FWIW I was a hampden person for about a decade. Including about half of it living right off the avenue.

The avenue parking isn’t used too often in part because there’s free neighborhood parking right off of it. Even though the meters are dirt cheap it’s an extra step. So people visiting the avenue, and especially those working on it, park in the neighborhood. Which means it’s super easy to find parking on the actual avenue and not that hard to find it off it.