We came. We saw. We parked.
Parking.
It isn't free. Or easy to find, necessarily. Or geared toward impressing the customer, especially in downtown Boston, where, as the Globe recently reported, several garages now charge by 20-minute increments en route to collecting daily fees of $35 or more. At some restaurants, 35 bucks still buys an appetizer and entree. All right, maybe a bowl of pasta and a salad.
Manhattan has already cracked the $60 day-rate barrier, notes parking guru Erik Feder of WhereToFindParking.com, whereas Boston hasn't broken $50 yet. But where there's enough demand, says Feder, as in neighborhoods like Fenway Park and the Theater District , prices will inevitably rise to meet it. Just don't count on getting the amenities one might expect at those prices.
Feder notes that single-owner lots tend to turn over more, so their operators might not care as much about upgrading facilities and services as multi-site owners do. In the Big Apple, "Marketing yourself as spotless and customer-friendly isn't always enough," he adds. "Some garages put up artwork to appeal to aesthete automotivists." Mondrian for motorheads. Brilliant!
Boston, home to America's first public parking garage ( 1899 ), within a few years will boast its grandest "car condo," a robot-operated, pallet-based storage system to be built on Lovejoy Wharf. Someday we'll all be parking in our own Woody Allen movie. Until then, drive around with us and sample some of what the market offers.
JOSEPH P. KAHN
Motor Mart Garage
26 Park Plaza
Rates: Up to 1 hr. $8; up to 2 hrs. $12; up to 3 hrs. $16; up to 12 hrs. $18; up to 24 hrs. $28, after 5 p.m. $14 (Sun.-Thurs. )
Rating: ***
Ambience: Tribeca loft
Cars parked next to yours: Audi A4,
What you get: Winner of an International Concrete Repair Institute excellence award (second only to a Pulitzer, in our book), the venerable Motor Mart opened in the late 1920s as "the largest garage in the world," according to the ICRI website, "designed with a futuristic double threaded helix ramp system." Those Watson-and-Crick ramps are still a thrill to navigate, too, albeit tough on the Michelin radials. An ambitious facelift in 1999 restored this architectural landmark to much of its original splendor, showcasing the Mart's high ceilings and abundant windows that make parking dreamy on a sun-splashed spring afternoon.
Garage at Post Office Square
Zero Post Office Square
Rates: Up to .5 hr. $5; up to 1 hr. $9; up to 1.5 hrs. $18; up to 2 hrs. $23; up to 2.5 hrs. $28; over 2.5 hrs. $33 ; weekend & nights $9
Rating: ****
Ambience: Ritz-Carlton concierge desk
Cars parked next to yours: Acura 3.2, Jeep Grand Cherokee
What you get: Piped-in classical music sets the mood as you lock your vehicle and step into this six-level parker's paradise. Floors clean enough to eat off. (But save room for the deli/bakery conveniently located near the garage's ground-level entryway.) Lighting that would do the Wilbur Theatre proud. A host of amenities (drop-off dry cleaning and shoe-shine service, prepaid parking cards, Smart - Traveler phones to check traffic reports, etc.) that make this a destination point for discriminating downtown drivers. How many lots print color brochures worthy of a Carnival cruise ship? 'Nuff said.
One Post Office Square Garage
Rates: Maximum of $35 per day Monday through Friday.
Rating: ***
Ambience: FEMA bunker
Cars parked next to yours: BMW Z4, Saab SUV
What you get: This modernist concrete structure carries a whiff of Le Corbusier to it. Or maybe that's just kitchen vapors from the nearby Cafe Julien wafting upward through the structure's airy, windows-on-the-financial-district design. Whatever. The low ceilings can be intimidating to SUV drivers -- watch out for those ski and kayak racks, Dad! -- but the garage's individually numbered parking spaces make auto retrieval a breeze, particularly when you've had one too many Cosmopolitans and are headed home to Wellesley, not quite sure how to find the Mass. Pike. Bonus: Flashing "Vehicles Exiting" sign reduces odds of pedestrian casualties upon egress.
