I remember my brother and his homies would go cruising out there in the late 70's. He would take me with him. One of his buddies had a 68 Impala. He had a speaker set up in front of his car. Well every time they saw some hot chicks he would play a song by Johnny Chingas. The lyrics were "Seme paro, paro, paro" They would get a kick out of this. They did this every time they went out there. I was young and didn't get it at first.
What school did you attend? I was at Monte Vista from '68-'72 and spent many a night crusing the boulevard. '55 CHevy two door hard top Belair at first then later a light yellow '66 chevy van with huge Ansens on the back and the requisite fog lights and whip antenna - GAWD. WHy I did'nt hold onto the hardtop I'll never stop kicking myself for that.
I know how you feel! I feel the same way about my 55 Nomad. I remember Monte Vista High. I was in my second year of High School (CalHi) the year they closed Monte Vista (Sheriffs training center now) and Sierra High (Continuation School now)
I was a Brea boy but my wife attended La Serna. She knows a bunch of people in your class. She went to Granada which split kids to several high schools. I cruised everything from hot rods and muscle to Brit sports cars, V-dubs and even a 47 Kaiser Frazier with bamboo door panels. My crazy buddy had a '73 Datsun P.U. with a built 350 that was scary fast. He had that in the closing days of cruising but we still made a few passes in it.
Always stood around the corner by Scotties,which is now Norms back in the 70s. There was Bobs Big Boy accross the street which was a good hang out too.
The better half is from Montebello and she cruised Whittier in the late 60's/early 70's time frame in a female friends 68 Firebird. Anyone remember a couple crazy ladies in a FB?
Holy molie, I just found this web site and it brought back so many memories. I was in the middle of all this from 1978 through 1987. Thats when the law finally got me for street racing in about 1989, because of my job I had to get OUT of the street racing business. A lot of things in this thread are familiar to me, Boyd Gable and his nova, AND his Plymouth arrow, Bill Morehead and his Anglia AND his 10 slick stretched KZ1000 motorcycle, Jerry and Rose and their sleeper (69?) nova with 7" slicks, Dirty Ronnie and his Camaro, N****r mark and his cars, Carl Edwards and his (65?) El Camino and Donald Edwards with his 65 El Camino, LEON and POOCKIE (POOH-KEY) and there nova, "POPS" and his belvedere wagon (with massive amounts of nitrous), Glen Johnson (Downey) and his nova, Mitch and his V-8 Volkswagen, Greg Peterson and his V-8 Chevette, Saddest of all was Duane Jones ("FOOT") and his coupe (passed away as a result of a stuck throttle) and John & Laura Maycock with his 56 Chevy (engraved in the back window with ASNG) who made off with the money from the fund raiser on his behalf. Marty Kane racing (really just Marty thinking he was big time, supplying parts from Chet Herbert Cams, ha ha). Manuel and his V-8 Vega. The gypsies, who were the biggest cheaters and crybabies around. They would find any excuse to say the race was no good and then we would have to kick their A**ES. A loss for them would ALWAYS turn into a fight. Joe Shermans kids with the dark red / maroon colors Concourse (looked like a 78 or so Nova) and the red Chevy Luv pickup that they had, with the habit of twisting up ladder bars. By the way, it was Ray Zeoler (not sure of spelling) that owned Downey Service Center. He sold it to Ronnie Marcum (passed away in 2009) and it went belly up. Andy, from Champ Racing converters. He had passed away from a heart attack in his shop in paramount found on a Monday morning. They guessed he had passed on Friday evening. Greg from the machine / rebuilding shop in Paramount, his last name and the name of the shop escapes me right now. Also, Terminal Island Drag Strip. We had the Yamaha FJ1000 (all stock) with a tune job that would kill any thing around given the right amount of jump. Does anyone remember the "TopFuel Engined" Dodge or Chevy van that ran at Brotherhood raceway? The pipes stuck out of the rear window of the van and it had rubber, HUGE rubber, that was tucked, but the van was way out of control. White with rainbow colored stripes from what I remember. How about the Suzuki Quadzilla 500 hundred with nitrous and the air shifter & the 7 foot wheelie bar that used to run at Brotherhood raceway, YES, THAT WAS MINE........ Ok, last thing, Mac, known as the School Teacher, and how he passed. That was sad..... Anyhow, I could go on forever if given the chance. Ask me, I will tell you what I know.
