Kent Automatic Garages

Kent Automatic Garages were popular in several metropolitan areas in the U.S. from the late 1920s through the early 1960s.^[1] They enabled customers to park their cars for an hour or longer with a standard rate of $.50 per hour for the first two hours, and $.05 for each additional hour or fraction thereof, for a 24-hour period. One of the first Kent Automatic Garages was at 44th Street, just east of 3rd Avenue, and another (now the Sofia) is a block west of Columbus Circle.

The parking facilities were convenient, beginning with electric automatic parkers that received vehicles. Autos could be stored and returned to patrons at a moment's notice.^[2] Specifically, cars were handled by an electric parker, a small rubber-tired machine which ran beneath the auto and engaged with the rear axle using a rubber-cleated coupler. The parker required approximately fifteen seconds to move sixty feet from an elevator, lift the car, and return with it. It saved time by bringing a car from its parking space and returning it to the ground floor, without starting the motor. The auto rolled on its wheels but was moved by the parker.