For the last few Saturday nights our own "Malcolm" on the HAMB has put together an impromptu get together on Dodge street in Omaha. Cruising Dodge street was a local tradition since the 50s and it got so big by the 80s, the city fathers banned it! There were signs put up for an 18 block of Dodge street forbidding "cruising" and those signs eventually ended up on many cruisers garage walls! The signs are long gone now and Malcolm decided to revive the old cruise with a twist. instead of illegally gathering in business parking lots, we gathered in the Sonic's back parking lot where were were actually welcome. I missed the last cruise but attended last night's cruise. I brought my digital camera and clicked a few photos. Sorry about the fuzziness of the photos....seems the camera was totally confused by the low-light conditions [night] with bright overhead lighting. The weather has been super nice here for the last few weeks. Shorts and t-shirts were the uniform of the day and when I clicked these photos my car's thermometer said 76 degrees. In past years we've actually had to postpone Halloween because of snow and ice storms this time of the year but it was really nice last night. Malcolms blue 29 roadster ..................... and Jason's [forgot his HAMB handle] .
Again, sorry for the fuzzy images....my ol buddy, Joe had his gorgeous 54 Bel air hartdtop there with smallblock power...this 49 ford ragtop [haven't met the owner yet] showed up also.
I don't know the owner of this A-bone sedan but he flys the same club plaque as Rob Lee's car and X-derelicts car. Model A has a nasty sounding V-8.
Thanks for the photo's Rocky,looks like a lot of nice cars. We attended a cruise night at the local McDonalds here in South Carolina,,it was shorts & T shirt weather...I saw a lotta coats and gloves. HRP
Crusin' Dodge Street back in the mid '60's was a Friday and Saturday Nite rite of p***age...seemed to me that was two or three drive-in's on Dodge and we'd cruise everyone of them. We always ended up at King's on 72nd and Dodge, best onion rings in Omaha...besides, there wasn't much left of Omaha past 72nd other than Boy's Town...but that was waaaa-aaay out in the country...ahhhh, for those glory days again...!!! R-
There was the Street-rod/muscle car/55-57 chevy contingent also. I clicked a photo of the 59 ford wagon in this photo because it was a HAMB friendly car but the photos turned out sooooo fuzzy I couldn't use it. 57 chevy was a very nice car. We have a huge number of these chevys in town and almost all of 'em are nice cars but not really HAMB material.
Yeah, Roger. It's all business parks and new housing out past 200th street [almost all the way to the Elkhorn river] except for Boy's Town's farm [about 130th to 150th or so] which has acres and acres of corn fields......developers would surely pay premium dollar for their property if it was for sale.
Kudos, Malcom - it's good to know you all were welcome behind the Sonic - maybe next spring I can finally get the '55 Vicky out to Flashbacks on a Wednesday night and some other cruises like the last-Friday-of-the-month one at the BBQ place in Gretna. My damn broken ankle has kept me from going to anything car-related since the middle of August, and even worse I was in the middle of getting the '55 Vicky back on the road before that came to a screeching halt. Now that I can start getting around again the season's over.
THIS should be a wake up call for cruisers EVERYWHERE. TAKE BACK THE NIGHT! We owned it once and we can own it AGAIN! Just buy something from the places, clean up after yourselves and NO burnouts or racing. It's really not hard.
Good to see ya Rocky,the sedan belongs to Rod Kennon.Get that coupe done and do some cruising next year!I think this could take off ,especially i f there was a couple of more businesses that would promote cruising up and down Dodge st. They will catch on.....Rob
Cl*** of 89.... Papillion Lavista High School checking in. Used to love cruising Dodge Street. After my cl***, that the crackdown happened. A shame too. Always fun to park at the Midas and watch all those bad rides rumble by. Bad Bird....and the body shop '66 Chevelle SS.....the tunnel rammed 'Cuda.....the chopped and slammed 10 second Bug with filled quarter windows...tons of cars that always showed at the convention car shows....cruised Dodge every weekend. One of the best in the country then.
No, Scott...nothing in my "book" [2014 Eastern Nebraska/Eastern Iowa car council book] about it, sorry.
2 more photos...one is Garys [Hotrodroaster here on the HAMB] 36 and the other is what a Dodge street cruiser looked like in the 70s....axle, 406 graphics and all!
. Good to know about Rod...I'll have to meet him. As to getting my car done? I'm TRYING! Body should come home before the snow flies, Jimmy says.
Looks like a short list! The nova g***er belongs to Roy Kleckner a friend of mine not on the board. Thanks for the pics, Rob
I stopped by at the last two and I just saw that there is another one planned for this weekend. Not sure I'll make it to this one, my heater core is starting to leak and I think I'd need it.
Just saw this, Rocky --- than you for posting the photos! The cruise nights were a great time and attendance was much higher than anticipated. A couple of them had well over 50 cars throughout the evening. We are looking forward to doing many more next year for sure. @kidcampbell71 - This Sonic is right next to the Midas that you mentioned. Malcolm
That's awesome. Joe Feyne used to own that shop with his dad. '64 or '65 Barracuda Formula S stick....then with a 273....think now I heard a 340. Haven't talked to anyone in ages.....missed the 25 year reunion too. Time flies.
Im already missing these nice weather days/nights. This was a perfect way to end the summer. Thanks for the pictures. Gary
Way back in the 50's we drove to Omaha from Columbus to cruise Dodge and park at Tiner's Drive-In---it's good to see it going on yet.
Oddly enough, I don't remember seeing a single dodge at the Dodge street cruise. They shoulda called it the chevy/Ford cruise, eh?
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