La Jolla Does It Again--Valet Parking at a Grocery : Consumerism: A crowded supermarket is offering valet service. But the move might be too ostentatious, even in this wealthy community.

All too often, grocery store manager Dave Turner looked outside at his cramped La Jolla parking lot, and what he saw was war.

Wild-eyed customers wielding their cars like weapons--slashing through pedestrian traffic, blaring their horns as they careened down cluttered one-way lanes, nearly sideswiping old ladies and baby strollers.

He saw fistfights and shouting matches in a hard-fought suburban battle of childish supremacy for the cherished parking spots nearest the front door of the Von’s supermarket on Girard Avenue.

Then, two weeks ago, Turner came up with what he considered an elegant solution to his cutthroat parking lot nightmare--an answer both he and his staff thought very La Jollaesque as well.

Valet parking.

Like some swank restaurant or hotel, courteous uniformed parking jockeys now whisk cars back and forth from reserved spots--bypassing one frustrated parking-space seeker after another.

Heck, they’ll even help load the groceries, Turner says. And the receipt for the dollar charge is redeemable inside the store for a dollar’s worth of merchandise.

The supermarket is among the first in Southern California--and, perhaps, the nation--to offer valet parking to its customers. Yet, much to his surprise, Turner has received at least a dozen complaints that his new service carries too much snob appeal, even for the wealthy seaside neighborhood.

In La Jolla, where outrageous statements are par for the social course, the reaction has the grocery store manager shaking his head.

“People sure have had their hard-and-fast opinions about the valet guys,” Turner says. “Some are enthused about the idea. Others feel it’s just too ostentatious. They think it’s the worst idea going.”

Turner acknowledges that the typical valet customer isn’t who he expected--the elderly or handicapped who couldn’t easily maneuver from distant parking spots. Instead, the parking service is being used mostly by the very able-bodied, socially correct patrons driving snazzy foreign cars and rustic-looking Jeep Cherokees.

“The status symbol types,” he says, “are the ones using it more than anyone else.”

So far, as many as 20 shoppers a day are using the service, which is offered during the store’s busiest hours--between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday through Monday.

A move that at first miffed customers was having the valet drivers park cars in a cordoned-off area by the most-valued spot nearest the store’s front door. Since moving the cars to a distant area, Turner says, the objections have lessened a bit.

“I’m a little surprised that this idea has inspired this much of a reaction,” he said.

Among shoppers, the valet service has struck a malevolent chord concerning La Jolla’s fabled appetite for anything offering preferred status.

“The parking lot is usually so full it makes sense for older people,” customer Laurie Martin said as she pushed a loaded cart. “But, for people under 60 to use it, I think that’s kind of disgusting.”

Bruce Joslyn, a Chicago resident visiting the area, said the service had just the right touch for wacky Southern California.

“Only here,” he said. “Only in Southern California would they pull a stunt like this. They wouldn’t even do it in Northern California. I think it’s unique as hell. But they’d never try it in Chicago. Somebody would get beat up.”

Turner says the problems caused by the tiny parking lot, sandwiched into the corner of Girard Avenue and Pearl Street, was the inspiration for the valet service--not any attempt at snob appeal.

The problem is so bad, says the store manager who assumed his job in April, that store employees--including himself--are not allowed to park in the lot and must find spaces on nearby streets, many of which offer only metered parking.

“Everyone wants those spaces nearest the front door--and there’s only about 20 of them,” Turner said. “A lot of people feel that, if they can’t park in those spaces, there is no parking.”

Recently, on a five-minute-long adventure through his own parking lot, which felt more like some obstacle course, Turner recalled, he talked to himself while behind the wheel. “I would have given my car to anybody to let them park it for me,” he said.

But the idea for the valet parking didn’t take shape until Turner’s wife picked him up at the store one day to have lunch.

“She mentioned that everyone was waiting right in front of the store for a spot to open up, which only caused traffic to back up further,” he said. “She said, ‘What you need is valet parking.’ And the idea clicked.”

The day before offering the valet parking, store officials reduced to one-way the entrance from Girard Avenue in an effort to stop motorists from veering wildly across traffic for choice spots near the door.

Sure enough, Leo McDevitt has seen some real stunts pulled in the Von’s parking lot. McDevitt is a parking lot jockey, an employee of Ace Parking--a local valet service contracted by store officials to do the job.

In suitable style, he wears a red jacket and sunglasses with fluorescent green earpieces. And he knows how to drive.

“Your typical valet parking jockey drives cars 40 hours a week,” he says with a confident smile. “We don’t pull stunts like cutting people off. The way I see it, we’re saving our customers their lives. And we’re saving them time.”

McDevitt says the parking lot is “dog eat dog. It’s crazy here. Total insanity. I’d fear for the well-being of my wife and children. But, hopefully, we’ll put a dent in it by parking people’s cars for them.”

Turner says the service will continue to be offered at least through mid-January, when store officials will reconsider it. And he hopes the idea will catch on once shoppers realize the valet parking is a service for everyone, not an appeal to the rich and famous.

In the meantime, jockeys like Leo McDevitt will continue hustling customers to leave the driving to him.

But shoppers like Stacy Bonham might still need a bit of convincing.

On Monday afternoon, she pulled into the parking lot in her racy red Volkswagen. Challenging three other cars for the same measly parking spot, she nonetheless just waved McDevitt off when he offered to take over.

“If I go out to dinner, I’ll use valet parking,” she said. “But I’ve never seen it at a grocery store. I think it’s kind of silly, kind of hosh-posh.

“Leave it to La Jolla to come up with an idea like this.”