Identifying Placelessness; March 21, 2010

Miriam Webster Definition
Placelessness
Main Entry: place•less
Pronunciation: \-ləs\
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : lacking a fixed location
2 : indistinguishable from other such places in appearance or character (a placeless parking complex — T. J. Jablonsky)
— place•less•ly adverb
— placelessness noun

It is ironic that this definition references a parking complex to identify where one could experience placelessness. What is even more ironic is that the one place that I can think of that has such a vast sense of placelessness is a parking lot. The Parking lot at Rave Motion Pictures Theater at O’Neal Lane, Baton Rouge, Louisiana is big and vast and mostly identifiable, until you drive to the southwest corner of the parking lot. It is so far back that you lose your sense of place.

The lot is surrounding on the south and West sides by wooded area and on the north side by an embankment which separates it from interstate twelve. The aforementioned sides of the lot are bordered by various types of fencing. On the East side, if you stood in the Southwest corner, you could literally forget where you are. The lot stretches out, giving the illusion that it is far bigger than it is. The front of the theatre cannot even be seen from that corner of the lot, even though it is not by any means behind the theatre.
It is a sea of lines when empty and a patchwork quilt of cars when full. Because of its location, you cannot connect with any surrounding thing to get your bearings. The cars that pass on the freeway move too fast, the theater is too far away and situated at a contrary angle and the neighborhoods are blocked off by privacy fences. Entry and exit to and from the lot is limited by a lone access road, Hatteras, further isolating it.