Boston Common Garage,
0 Charles Street
Rates: Up to 1 hr. $6; up to 2 hrs. $11; up to 3 hrs. $16; up to 9 hrs. $18; maximum charge $25; evening rate $10
Rating: **
Ambience: ICBM missile silo
Cars parked next to yours: Chevy Lumina, Dodge Stratus with US Government plates
What you get: Standing atop this lot carved from deep beneath Boston Common are four octagon-shaped entryways. Manning one of them is security guard Mohammed Sharrif, a Somali native, who told us that the question he's most frequently asked is: Where are the public restrooms? "There are none, so I tell them go to the visitors' center," said a cheerful Sharrif, happy to help an inquisitive stranger. "Number two is, 'Where is the State House?' " Number three? " 'I didn't know there's a garage underneath. Can we go look at it?' " Sharrif then said he'd like to persuade the mayor to install more toilets for "the people who come here from all over the world." To park, if not to dream.
Pilgrim Parking,
49 Lansdowne St.
Rates: $10 after 6 p.m.; $10 weekends; ballgame parking $30
Rating: 0 stars
Ambience: MCI Lansdowne
Cars parked next to yours:
What you get: Pitted concrete walls and flaking paint aren't the only aesthetic horrors that scream maximum security in this (ware)house of gloom. There's the sideview-mirror-threatening entryway, the water dripping from the ceiling (Did Manny cause this leak to spring with one of his over-the-Green-Monster bombs? We can only hope), the coils of razor wire guarding the rooftop-lot area (keeping vandals out or paying customers in?), the wire-mesh windows that overlook, though alas do not block out, the cacophonous Mass. Pike a few yards away. It's a good thing Lansdowne St. comes alive after dark, because daylight around here is scary.
Prudential Center Garage,
800 Boylston St.
Rates: Up to .5 hr. $6; up to 1 hr. $9; up to 1.5 hrs. $17; up to 2 hrs. $24; up to 10 hrs. $30; up to 24 hrs. $38
Rating: *
Ambience: Kazakhstan Tourist Bureau
Cars parked next to yours: Cadillac Escalade, Infiniti MX
What you get: Regarding the Prudential Center, it's famously said the best part of the view from the building is not having to look at the Prudential Center. Much the same can be said of the vast parking vault below, whose dead-end boulevards will make you sorry you ever bought that Chevy Tahoe and whose wheezing ventilation system -- on one visit, it sounded like a
Copley Place Parking,
Dartmouth Street
Rates: Up to .5 hr. $6; up to 1 hr. $8; up to 1.5 hrs. $12; 2 hrs. $16; up to 2.5 hrs. $20; up to 3 hrs. $24; up to 10 hrs. $26; up to 24 hrs. $32; early bird & night rates
Rating: **
Ambience: WEEI "Whiner Line" callers' dormitory
Cars parked next to yours: Lexus, Mini Cooper
What you get: The downtown lot where your car trunk is most likely to be searched upon entry -- presumably for knock-off Louis Vuitton luggage, since the real thing is sold in the adjacent Copley Place mall. (Don't fret, we're as homeland-security conscious as the next guy. Dog-sniff the glove compartment while you're at it, fellas.) The sign forbidding rollerblading and skateboarding is reassuring, though, lest your Toyota Prius get mistaken for a Tony Hawk takeoff ramp in the lot's dim-and-dimmer lighting. While you shop, Dr. Detail will vacuum, wash, and wax your sedan for slightly less than the cost of a Vuitton Epi Leather clutch.
Garage@100 Clarendon Street
Rates: Up to .5 hr. $7; up to 1 hr. $10; up to 1.5 hrs. $12; up to 2 hrs. $16; up to 2.5 hrs. $20; up to 10 hrs. $25; up to 24 hours $30; night rate $9
Rating: ***
Ambience:
Cars parked next to yours: Volvo XC wagon, VW Passat
What you get: From the heated lobby with automated ticket kiosks to the complementary umbrellas on loan when it's raining outside, this place has "customer friendly" written all over it. Did someone mention writing? At the Books to Go cabinet located in the garage office, customers can choose from an audio library stocked with thrillers (John Grisham), mysteries (Sue Grafton), romantic comedies ("The Botox Diaries"), and self-important piffle masquerading as punditry (John Stossel's "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media"). Just turn down the volume while negotiating the corkscrewy, Guggenheim-pitched entry ramp. Scrapes happen!
Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com. 
