When I served on the City of Portland Planning Commission, we were selecting “view corridors” to preserve in the city. These were vantage points from which a wide panorama could be seen without interruption of buildings or trees. The Commission wished to designate these to preserve them from future intrusions. When the staff finished outlining the choices for the Commission, I blurted out,”You have just identified all the places we used to park as high school students.” (Need I add that I often blurt before I consider the appropriateness of the comment?)

When I was in high school, any displays of affection had to take place in cars. Today, many parents are at work during the day, so the house is available. In my days, someone was almost always either at home or about to be back home. So cars were the venue. Of course, we needed to park the car for such activity. And for some reason, it was important to park in a place that had a great view, such as Council Crest Park, pictured above.

This being a G-rated blog, I will be discrete here. I just need to state that it is difficult to see any view out of a steamed up window! Importantly, there were many accepted standards in place in that time that protected girls. One was not expected to go beyond set limits that everyone seemed to acknowledge without discussion. Yes, occasionally, I knew of a girl who went “all the way,” but this was rare. Mostly, it was a lot of kissing.

So here’s to “parking” and the joy I have remembering it. I wish that teenage girls today could feel as comfortable saying “no” as we did. And, when we did, the boys still asked us out again!