Manny Bernadino

“My parking experience has been bad, but not as bad as the beginning of last year,” Manny Bernadino, 19, architect major said.

Benji Nagao

“My class starts at eight so I leave my house around seven and there’s a lot of parking,” Benji Nagao, 18, graphic design major said.

Stefanny Linares

“It’s full. I have to get here an hour early and it takes 20 minutes to find parking,” Stefanny Linares, 18, undecided major, said.

Josh Park

Computer science major Josh Park, 19, said he “couldn’t find space” when he tried to park on Tuesday.

Park said he “came one hour early but became ten minutes late” for his class.

He said “rush hour” seems to be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and has an 11:15 a.m. class.

Since he lives in San Pedro, Park has a long commute and still has to arrive an hour before his class.

Despite arriving at the school at 10 a.m., Park said he only found parking at 11:05 a.m.

According to him, he tried to park in Lot L but couldn’t find space so he went to the top floor of what he thinks was Lot J.

KC Cocca

Biology major KC Cocca, 18, said parking at El Camino College was “bad on the first day.” However, as she has an 8 a.m. class, she said she doesn’t have too much trouble finding a parking space. She confirms that “rush hour” appears to be after her morning class, around 10-11 a.m.

Cocca said she chooses the parking structures because the “lots have no parking (spaces).” She said parking becomes easier after the first two weeks of the semester because afterwards people start to drop classes so spaces open up.

Cocca said she would consider “alternate transportation” for the first two weeks if she had later classes.

Cocca also said parking was easier during the summer term as fewer people were taking classes.

Adrian Rodriguez

Adrian Rodriguez, psychology major of El Camino College, pointed out that by nine in the morning, the parking lot next to Marsee Auditorium was completely full.

Rodriguez agreed with the sentiment that there appear to be more students on campus this semester than previous ones.

Rodriguez said that he would like to see construction of a new parking structure to alleviate the parking situation.

Rodriguez also said that many students will drive their cars directly up to parking permit machines, stop their car, and walk a few feet to the machine to pay for daily passes.

Jorge Hernandez

Jorge Hernandez, an El Camino College administration of justice major, agreed with the sentiment that there seem to be more students on campus this semester than previous ones.

Hernandez said he tries to park in Parking Lot C, but that on this particular day he had to park in Parking Lot H.

Hernandez said that by eight in the morning, Lot C was completely full.

Hernandez said that earlier this week he showed up to campus at seven in the morning, and said that even at that time Lot C was filling up.

Hernandez added that the parking situation during the previous winter semester was also cramped.

Hernandez suggested that the college could not only sell parking permits, but that they could number each individual parking space and sell personal parking space licenses to students.

Arleth Rodriguez

Arleth Rodriguez,19, sociology major said that parking can be hard depending on the time of arrival.

She said it can be a struggle to find a parking spot and usually prefers to park in Parking Lot F, which is located next to Alondra Park along Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

Rodriguez said this parking lot is more empty than other parking locations although further away from the main school campus.

She carpools with her close friend Aurora Angel, 18, sociology major, who shares a similar experience as her as they take turns driving to school together.

Jennifer Soto

Jennifer Soto, 18, nursing major has had a pretty normal experience on here first week of school as she gets dropped off by the Humanities building.

Although construction has caused some congestion among campus, Soto said it hasn’t really been an issue for her when she gets dropped off.

However, Soto said it can be a little hectic when she gets picked up in the McDonalds across campus, as there can be a lot of cars going in and out the area.

Camiah Jackson

Camiah Jackson, 19, sociology major said she hasn’t really had an issue with parking in school as she takes the bus to get to campus from Gardena.

Jackson said the buses can sometimes be too early or too late but hasn’t had much trouble navigating on her first semester at El Camino College.

She said she gets picked up from school sometimes and there can be a crowd sometimes when getting picked up in the afternoon but it depends on the time.

Destiny Walker

When asked about the parking madness this week, 21-year-old nursing major Destiny Walker said “I don’t like the parking, it’s too much, I’m not about to pay for parking when there’s nowhere to park.”

Walker also said she doesn’t want to pay for a parking pass because “It’s pointless to buy one, I would rather park for free than pay for a parking pass, and it’s no parking.”

Walker said “It takes me about ten minutes to get to my classes.”

Walker said “I’d rather park at the park and walk than have to deal with the chaos and traffic in the parking lot.”

Walker said “I live down the street so it only takes me ten minutes to get here, but it is a hassle to walk from there to here.”

Muhammad Abdullah

English major Muhammad Abdullah said “I get dropped off by the bus in front of the school, but the hassle is arriving.”

Abdullah said “I have to take two buses. I take the 40 and the 210.”

Contributors: Jessica Castellanos, Viridiana Flores, Ileana Lallain, Kealoha Noguchi, Devyn Smith, Justin Traylor

Update August 30, 2018 9:00 p.m. Added Josh Park into collection and added titles to each individual segment. Images were also added.

Update August 30, 2018 4:25 p.m. Various grammatical errors were edited.