Plaza Escuela Parking Garage 1

ITS HARD TO GET MAD AT FREE PARKING
When I’m in Walnut Creek, I love finding street parking. But usually I have to find a few quarters to go with it. If street parking is not available, we head to a garage! There are several free or inexpensive ones — but finding a spot can be as or sometimes more difficult than on the street.
They should have added a few more stories to this lot. I’m sure it was an eye-​sore issue or they happily would have built in an extra level or two. If youre lucky you’ll find a spot. If youre unlucky you’ll reach the top and have to reverse it to a spot.
Like any parking garage, patience is key.

So every time I use this parking lot which is located on Locust Street above Chipotle and Starbucks I have a hard time finding parking Usually I end up at the very top and quite a few times I have had to turn around and wait for someone to leave.

This is a free parking lot in Walnut Creek on Locust Street between Olympic and Botelho. It is very convenient for Century Theater patrons — a half block south of the theater on the other side of Locust. That is both the good and bad news for this lot; free and convenient, but often totally full from theatergoers. Be aware that parking on the lower floor is only for two hours, not long enough for many movies (3 hrs other floors).
The parking lot itself is about five stories, but this is a little deceiving, because there really aren’t a huge number of spaces on each floor. There also is no «Lot Full» warning sign, so your slow odyssey up to the roof may be for naught.
My son found himself in this situation on a recent Friday night, having come all the way to the roof and finding no spaces available. Here’s where it gets tricky. For those unfortunate souls that reach the roof and still have no place to park, there is no easy way to turn around and come back. Instead, you must execute a tight Y turn to go back down! His Y turn was made even more interesting by a huge truck sticking out and complicating the maneuver. On busy nights there can be a line of cars waiting to execute this turn. My son watched in disbelief as one impatient driver simply threw his van in reverse and zipped backwards up the aisle!
So, free and centrally located, but at peak times drivers must ask themselves the Clint Eastwood question: do I feel lucky.