in the70's in Seattle, Golden Gardens was a Mecca. But we never policed ourselves, and the place got trashed every night. Looking back, I can't really blame the Cops for shutting it down...HARD. like 300 tickets a night until we all avoided it like the plague. It never came back.
We have'em all the time down here in Austin... Some larger, some smaller... Planned, not planned... all for a good time. Here is one we have set up for this weekend... Come on out if youre close.
I grew up in a small town in Texas. We cruised like crazy! What ruined our cruising scene was that the vast majority of the kids were too stupid to clean up after ourselves! We all met on "the square". There were a lot of classic cars, but even more four doors, station wagons, and pick ups. Whatever we coud get our hands on to drive. The local cops were pretty cool. They would tell us that they didn't care if we drank. Just don't get too stupid and throw your empties in the trash can. They explained that the local businessmen would get pissed on Monday mornings when they had to clean up empty beer bottles from in front of their stores. They got pissed, they called the Chief, the Chief called in the Patrolmen, and the Ass ripping ran downhill. We were at the bottom of the hill. We dug our own graves by being stupid kids. The cops liked us meeting on the square because they could keep an eye on us. The businessmen were not as happy. They passed a local ordinance that prohibted our meeting on the sqaure, so now cruising is dead here......
As someone has said, "it depends"...on why you did it, and now why you don't. Some places, it's simply outlawed. Some places we live now, it never was. And, sadly, "times change". Social media, co$t of fuel, other activities previously unknown. And what was fun as a teen/20-something ain't when you're "our age". We simply had nothing better to do, then, and generally now we do (or so we think, and that "we" might just be our spouse...). "Cruise-ins", if available in your area, now suffice as "social interactions of the auto-inclined". Planned "runs" often exist (we have one every Labor Day Sunday, for instance). Times change...people change...and what was cool ain't no more...for one reason or another, depending...
I don't recall ever making a mess of our hangout spot....mainly because there was a dumpster that was pretty accessable. But I do recall being generally stupid with our cars. I'm thankful nobody I knew got hurt during the incidents that I will not speak of (I take the 5th). But there were quite a few perfectly good cars that got messed up. Thankfully none were mine...and I was only an occupant during one of the incidents.
Not the smartest thing to do as a buisness owner - Promote drinking & driving. Which leads me to think of another reason, the big crackdown on Seatbelts and drunk driving. I'm not saying it was right, but things were different up to 20 years ago.
Combination in my area of stupid punks (notice I didn't say kids) as well as stupid officials...both city and police. Even organized cruise nights are frowned on by local cops/officials. And when they do allow them the police are way stupid. It is a shame indeed.
I was at a local "cruise" night, sittin' in a parking lot and while shootin' the shit one of the fellas says we should go and actually cruise "X" st. like we used to I said "Let's go!" and then the excuses started the biggest bein' "I gotta work in the morning". That pretty much sums it up.
Me too. It was a special time. In the early 60's we were bored at home, TV was 3 channels of not too interesting stuff, and there were few activities for kids. Nobody ever had to "organize" a cruise. Cruising was the way I stayed connected with my friends, met girls, and showed off the work I was doing on my car. There were hundreds if not thousands of other kids out doing the same thing in every town. It was a different time. AG captures the feeling of the time very well, and I identified strongly with that movie when it came out. The night before I got married in 72 all of my wedding party and I started out together in our cars on a 200 mile drive to my fiancee's home in Santa Cruz. We spent most of the night cruising the main street of every town we passed through, having fun and meeting lots of kids just like us. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was close to the end of that era.
Wow. This thread got a much bigger reaction than I expected!! I think I'm gonna start driving up and down the old strip until the old cars start following me
We have a car show and cruise every year. During the cruise you are allowed to do a few burnouts and the cops are OK with it because the city gets a $2500 check from the car club at the end of the day. They close off a cruise route so no one that hasn't paid to cruise gets in. The streets are lined with people yelling at the cars to do burnouts. Its kind of fun and for $10, its cheap entertainment.....
My mother is a public school teacher, and has been since I was a kid (35+ years ago), and she would strongly disagree with you. When she started out, she worked exclusively in special education. Now she works with general population of kids, where she has to apply the techniques of special education, to all of the kids, and this is in a rich town.
Alot of people around me still do it. Most of the summer in fact, it still goes on but gas prices, more traffic, and alot of other factors I think have slowed it down. Life is so fast paced now, everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere, text someone, stuff like that.
