At Least, Laker Game Itself Wasn’t So Bad--What Was Left of It

On April 23, I went to the Forum to see the Lakers play the Nuggets in the first game of that playoff series. I cannot remember ever having been so frustrated in my entire life. I am not referring to the game, what little I saw of it. I’m talking about the absolutely incompetent and unforgivable manner in which the parking situation was handled outside the Forum.

I pulled up to the intersection of Arbor Vitae and Prairie, next to the Forum, at about 7:15. By the time I got to the doors of the Forum itself, it was about 8:30 p.m. and the first half was all but over.

It took about 10 minutes to go through the gridlock at Arbor Vitae and Prairie. It took an additional 15 minutes to get to the Forum parking lot entrance, where I and countless others were turned away because we did not have prepaid parking passes. We were told instead to keep moving and turn right on Manchester. I sat on Manchester Boulevard, not more than 20 feet away from about 1,000 empty parking spaces for no less than 45 minutes. All the while, cars kept zooming by in the left lane and cutting in near the front of the line with no one there to stop them.

Upon finally reaching the front of that line, we were again turned away from parking in the Forum lot. We were directed to park in the Hollywood Park area, which involved waiting in line for another 10-15 minutes.

The people at my office from whom I bought the tickets are season ticket-holders. They, I and every other frustrated individual stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic while the game went on deserve better. How about some signs saying that certain lines are only for parking passes? How about some more people to direct traffic and prevent others from cutting in line or blocking intersections?

Going to a Laker game is not an inexpensive venture. The least they could do is let us in to watch the game.

E. SCOTT DOUGLAS

Long Beach