>My dad was raised on a horse ranch near Ukiah, Oregon in the northeast section of that state. He rode a horse 11 miles one way to school and walked a lot. There were no sidewalks, electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. I took pictures of where dad grew up on a recent vacation.
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>After my dad “enjoyed his visit to the South Pacific” as a United States Marine (World War II), he returned to be with us in San Francisco. Within one half block of our house on 18th Street, there were three grocery stores. It was around 1947 and I can recall my dad getting into his car and driving to one of the three stores for a pack of cigarettes. The distance was about 300 feet, and he would find a place to park in front of the store, as there were not too many cars in the city at that time compared to today.

Oh, yeah? Well I live in a house where my neighbour and I share a driveway. When I want to visit him, I drive from my half to his half. Sometimes I have to ask him to move his car so I can park. ;)

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>If today you can find a parking place within three blocks of our old house consider yourself lucky!
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>>>In the village where my perents live, there was the time when newly appointed Police chief decided to stop people from driving bicycles on the sidewalks. (Since there is no separate track for bicycles everybody was driving them on sidewalks for years)
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>>OK, neighbor, we need to clarify one thing for the benefit of our American readers. The sidewalks.
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>>The distances are much smaller than here - and walking often makes a lot of sense, so much that often you don't even think about any other means of transportation. Now if you're out to buy something, or maybe go a few places, then the bicycle is the next choice - specially with a tote hanging on the handlebar... and in it, of course, a loaf of still warm bread that you pinch on the way home :).
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>>This means there's a lot of people on sidewalks at pretty much any time of day. People walking to their jobs (me too, for a few years - it was from Šećerana (sugar factory) to center, that's less than 3km, you know the route), going shopping, just taking a walk, going out to see who else is there, just going out, until late at night when the guys are walking their girls home and then walking back. In my street you were looked down if you had to walk less then 5km from her place :) - it's too easy and you get home too fast, don't have the time to think it over...
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>>Now for our readers from most of the rest of the world - sidewalks in most of the USA are there because there's a city bylaw that requires them to be built. But you'll never see them worn out (except in big cities downtown). Nobody's walking. Running, maybe, jogging still has some diehard advocates, but not walking. Not alone. With a dog. Or you may get observed by a neighborhood watch, or a police patrol, and maybe become very suspect, depending on how you look and where you are. I've heard it's not advisable to walk in some parts of Los Angeles - there's no good reason to walk there, but there are a lot of reasons which make you suspect.
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>>So, your anecdote could never have happened here. Nobody would even try to enforce such a law (even if it existed, which I'm not sure of) - the drivers get very nervous when they see a bicycle on the road, pretty much like Belgrade drivers when they venture into our flatlands, and if you are riding your bike on a sidewalk, your chances of encountering a pedestrian are close to about one or two each mile. Or less.