We hit Back To The Bricks for the first time this year. Great show, and people actually WANT you to park in there lots AND let you use their bathrooms. Great bunch of people. Damn GM, and Chrysler...or do we just call them Fiat now ,bought their way into every place to park on Woodward.
the dynamics of people have changed cruising was a way to be seen and socialize , now everyone constantly text each other or face book or emails , and no one really hangs out face to face anymore , and most of the drive in resturaunts are gone and gas is to expensive the list is big lol
I'm guessing that on any given Wed, Fri, or Sat. night here in the metro Minneapolis/St Paul area you could cruise from parking lot or cafe cruise-in to cruise-in and not double back all evening. Might be harder to do if you only want to park next to H.A.M.B friendly cars though. On many summer Saturdays and Sundays you could cruise between car shows, just don't get stuck in a "must stay all day" spot. Harder to do if you won't park on the edges rather than in the prime spot-light spots. The thing is that while cruising between all these spots you are almost certain to end up spotting and maybe caravaning with other like minded folks.
Well here in napa it used to be a big deal once a year, untill gangs and other people that couldnt get along with eachother caused problems and attracted more Police and it finaly got shut down. You know the drill "a few people ruin it for the rest of us".
It used to be huge in Berdoo on E street. It was every Friday and Saturday night, the street was packed. I think there were some complaints about crime, etc., then it became illegal to cruise there. It wasnt all rods & customs, though.
Because young people meet in different ways now. That's what it was really about. Meeting chicks. When you did find one you slowly dropped out of cars and got married. Now they text each other or facebook or something.
The cops ruined it here in FL. Lake Worth beach was our local cruising spot. Those were the days...cruising, getting girls phone numbers, finding out where the parties were going to be. Of course I am only 36, but the reasons were the same. Some hot rods and muscle cars but back then the mini truck was the rage. Before long the cops were pulling over cars for bumpers too low and tint too dark. They basically made it uncomfortable to hang out even though the city gained revenue from the parking meters. I bet they got more money in those meters in two nights than all week! Man I miss cruising.
I was a regular every Friday and Saturday night at the local cruise seen at the time it was put down for good. The law put a stop to it because of the gang bangers shooting at each other ….. that’s who’s to blame. The racing - partying was tolerated to a point but when the crack head scum started there bull shit it screwed it up for everyone. You cant blame the cops
Cruised E st in Berdoo from '67 til it was closed with a period of being gone courtesy of Uncle Sam -- It was cool until the gangers started showing up -- had guns pulled on me 2 week ends in a row and the 3rd weekend the cops closed it down for good As far as the education thing -- my son tested out with an IQ of over 135 --- but then the teachers had to start teaching to the lowest common demomentator "No Child Left Behind" shit -- My son was able to do enuff to pass in 5 minutes without even trying --- Now that he is a senior this year he is really struggling because he did not develope any study habits or home work skills. He would rather play on the internet than do anything -- Don't you want to go out and meet your friends? -- they are all on this game with me --- Don't know how he ever gonna get any tang playing a game LOL -- Guess he might figure it out at some point.
Im seventeen and me and my friends drive around when it's nice out but we live in the sticks. All of know which of our cars is the fastest so we dont really race but we have a little fun everyonce in a while. However never anywhere that there is other traffic or pedestrians. Oh yeah and we dont drive jap crap haha. im the only one whose got a "traditional ride' (56 olds) but I've also got a late f body camaro and my friends got a '71 Nova. Another friends got an el Camino and another one is trying to buy a fox body mustang, but no Rice around our neighborhood. Ive got some other friends lookin into some nostalgic stuff too and I'm tryin to steer them that way. Would be cool to see more of us with em.
VCRs and DVD players, Internet, Cable TV with 100 channels, Cell Phones, Computer games. Why go do anything when you have all that? Hell, kids hardly play outside anymore. Don't know how to do anything and don't want to learn. Everything's magically provided. Any teenager...and I mean ANY teenager I run across today who actually wants to learn to do something or build something, I consider to be exceptional. You'll have to excuse me. I'm tired and feeling a little cynical today. For all you HAMBers under 25, I think you are exceptional. Keep learning stuff, man, if for no other reason than when the civilization quits "civilizing", your peers aren't going to be able to grab their butts with both hands, they won't be able to fix anything or build anything. You young guys that learned how to use your hands and your brains are going to be rich, man! You'll have all the pigs, and cows and gold and chicks and shit...just don't forget to take care of us old guys though...oh yeah, and bring back cruisin 'cause it's fun...and it's American. Did I leave anything out?
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