Prior to that I had lived in LA from 1966 on and got around on foot and on my bicycle and city buses.
I drove that giant Buick — I mean it was HUGE, both in terms of length and width as well as weight — for about five years, the final 2-3 of which featured a caved-in non-functional driver's side door resulting from having been T-boned by a little old lady who ran a stop sign.
No worries: I'd just hop over the side or use the passenger side door.
After the crash I never worried about theft.
Also, amusingly, when I was on freeways, cars in adjacent lanes would quickly move away.
It can be nice if you’re in a hurry or worried about walking alone in a parking garage at night.
But yes, it can be annoying, especially because you’re expected to tip them in the US too.
And to answer your question: No, valet parking is usually useful because the parking place is far from where you're going (usually a hotel or restaurant). Having the valet saves you the walk from the lot to the place where you're going. It is even more useful when it's raining and you're having a formal dinner.
The wait for getting the car back is also pretty short because someone radios a driver already in the parking lot to bring your car in most circumstances.
It was quite nice and let me focus on work instead of worrying about charging and only initial paperwork (we had QR stickers on the car and keychain QR).
That's about the only time I've used a valet regularly.
1. at parking garages so that cars can be double- or triple-parked. This is by far the most common use case for valets today. At these lots, you actually do have to pay more (or arrive early) for a spot that doesn't require valet parking.
2. at high-end restaurants or other similar venues where there is no immediately nearby parking and limited or no street parking. The valet drives the car to a lot or garage a few blocks away and returns it to you when they are done. You can almost always opt out of these, although you may or may not save money by doing so and at some places it can be worth it to just pay up and deal with the inconvienance because the nearest parking is a bit far.
I've also seen it as a weird status symbol thing in cases where it's entirely unnecessary, primarily used by people who have never had to put up with #1 or #2. Think up-scale hotels but located where parking is extremely ample. I think that only exists because there's a general impression outside of super-dense cities that valets are a "fancy" thing because they are only really common in "fancy big cities". (Which, to be fair, owning a car in midtown definitely makes a person fancy in some sense even if I'd never ency that person :p)
But actually, for the most part, valets are not a fancy optional service. They are mostly a non-optional service that you have to pay more or go to significant inconvenience to not use.
Surprisingly many of them use a text system so you text them to the number they confirmed with like 10 minutes before you need your car and they have it waiting — very convenient.
Also use it at big events like operas or plays or whatever where parking is awful but valet, despite being a little expensive, puts you right up at the front door when walking in and then they get it when you leave.