i forgot to mention one of the other guys that ran with us, Gayland Hill Jr., known as "junior". definitely knew his stuff. also, Pheobe Road, down off of the 5 freewy, and Nabisco-Trojan Way. Santa Fe Springs Road @ Los Nietos Road, BellRanch Road just nearby. of coarse the dennys off of the 5 freeway near Valleyview and when it got broke up there it was a "quick" run down to Santa Fe & Del Amo. Shoemaker Ave starting at the train tracks. And my favorite, Greenstone Ave in SFS, with the shutdown area kinda right in front of the fire staion. the firefighters would come out & watch when they knew we would be there. i could go on and on........
I used to cruise Whittier Blvd. from 1980 to about 1985. I'de drive over from Rowland Heights (J.A. Rowland HS Class of 1981) on Colima Road in my white '70 Buick Skylark. I never ever would venture into Scotty's parking lot because I KNEW it would be expected that I open my hood. I didn't want to go through THAT embarasment! Cruising Whittier with the windows down no matter how cold it was. I remember Stick City. Seemed like they had cars stacked on top of each other. I was looking at a Dodge Superbird once and the price was $3,200! I didn't buy it because it didn't have a 440 in it, just the 383. Yeah, I was very very stoopid and 30+ years later I'm still kicking myself. I also cruised during those five years in my '73 Caprice convertable, '70 AMC Hornet, '85 Fiero and my gandmother's '77 Olds Delta 88...woohoo!
I always love re-reading these threads as people add their experiences to them. My 'most excellent times' were in the summer of '68 cruising the Blvd with friends in my Red '66 Chevy II SS sleeper. Back then, a car that was running in the 12's was considered bad-ass. Some good, fun street-racing down on Santa Fe Springs Rd. kept gas in the tank most of the summer, and I made a lot of great friends. And yes, it really took a good hour to get into Bob's Big Boy on a weekend, and traffic was jammed for a mile either side of it with great cars. I remember the news media coming down one time and interviewing bystanders about their experiences on the Blvd.
Baseball Bill and his wagon, Gimpy's Dodge Dart, Fat Jap's wagon (might be the same as pop's) and later Camaro... and more....... Good times on a Sunday night ( or was it actually Monday morning? ).....
I don't recall what year they closed Monte Vista and sold it to the Sheriff? I graduated in '72. My sister started at Calhi and moved over to M.V. and graduated in '67. I THINK that might have been the first graduating class there(?) I I always thought it was so stupid to close the newest school in the district. But as you say, they also converted Sierra and Lowell was closed too and became a chiropractic college. Small world. My kids both graduated from La Serna in '99 and '00. Stupider yet is that we lived CLOSER to La Serna than Calhi and the district mandated they had to go to Calhi. I appealed that and won. I NEVER MOVED but went to different schools from Kindergarten up. I attended Scott Ave. elementary and when everyone went next door to Granada Junior High, they sent me to Hillview. Then everyone there went to La Serna, and I was sent to Monte Vista! No wonder I have no life long friends from my school years.
I was a Sophomore 1978-1979 and all of us at Cal thought the district would close Cal and keep M.V. open, because as you stated, M.V. was the newest school in the district. But they chose to close M.V. at the end of the 78-79 school year. So the last graduating class of M.V. and Sierra High was 1979 By the way, I also attended Hillview, Class of '77. Funny that everyone from my elementary school (mulberry) went to East Whittier JrH.S. which was actually closer to my house but some how I ended up at Hillview. Of course, I lived just around the corner from CalHi on the corner of Lambert and Armley. So like your experience, there was all new people for me at Hillview and just when I was getting to know them, I get sent to CalHi and they get sent elsewhere. Crazy.
