In 1999, planners in Portland, Oregon, developed zoning laws to require the car house be subordinate to the human house, dubbing the garage-thrusting style the “snout house” because the garage stuck out toward the road like the nose of a pig. “Basically, we want a house to pass the ‘trick or treat test,’ ” City Commissioner (later mayor) Charlie Hales said at the time. “So when kids come around to trick or treat, they actually get a sense that somebody lives in the house, and they can find the door. Imagine that.”
