Comment by realityfactchex
3 days ago
> open garages
Can you say more about open garages and community? Is that about car culture, music, pool tables, garage "bars", sofas, TVs, or something else?
Would the whole local neighborhood be welcomed into open garages, or was open-garage-culture limited to people whom people already knew?
Garages are just a good place to hang out in coastal CA. They cool down quicker than the rest of the house and you can have your friends over for beers without worrying they're going to mess up your house.
Also, our Filipino community seems big on turning them into semi-livingrooms with large TVs, couches, etc.
Yes. Each garage is different. If you are working on your car in an open garage that is an invite for someone else interested in cars to say hi, offer advice - and possibly pitch in when you are working on something that needs more than 1 person. If you see someone playing guitar in their garage that is an invite to bring your fiddle and join in. If you see someone playing pool that is your invite to play the next game. And so on. Note that there is nothing in the above list that will appeal to everyone, so if you don't like cars you walk by that garage, if you don't play music you walk by the guitar...
Grandparents lived at the end of a T intersection facing a cul-de-sac on a secondary residential road, so perhaps that made their house seemingly more inviting. The sidewalk was perhaps 30 ft / 9m away from the garage and there were no obstructions.
He had his garage door open a lot but kept an eye on it most of the time. Grandpa once lamented some teenager stole beer from his garage fridge. At one point, around 2005, a 700+ lbs. decorative planter was stolen from their front yard in the daytime. He eventually installed an "electric eye" chime to alert should anyone go into the garage unexpectedly.
My comment was about when the owner is in the garage and thus watching things. Security when you are not there is a different consideration.
> limited to people whom people already knew?
Of course it's limited to people you know but it seems like a good way to know your nieghbors and once you know them you can invite eachother to the garage or backyard.
at least in my parents neighborhood, the open garage or the pool with a non-privacy fence, or the front/side porch are all hangout spots where other neighbors will walk by and join you for conversation