I remember going to the gate to meet and see off family, up until the mid-late 90s. I think the last time I met someone at the gate was in summer of 1997 at the Colorado Spring airport.
I remember my father picking me up at an airport - his novelty belt buckle set off the metal detector at the door, but guard just waved him through.
Before I got married, I met my wife-to-be (the marvelous @Dendarii_Dame) at the gate once when she came to visit me (and once after we were married when she visited me while I was on a 4-week business trip).
Sure, that’s why – at least at YYZ but I imagine pretty much everywhere – the areas outside the terminal buildings are marked with numbered posts. When I have to pick my son up at the airport, I wait in the cell phone lot for his call and he tells me exactly where he is. I’m certainly not about to compete with idiots who park illegally and either get shooed away or ticketed first and then shooed away.
Most airports have some way to describe where you are. O’Hare has prominently numbered posts. Logan has separate areas for each of 4 terminals, with less obvious numbering. Central Wisconsin airport is so small it’s easy. La Guardia… You know, that’s the airport I’ve flown from more than any other airport, but i don’t think I’ve ever been picked up there by someone i know in a car. That’s a bus-or-taxi airport. 
I think many airports number the doors to the terminal, so you can let your ride know that you are at door 6 or whatever.
I remember the one time during college I actually went somewhere on spring break. Think this was 1995 and UW-Madison & UArizona’s spring breaks lined up and I spent spring break with my friend who attended Arizona. Anyhow, my Sunday flight back went through O’Hare and my parents lived in suburban Chicago so they randomly decided to come to the airport to visit with me in one of the United terminals while I had my layover for my connection back to Madison. But it turned out the flight to Madison got cancelled while we were waiting and they ended up making an unplanned late night drive to Madison after I got reticketed to a flight on Monday. Very convenient, thanks Mom & Dad again. I still had to get to the Madison airport after classes on Monday to reunite with my luggage…