More…True Stories form the Quirky World of Parking maintains the charm and appeal of the first book, while providing a treasure trove of new, delightful stories and parking fun facts. From quirky encounters with fellow parking professionals to bizarre and heartwarming interactions with parking customers, each story is a testament to the eccentricities of the municipal parking industry.

Was this review written by ChatGPT or a fellow parking professional? The answer might be found in More…True Stories from the Quirky World of Parking. This book is the perfect gift to a family member or friend outside the industry who wants to better understand the day-to-day interactions and activities parking professionals encounter and perform daily. While some stories are comical and filled with absurdity, others tug at the heartstrings, revealing the touching and sometimes poignant moments that can emerge in the most unexpected parking spaces.

I sat down with the author to ask even more questions about the quirky world of parking.

Interview With the Author

Interviewer: Isaiah Mouw, CAPP
Respondent: Larry J. Cohen, CAPP

Mouw: At what point after finishing your first book did you think, “I’ve got to write a second book!”

Cohen: I never thought there would be a second book! But every day brings new quirky parking stories. I basically keep a file and it started to fill with stories and pictures again, so I said why not, let’s give it another try! Plus, many readers of the first book commented they wanted more stories, so I aim to please!

Had we not had to shelter-in-place during the pandemic do you think you’d be here right now doing an interview on your second book?

That is a great and intriguing question! At this point looking back, our shelter-in-place during COVID-19 sped up the process dramatically, but I think a book was always burning inside. It just would have taken a lot longer to write or I would have procrastinated and said it was something for “retirement” one day.

Yet, I was able to pull off the second book without a pandemic, so I truly surprised myself!

What is your favorite thing that came about regarding writing these books?

The fulfillment of sharing these stories as a cathartic exercise for me and for our peers to share very kind words that they really enjoyed my anointed (by you) “parking cult classic” memoir!

Were there any stories parking professionals shared with you that were amazing, but you couldn’t put into the book?

If a story passed the high standard of what is really quirky, it was book worthy. But many stories that our peers thought were crazy were actually somewhat routine for our business. I write about the criteria for a story’s inclusion in the second book!

What story or stories from the latest book even had you thinking this is too good to be true?

From a broad perspective, “too good to be true” is that Hollywood producers are excited that the stories from the books can be the basis for the next Parks and Recreation type series. We’ll see!

From this book specifically, it is that Europe continues to lead the way in mobility alternatives with multi-million dollar bike-only parking facilities as exampled in Amsterdam, and old parking garage conversions to new uses such as a restaurant/hotel as exampled in Barcelona, Spain.

If readers have more quirky or charming stories to tell, how can they get those to you?

Email cohenparking@aol.com or leave a note on my website: ljcohenconsulting.com.

What’s the best way for readers to get their hands on the book?

Both books are always available on Amazon.com.

Most importantly, can readers expect a trilogy?

Today I would say no, but almost every day has a new story for the file. We’ll see how quickly it fills back up and my motivation to publish again. My books take hundreds of hours to complete and is all consuming. It’s an exhausting process.

But as a Hollywood producer trying to make a TV comedy out of these stories says, “Our industry is plentiful of comedy related stories!” ◆