Although I grew up in Long Beach CA. I spent the late 70's and early 80's cruising the world famous Whittier Blvd. (good times). I have been a resident of Whittier for @ 9yrs now and recently visited the Whittier Historical Society Museum. I had asked about any info or history of the famous cruise spot and I had come to the conclusion cruising Whittier Blvd isn't something that the city of Whittier is proud of? Hell, in my opinion the cruise is what put Whittier on the map! Anyway I'm looking for any pics, stories or memories of the infamous cruise spot for a project I'm working on for the historical society that will possibly be a future display. Lets keep it positive for they will see the response from this thread. Post em or pm me on em. Thanks, Lance http://www.whittiermuseum.org/
I started cruising there about 1976,in my first car,67 VW. It was THE thing to do here in SoCal on the weekend! Girls everywhere! There was only one Hotrod that I remember. A red Anglia with black fenders. Big guy with a beard drove it. Other than that,it was just Muscle cars and Mini trucks,and VW's too. There was the occasional streetrace,but mostly guys bragging about how fast their cars are. Cruised there til the cops started putting up barracades. Van Nuys was too far away to go every weekend. Sure miss the cruising back and forth!!! Painter to Greenleaf.....
amen bob, I went from cruisin my VW through my mini truckin days. Once again good times we'll never re-live!!
Word on the streets is the 605 Freeway was the divider seperating the Hot Rodders from the Lowriders, Whittier side of the freeway was for the Hot Rodders. And the Opposite side (East LA, Montebello & Pico Rivera) was for the cruisers. my grandparents house is in Pico Rivera right off of Whittier Blvd and Paramount A.K.A. "JARDIN". the lowriders used to cruise through the neighborhood to get back onto Whittier Blvd. because of the barracades not allowing you to cruise the strip. Ahhh i love the sound of cherry bombs!!
My VW club cruised over to the East LA end one weekend,and saw a guy shoot another guy,right between my car and a Lowrider! He fell right in front of my car!!!! It was a big deal,cause he was the son of some famous Hispanic guy. We turned around and never went back. There were many guys who went to High School with me that were in Lowrider clubs,Imperials,Lifestyles,and another one,but I can't remember the name,that cruised the East LA,Whittier Blvd. every weekend.
Correct north of the 605 was the lolo's. The "white kids" cruised between Painter and Colima, south of the 605. I never cruised north of the 605, although I'm a whitesican I cruised the south side. I think "back then" it was the lolos on the north side that ruined it for everyone? (no offense to my brothers)
my Dad used to be in "Bachelors LTD C.C." and i think most or if not all of them ended up in "Lifestyle C.C." so i have heard alot of the cruising whittier blvd stories. alot of the older guys at work who were a few years older than my dad pretty much have the same stories my dad has told me so i assumed they were pretty much true. one guy at work said he used to drive around with cragars on his "muscle car" with the muscle car stance. he would drive it over to the HOT ROD side of whittier blvd, and the hot rodders would be begging to race him... so he says he would tell them "sure, lets do it..." they'd pull up side by side and start revving up, and right before the light would turn green he'd hit the switches on his "LIFTS" and drop his car to the floor! most guys would be in shock he said that his car was "juiced" and he'd patch out and leave the other guys eating his dust cause they were trying to figure out how his hot rod was really a "lowrider!"
Cool memories of a still in my opinion cool town , I hear the Bobs diner was the place to be seen at .Any Pix ?????
Hey, I would sometimes run up to Whittier Blvd. from Long Beach '70-'74, Bellflower Blvd was still a low rider/kustom deal, but Whittier featured street races, with some good 'bombas' & soft kustoms. No Jap trucks and the only VWs I recall had 1835s in 'um, quick and loud! With the Whittier P.D./ L.A.Sherrif ya got one warning, two ment you're goin ta jail! Most of the serious racing happened in the straw- berry fields of whats now the cities of Cypress & Los Alamintos. Mostly a L.A county vs Orange County thing. Swankey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Right in the middle,south west corner. Bob's and Arby's were right across the street. I think the Arby's is still there.
One of those VW's was mine. 2233 with 48 Webers! Mopar,sublime with a frog painted on the back,polished Centerlines,tilt front end. 25 races...NO losses...til I wrecked it! Guy pulled in front of me with my foot in it! Totalled it,gave it to my uncle and he raced it in the Baja 1000 three times! Miss that car...
I remember Nabisco in Buena Park. I ran my V-Dub fast back type III with a 1776 hi-rpm type I, used to smoke th V-8 in the 1/8 mile (good times) I hated camaro's and mustangs, but I loved spankin em
Hey, Scotty's was about the middle of the Blvd. You would turn around @ Scotty's to cruize back west or head east towards old town Whittier, bad move cuz that's L.A.Sherrif's country! Swankey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
im only 28 but i remember cruzing whittier blvd. in high school and it was great lots of girls is what remeber the most. long beach for life...........................
Years ago there was a Ford plant on the north side of it. LONG straight!!!! The Nabisco was at Knott and the 5frwy.
Nabisco is on Firestone in Buena Park which parallels the 5 frwy between Valley view and Beach??????????????
I had read about Whittier Blvd from articles in Hot Rod mag & Street Rodder mag when I lived in England, when I moved here in 1988 I drove down Whittier Blvd & got a Motel room ,got the shivers of reality driving on Whittier Blvd at night Next day started work at Kugels for the next 6 yrs before venturing out alone. Bought my building on Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier . Life don't get any better.We've met plenty of locals with tales but no photos, I guess it was participating not recording the events that mattered back then.A good thread this , very informative, anyone remember The Timers of Whittier I only have a club plaque & some stories from Barefoot Gary.
Weinerschnitels is on Painter, we would turn there and cruise to Colima and turn again. I remember chillin on the wall on the corner which is now Trader Joes. And yeah lots and lots of chicks
I have a 1978 Car Craft with Whitteir Blvd on the cover. Sally "10dollar" is on the cover with her Trans Am. Anybody remember her? HA HA!!! I do.......
I can remember me and my buddies cruising over to whittier from Tustin where I lived. My pop was a Marine stationed there. Anyway My best friend Carl had this kick ass 64 1/2 white Mustang with red interior and a mean 289. What it ment really was that we could show up and not be classiefied as total posers or looky loo's. THe cars in Bob's lot were totaly bitchen. It was the first time I ever saw a big block stuffed in to a Pinto.
yikes, what a blast to the past. Here's the car I had in 1979, good times on Whittier Blvd until the cops shut it down. Remember "Stick City"? I had a V8 VW bug there for a while.... good times....
There was also a BADASS big block Chevette! Anybody remember N****r Mark,with the white Nova? He ran out of Downey Service Center. That thing was a rocket!!!! That is what everybody called him(before the PC took over). He was a really cool guy! I saw him a while back at Pomona Winternationals...
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