This room, where written tests are usually administered, had five available kiosks (not unlike voting booths) with caution tape cordoning off the rest to ensure social distancing. Because I was unable to furnish said eight-digit confirmation number, I was directed to a small room in the back to complete one online, a piece of highlighter-yellow paper in hand. This number, which is not the same as the appointment number at the top of my email from the DMV, was what I should have received after completing my driver’s license renewal application online. I was met by an employee in full protective gear (including a face shield and gloves) who found my name on an appointment list and asked for my eight-digit electronic confirmation number. (Another piece of advice: Wear a mask the security guard out front isn’t interested in your treatise on personal liberty.) You will carry one piece of yellow paper everywhereĨ:00 a.m.: Properly masked and having provided my appointment confirmation number, I was ushered from my taped-off spot on the sidewalk through the front door at the click of 8 a.m. 1: Bring proof of your appointment with you - and if you don’t have one, bring comfortable shoes and perhaps a book to read. Those who had scheduled an appointment - and had their appointment confirmation number in hand (either on paper or screen) - could queue up in one of the half-dozen taped-off, six-feet-apart spots on the sidewalk near the front door of the DMV. This line, it turns out, was for people who had not made an appointment online in advance. (A visibly pregnant woman, about a dozen spots from the front, let it be known - and loudly - that she’d been there since 4:30 a.m.) Most of them clutched various DMV forms, and all seemed to have been there for a while. south to Waring Avenue and then turned north up Wilcox Avenue halfway to Willoughby Avenue. At 7:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the office was scheduled to open, the line of approximately 140 somewhat-socially-distanced people stretched from just outside the front door at 803 Cole Ave. appointment thinking there wouldn’t be many people at such an early hour. (The Real ID license requirement to board a domestic airline flight, which had been set to go into effect this October - a month after my driver’s license expires - has been pushed to 2021.) There will be a lot of peopleħ:45 a.m.: I arrived 15 minutes early for my 8 a.m. But thanks to my scheduled-for-May, rescheduled-for-July appointment to apply for a Real ID, I found those answers - and more - at the Hollywood DMV field office last week. Now that the DMV field offices are open and rescheduling closure-canceled appointments, what can you expect to find if you’re notified that you’re back on the calendar?Īccording to a DMV representative, all the previously canceled appointments have been rescheduled, and new appointments are not being offered at this time. It wasn’t until six weeks later that 25 offices opened back up to appointment-holding customers, and it wasn’t until June 11 that the rest of the field offices were back open for transactions that needed to be completed in person, including behind-the-wheel driving tests (which resumed June 26), applying for a Real ID and reinstating a suspended license. In late March, all field offices statewide shuttered in response to COVID-19 concerns. Visiting the DMV wasn’t an option for a while. That desire for avoidance is stronger right now, with the Golden State recently setting a new one-day record for coronavirus cases. For most people who have been through the experience, setting foot in a bricks-and-mortar California DMV field office is not unlike a trip to the dentist - something to be done only when absolutely necessary and only after all other options have been exhausted.
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