L.A. man's crusade to take back usurped parking spots

Residents are illegally blocking off coveted spaces. TikTok's 'Cone King' is pushing back.

- BY KAREN GARCIA

JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times

JOEY MORALES, the "Cone King" on Tik Tok, removes obstacles that block street parking in L.A.

Joey Morales' Ford SUV stopped along a quiet residential street in South L.A., its headlights shining on what would be a perfect parking spot if not for the three orange cones blocking it.

Cones in this part of town carry weight — they're used not just by public works and construction crews but by locals as de facto gatekeepers blocking vehicles from crossing. With a friend filming him for his growing Tik-Tok following as the “Cone King,” Morales, 31, exited his vehicle in a yellow reflective vest, grabbed the cones and tossed them into his SUV.

His next step would be giving the cones away to construction crews, or if labeled as L.A. property, returning them to the city.

In Los Angeles, the battle for public parking spaces has been likened to a blood sport. Be it cones, trash cans, fake “No Parking” signs or other items, Angelenos have for decades made the act of parking on a public street a virtual survival of the fittest and best prepared in a city of 3.8 million.

But saving a parking spot by obstructing the street, without a valid permit, is against the city’s municipal code.

In the last fiscal year, StreetsLA, a division of the city’s Public Works Department, responded to more than 4,000 requests to remove obstructions in public rights-of-way, which include street parking spaces, said StreetsLA spokesperson Dan Halden.

Those who violate the law are subject to administrative fines beginning at $50, but that’s about it, according to the city. Los Angeles police do not respond to parking disputes over things such as cones unless there’s a “fight breaking out or some other criminal event,” the department said.

Parking disputes turning violent in Los Angeles and beyond, unfortunately, are not unheard of.