inflating prices. Some establishments are holding to the $2 price (plus the obligatory $1 tip), while others are at $3 and rising. The funniest scene is at the side-by-side Cesco Trattoria and Tel Aviv Cafe; they use the same parking service, so that you hand over your car to the same guys, but Tel Aviv charges $3 and Cesco, apparently unconcerned by the proximity of the two signs, charges $4. Image is everything.