I came across a New York Times article titled, “The garage is the new porch.” I instantly began to rack my brain for any signs if this was true in my neighborhood in Newark. With this in mind as I took my dog out for his afternoon walk, I had my eye on any garage I could find that was open.
The first few houses I saw with people outside were families dragging out boxes from their garages to display inflatable Halloween decorations on their lawns. Although their garage was being used, it didn’t seem like it was being utilized as a porch.
As I continued to walk down the street I saw a family eating dinner on their full-sized dining table, which was squarely placed on top of a red rug in the middle of their garage. They also had a small kitchenette in the corner. It seems like that household skipped the porch step and converted their garage into a kitchen/dining space.
Although we didn’t see them that evening, I remembered walking by a house that always has at least three people sitting in their garage on camping chairs with someone holding a beer and their restored 1950s-looking car on the side of the driveway. In another house down my street lives a woman who runs a small floristry business she had to downgrade from a storefront a few years ago.
I’ve seen her garage open a few times with tables filled with clear bins of bouquets and small drawers where I can only imagine she keeps ribbons, pins and twine. On the weekends, I’ve seen her shuttle buckets of flower arrangements from her garage to a large white van to transport them to events. She even made my corsage and boutonniere for my high school prom—years ago.
During the summer, in the house next door to her, two kids had a lemonade stand set up in their driveway with a small table, cups and a sign. When I asked for two cups of lemonade they ran back into their open garage and pulled out cold lemonade from the fridge as I spoke to their grandmother about their business venture.
When we moved into my house, the previous owner had a mini salon in the garage. She said it was mostly for her kids and close friends, but she had labeled cabinets on the wall and even a fully functioning shampoo bowl.
Now, my family uses it as nothing interesting—just a garage where they work on their cars, which is actually quite often. However, when we’re out there fixing cars, our neighbor friends come up and we pull up a camping chair. Neighbors drive by and see that we’re home so more people stop by for a minute to catch up.
Even if it’s nothing special, the garage can act as an outstretched hand that welcomes passerbyers to a conversation and gives the energy of “we’re open to talk.” It’s almost become a “third space” with some detachment from the home. It’s a place where close friends can gather comfortably and still have a chance to share a connection with a stranger.
I wonder how many small interactions or new connections would come from just leaving the garage door open. Would a new sense of community be created if every household had an open garage door policy?
