Brightest Young Things

If I’m going to an exhibit about parking garages, I expect to see some creepy, empty, lonely shit. So my goth girl within was a bit disappointed when the National Building Museum’s exhibition “House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage” wasn’t all empty corridors and dramatic lighting. That said, it definitely has a little something for everyone – even those partial to black lipstick and combat boots.

The show opens with a look at early car culture featuring a 1927 Ford Model A with a cushy leather interior that would have made Gatsby jealous. This car is mesmerizing and as instructional parking meter videos played in the background, I couldn’t help but picture myself in the passenger seat with Nick Carraway’s arm around my shoulder. Sigh.

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Beyond the Model A, things get notably kitschier. A parking meter from the 30’s proves that parking meters haven’t changed at all in the past 80 years and archived video exposes the silliest of parking garage designs like the “vertical parking machine” -- think Ferris wheel for cars. Not very practical but it sure looks like fun.

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The show’s highlight is a gallery that explores the parking garage through art and the public imagination. Not only is this where I found the bare, shadowy representations I came for, but I also found a kick-ass video montage of parking garages in pop-culture. The video included scenes from tons of films/shows including “8 Mile,” “Fight Club,” “Seinfeld” and “All the President’s Men” set to the music of “West Side Story.” I learned many things from this video. For example, I learned that parking garages are great for hide-and-go-seek, beating people up and choreographed dancing.

Other things I learned at this exhibit:

• Frank Lloyd Wright once designed a parking garage for Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland that looked like the Guggenheim set atop a very large hill. Sadly, it was never built.
• Neon parking signs look a lot like neon liquor store signs.
• The Yankee Hotel Foxtrot towers are actually called Marina City and where built with the goal of reversing the exodus of Chicago’s central population to the suburbs.

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Overall, this is a very family friendly exhibit. While I wish it had delved more into thoughtful ruminations on the parking garage, it still does a good job of balancing the deep thoughts with historical information.

“House of Cars” will be running through July 11, 2010 at the National Building Museum. Film buffs should be sure to check out the February's Guys, Guns, & Garages Film Series in which a museum curator and a Washington Post film critic will come together to explore the parking garage through 1970’s action films and thrillers.