My Dad got us out of South Philly in 1965 because he had to walk 4 blocks in the rain for a parking space. We moved to South Jersey with a 150' driveway and a large garage and only came back for weddings and funerals.
And while that's the kind of sentiment which makes me giggle, there's nothing wrong with it. Back in 1965 there probably was a starker, simpler choice between urban and suburban living, for people for whom parking was a priority, the suburbs won. But it also is a reminder that per capita auto ownership increased over time, that for awhile parking in South Philly probably wasn't as much of a problem, not until they started creeping towards the one-car-per-driving-age-household-member standard. The point being, dense cities are compatible with cars, just not too many of them.
*The Inqy is apparently experimenting with moving comments from articles which will be, uh, controversial, to facebook in hopes that it restrains people. Nope.