I Just Know I Parked Here Somewhere

“Dude, where’s my car?”

Every day across the country, somebody mutters those words, or something like them. In parking lots and garages everywhere, owners desperately retrace their steps, hopefully eyeing each vehicle, praying that the next car is theirs. Often it’s not.

Parking attendants and police have used all sorts of methods to help confused motorists track down their missing cars -- from searching lots in golf carts to circling overhead in helicopters to methods that can’t be revealed for the sake of national security.

Although comprehensive statistics on the problem of misplaced cars apparently are not collected, parking experts say that it is common.

“Nearly once a day in every parking structure, there’s someone who can’t find their car,” said Gary Cudney, president of Carl Walker Inc., a national parking consulting firm in Kalamazoo, Mich.

“At virtually every Rose Bowl event, someone will lose their car,” said Lt. Rick Aversano of the Pasadena Police Department’s event planning section. The Rose Bowl has parking for 24,000 cars spread over 18 lots.

Aversano said that at major events, such as the Rose Bowl, UCLA home football games and concerts, 20 to 30 people misplace their vehicles.

Sometimes, people report their cars stolen when they’re really lost, he said.

Pasadena Police Cpl. Max Dahlstein, who works the parking detail, said he’s helped nearly 100 people find their cars in the last three years.

Unlike their cars, the confused and desperate owners aren’t hard to find. “They’re like zombies walking around the lot with their heads on a swivel,” Dahlstein said.

The car hunters are often sheepish or embarrassed, apologizing for taking up an officer’s time. As Dahlstein drives them around the lot, they’ll mumble, “Where’s my car? I know I parked right here.”

“People say, ‘I swear I parked on the west side.’ and then I’ll find it on the east side,” Dahlstein said.

In extreme cases, people don’t find their cars until they’ve been towed and a towing company or Pasadena police phone the owners to pick up the cars, Dahlstein said.

Over the years, Aversano said, Pasadena police have put out lost-car descriptions on the radio, dispatched motorcycle officers and even had a helicopter already in the area to “light up the lot.”

“It sounds silly, but there’s a pretty consistent need,” said Aversano. “We don’t like to let people go wandering around.”

There are many reasons people lose their cars. One is that they’re simply not paying attention.

“They’re not coming to park. They come for a reason,” said Martin L. Stein, executive director of the National Parking Assn., a trade group.

People think more about what they’re going to do after they park instead of where they’re parked, Stein said. Whether running late or just preoccupied, many leave a blur of gray concrete behind, he said.

Venues have different ways of helping people find their cars.

Disneyland and the Los Angeles Convention Center can narrow down the chase by determining the time a driver arrived. At both venues, the parking lots are filled section by section, and attendants will note when a section is closed and when the next section is opened.

Attendants at Dodger Stadium and Staples Center take a direct approach -- they drive people around to look for their cars.

Lost cars can be a touchy subject. “I hate to be put in with other venues that do have that problem,” said Michael Roth, director of communications for Staples Center, who said parking for the arena was carefully designed to prevent such problems.

Strategies at Staples include advance payment for parking and plenty of signs. “Staples Center users are very cognizant of their surroundings,” he said.

Los Angeles International Airport, with more than 20,000 parking spaces in various lots, has more sophisticated tools, which Nancy Castles, LAX public relations director, referred to as “other technologies” intended for security. Castles said she is unable to elaborate, except that lost cars are found very quickly.

Good design and visual reminders help people remember where they parked, said Mary Smith, senior vice president of Walker Parking Consultants in Indianapolis.

A small but growing field of parking design specialists now make this a priority, she said.

But most parking garages do not use these concepts. As a result, people can get easily confused because parking levels often look the same, Smith said.

Myron C. Warshauer recognized this problem early on. His family has been in the parking business since 1929. He was the chief executive of Standard Parking in Chicago for nearly 30 years and coined its motto, “Ambience in Parking.”

To “fulfill the ambience mission,” Warshauer said, he created the concept of “theming” floors with things such as famous cities, Broadway musicals or sports teams -- and playing music associated with those themes. Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” would be played on the floor dedicated to the Big Apple. Warshauer said such themes, especially the music, have greatly reduced the number of people who lose their cars.

Of course, the problem won’t disappear.

“There’s always going to be somebody who forgets,” said Warshauer.

Stein, of the National Parking Assn., would agree with that, admitting that even he has lost his car. Twice.

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If you have a gripe, question or story idea about driving in Southern California, write to Behind the Wheel, c/o Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or send an e-mail to behindthewheel@latimes.com.