What The?

New Yorkers would be very confused about the parking situation here in LA. I was. I took pictures of it. I'll post some. But here are the two main reasons why. In Los Angeles, drivers:

- park more than a foot, often feet, from each other so not to block another car in (one assumes this is for two reasons - one, so not to appear rude, and the second, so no one hits your car when they leave their spot)

- don't park particularly close to the curb. After years of parallel parking in NYC, I'm still under the impression the car has to be nearly touching the darn curb. My friends here think this is hilarious. (California law permits you to park up to 18 inches from the curb. New York? 12.)

One other nice touch - instead of trying to mentally figure out where you can park and where you can't (anyone who has a car in new york has made at least one "am I enough feet from the hydrant/bus stop" calcuation) the city has gone along and painted the curb red where you can't park, blue where buses can park, and green where you can park for short amounts of time (10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, depending on what the curb reads).