Letter From the Editor : Winter 2003


Just after purchasing my bungalow many years ago, I was surprised to discover there was no way to get my compact car in or out of the garage without trespassing on my neighbor's property.

My two-car garage, original to the house, had been built so that its length paralleled the alley, apparently to provide for a larger back yard. This meant the doors faced the side of my neighbor's garage, and coming or going, I had no choice but to roll over a good chunk of their concrete.

Visions of lawsuits danced in my head. What if I didn't get along with my neighbors? What if they put a barrier up along their edge of the driveway? I calculated the expense of razing, reorienting or rebuilding my garage.

I then noticed a similar situation across the alley; two neighbors' garage openings faced each other. Since bungalow lots are narrow, backing out of either structure meant puncturing the other's property line. Clearly, I decided, this was a serious flaw in older neighborhoods.

My fears were eased a bit when I met my next door neighbors-good people, who didn't seem at all the litigious type. In fact, everyone on both sides of the alley appeared to get along just fine, as evidenced by the Friday evening pot-luck suppers held at each other's homes. Our household was quickly invited to join, leading me to believe that no one was too upset about our daily transgressions.

As with many aspects of bungalows that at first seem illogical to modern sensibilities, the longer I lived in my home, the more sense our abbreviated driveways made. How much time, after all, do we spend traversing them in an average day? Sixty seconds? Two minutes? Sharing this rarely-used space is an ideal way to conserve.

But what, the average suburbanite with a three-lane-wide drive might ask, if you want to wash your car? Or unload cargo? Or change the oil? Won't leaving your car on a shared drive for several hours throw the entire neighborhood into chaos?

No. We simply ask permission and make small adjustments.

This illustrates another advantage of having detached garages with shared drives along an alley. It prompts neighbors to talk to each other. Yes, I must walk outdoors between my house and garage, a minor inconvenience in winter. But I often see my neighbors during that brief journey and at least wave to them and sometimes exchange pleasantries and benign gossip. This is how neighborhoods are created; this is how communities are formed. Something subtle but important is lost when neighbors can drive into their garages and slip into their houses unseen.

And, now that winter is here, I have a chance to revel in yet another advantage of stubby driveways--less snow to shovel.
-- Tim Counts, editor