But like so many other pop-up markets in Southern California, the dealerships are unlicensed, unregulated and, according to public officials, illegal.
Now, local governments are trying to curb the unlicensed dealers by making it illegal to park any car with a “For Sale” sign in the areas where these markets proliferate. The City of Los Angeles has already enacted a ban on two major streets, and the county is set to add Pacific Boulevard and many more roads to that list after a final vote Tuesday.
“This attempt to use the street as a place of business creates a hazard for businesses and residents who pay taxes to maintain those streets,” a Los Angeles County supervisor, Gloria Molina, said. “We are trying to correct a public nuisance.”
These used car markets have appeared all over Los Angeles County in the past 15 years, especially in the largely Latino communities southeast of Los Angeles like Walnut Park, where they conduct business entirely in Spanish.
Pacific Boulevard, in particular, has developed a reputation as a place to get a bargain on used vehicles, and people come from all over East Los Angeles. Fernando Perez, a local landscaper, took his son with him on Saturday to look for a used truck.
“A dealer is probably a better place to go, but with the economy like it is, I come here,” Mr. Perez, 37, said. He had his eye on a blue Ford Explorer chalked for $5,500. “At a dealer, this car would cost double,” he said.
Local residents and business owners, however, complain that car dealers clog traffic and hog parking spaces, which are hard enough to come by with five million cars on the road in Los Angeles County.
“They park in front of the businesses and just leave the cars there all weekend, so the customers trying to come in and shop in the area have nowhere to park,” said Eddie Carvajal, owner of MM Furniture on Pacific Boulevard. “Even when they take a car for a test drive, they pull another vehicle into the space so they don’t lose it.”
Though it is illegal to operate a car sale business without a license in California, county officials call the law almost impossible to enforce.
The dealers hang around in a nearby park, playing cards or lying on park benches, waiting for customers to call. County officials say they bring the cars in from mechanic shops and nearby dealerships, in hopes of moving vehicles that have not sold. Many of the cars have the same phone numbers listed on them. Mr. Carvajal said sellers sometimes dropped cars off on tow trucks, two or three at a time.
When the dealers saw a photographer snapping pictures of the chalked windows, they quickly wiped the prices off all the windshields. They all denied they were selling cars — one man polishing a car ran away when a reporter approached him, and five others in the park said they were waiting around for a party that would start later. One pointed to a man sleeping on a bench and said, “It’s his birthday.”
The used car markets are only the biggest and most visible of the many unlicensed industries that flourish here. On Saturday morning, men rode up and down Pacific Boulevard on bicycles, selling watermelon, papaya and cucumber out of plastic containers. At night, the street becomes a hub of prostitution, local business owners said.
Local governments have tried to combat these weekend car dealerships for more than a decade. Los Angeles briefly banned parking with a “For Sale” sign anywhere in the city. But in 2006, the ordinance was struck down in court on First Amendment grounds, and since then underground car markets in Southern California have continued to grow.
County and Los Angeles city officials say the new laws, which single out only certain streets, are narrow enough to stand up to a legal challenge this time.
But not all of the people selling cars here are underground dealers. Gelacio Chacon, 20, took his car to Walnut Park because he knew people came to Pacific Boulevard to buy cars. He put a “For Sale” sign up in the window and sat nearby, waiting for someone to call.
The new law, which would prevent anyone from parking on the street with a “For Sale” sign, would affect people like Mr. Chacon trying to sell their own cars, as well as the underground dealers. On the first offense, a car with a “For Sale” sign would be ticketed; the second time, it would be impounded.
Peter Eliasberg, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which brought the lawsuit against the citywide ban in Los Angeles, remained skeptical about the new laws.
“There are huge problems with these ordinances,” Mr. Eliasberg said. “There are other ways you can target the problem if people are really using these streets as outdoor malls for cars. Someone who lives in the neighborhood should be able to park there with a sign up.”
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