This is my third installment of random car-related blog posts. If you’ve been reading my other posts, you’ll know I’m a first-time car owner, so it’s the little things that strike me which most people take for granted. One of the biggest challenges moving to a new place is understanding the little differences, not the big ones. The big ones are obvious and easy to pick up but the smaller differences throw a person off on their first try.
That’s how I felt during my first LA car wash experience. Back in Oregon, I’m used to drive-thru car washes near gas stations where your car enters on a conveyor belt and brushes with soap and water sweep over it. The coolest drive-through places have touchless jets that clean your car.
However, it was difficult to find drive-through car washes near USC or in the LA area. Most of them were either coin-operated, where you did it yourself or manual car washes where someone washed the car for you. Since grime covered my car after driving around in LA and being shipped across states, I opted for the hand car wash.
Giving a stranger the keys to my car felt extremely strange. My car was vacuumed, then put on a conveyor belt with attendants who washed the car as it moved through the automated system. Finally, another attendant wiped it down, restoring it to its shiny beauty. The whole process took about 40 minutes including waiting time. It was worth it, but it was also a new experience for me.
With the drought underway in California, washing your car yourself is highly restricted. Even manual car wash businesses may have limitations on the number of customers they can take in.
Thus, I recommend the hybrid manual-automated Olympic Car Wash in Koreatown, or other hybrids.
Published on December 11th, 2015
Last updated on August 29th, 2017