I was head to the TI coming from Long Beach over the Bridge. And I could see all the flashing lights . Henry Subia Told me when I got there, the school teacher just went off the end and never lifted. I used to pit at the only place at the TI that had a electrical out let, right at tech with Henry.
Van Nuys / Whitter Blvd / Bellflower&Tweety / The strand in Hermosa Beach. I think our last trip to Whitter Blvd cops routed every body in a parking lot and wrote a pile of tickets. and that was the end of running the Blvd. Same for Van Nuys just made every thing no parking . Pass by more than two times you got a ticket
I remember seeing that on Whittier. From around 1985 to maybe 1990, Crusin' started up again on Whittier Blvd but in the Pico Rivera area but there were mostly mini trucks, imports, V.W. etc.......etc.....
I have been following this thread for some time and there is a lot of good history here. I got to thinking about some of the other car related places long gone. Going down Greenleaf how about Dave Schenk Dodge, G & H Auto Parts, Collins Top Shop, Parkhouse Tire, Urich Lincoln/Mercury, Urich Oil Co.? Then East on the Blvd, Community Pontiac, Harris Oldsmobile, Ben Neimi Buick and all? There's so much gone it is a shame but times do change. I left there in 2008. I'm sure it is different now.
Yes I remember that's me, Actually that cover shot was on Van Nuys Blvd on a Thursday night, my friend Debbie and I use to cruise Van Nuys on Wednesday Nights and Whittier Friday and Saturdays Bad Bob what is the "10dollar"
I cruised Whittier Blvd. late 60's in to 71. At the end of my street was Stick City on the Blvd. We used to cruise or race, at times we rolled up to Forest Lawn and raced there. Nice wide roads and quiet! Bob's, Scottys etc were the usual hangouts. It was the place to be seen and have fun checking out cars. On one memorable night one guy brought up one of Gas Ronda's old Mustangs and parked it on the Blvd. for fun. He had no takers for pinks! lol Mostly it was a bunch of us high school dorks cruising back and forth in our pieces of crap but they were our pieces of crap so it made it worthwhile. good times.....
FYI, there is still cursin' of a sort on Whittier Blvd. Every Friday night there is a cruse in at Ruby's in the Sears shopping center parking lot. The guy that promotes is kind of a jerk, but it is a decent show in-spite of him. Usually draws 150 - 200 cars in the summer. There is another cruise night that just started up on the second and fourth Saturday afternoon of each month in the Road House parking lot . Don't know how it will be. Whittier Blvd is not Dead!!!!
went to calhi. lived on oval drive 5 houses from school. Built some parts for my 32 roadster in machine shop. One day driving it home from school cop pulls me over but I drive in my driveway, wanted to give me ticket for headlites too low but kids walking home gave him a bunch of crap! "leave him alone". Used to cruise whittier blvd late 60s and early 70s. graduated in 67. My white with flames 32 and my white 32 pickup with white camper shell!
[QUOTE="LANCE-SPEED, post: 2888826, member: 18104"it lol. 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[/QUOTE] Oh Bob, you must have missed my Camaro or avoided it lol. Nabisco was dirty. Shoemaker or Phebe in Santa FeSprings were the streets to be on.
OTE="Blue69-9.80, post: 7614773, member: 181840"]i forgot to mention one of the other guys that ran with us, Gayland Hill Jr., known as "junior". definitely knew his stuff. also, Pheobe Road, down off of the 5 freewy, and Nabisco-Trojan Way. Santa Fe Springs Road @ Los Nietos Road, BellRanch Road just nearby. of coarse the dennys off of the 5 freeway near Valleyview and when it got broke up there it was a "quick" run down to Santa Fe & Del Amo. Shoemaker Ave starting at the train tracks. And my favorite, Greenstone Ave in SFS, with the shutdown area kinda right in front of the fire staion. the firefighters would come out & watch when they knew we would be there. i could go on and on........[/QUOTE] Could not have said it better. I used to hang out and run with Jr. Had one of his motors in my 69 Camaro.
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