Manhattan Beach's Parking Lot 3 has been in the news almost constantly for the past year. (And it's in the news today too: Lot 3 will be closed on Thursday, July 24, as the new solar lights are installed.)

For a parking lot with an extremely boring name, Lot 3 has created more than its share of drama. In June 2024 it was declared sort of unsafe and, in July 2024, really unsafe. It resulted in a parking "emergency;" required a massive demolition project that relocated the farmers' market and temporarily shut down Center Place; and has since necessitated the construction of a temporary ground-level parking area before a new structure can be built. It even has its own web site at this point.

But if you ask someone to locate Lot 3 on a map, you'd probably draw a lot of head-scratching. Lot 3, like the other parking lots in downtown Manhattan Beach (Lots 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and M), have meaningless numbered names that don't tell you anything about where to find them. 

So here at the MB News newsroom, we decided to try a little thought experiment: Should we rename Lot 3 (and the rest of our parking lots)? Should it have a descriptive name to help drivers understand where they are located? Should they all have colorful names (names of flowers, names of sea creatures) and corresponding murals so people can easily picture where to park? Let's hear those ideas. 

Please take our survey here. 

Disclaimer: We're not the city; we don't have naming power over the lots. But we'll share the results with you and with the city.