I am 63 I have a 50 Buick sedanette and I still cruise the boulivard when I want. My motto is never grow up when you do you die or fade away. As a kid I cruised Hawthorn Bld. from the A&W in Hawthorn up to the Which Stand in North Hollywood and back. Lots of racing and girl chasing and that's that, also went skinny dipping down at Marina del Ray at night. I remember it just like American Graffitti ( Good Times ) real cool.
I was in high school in Hudson Valley of NY in the 50s I remember outdoor car shows, generally held at a high school. Those lowered shoebox fords that scraped the ground with 4" lowering blocks and some weight in the trunk had a hell of a time getting over the curb on the school track area to get to the grass in the middle. Sometimes it would take three of four guys lifting and the guy slowly "grinding" over the curb in low gear to get them in place. I even remember some that had casters installed on the rear bumper to help with bumps on the street. Ah the good ol' days! A few years later I was at state univ at Morrisville taking auto mechanics. You went to the grocery, drinking age was 18, and bought three quart bottles of Black Label beer, came in a mesh bag as a $1 Friday night special, and cruised over to the nurses college in Utica to find a lovely and then maybe Quacks Diner on Rt 40 to see and be seen and have a burger to two. Maybe a trip to the Sugar Shack in Morrisville to see who wanted to go out to the marked quarter mile on Rt 40 on the way to Casanovia. I had a '62 vette, 340 hp, four speed with 4:88 gears (was a thruway wreck that was rebuilt) so with the radio full blast and the Hedman Headers open, that was crusin! Still makes me smile like hell to remember it!!!
Hey guy's I grew up on Long Island, New York and did our cruising in the early sixties. Please believe me there were no "car shows that I was ever aware of. Our cruising was to see and be seen looking for street racing. On the weekends we raced at the Westhampton Drag Strip. I remember it was just like American Graffiti. Now that I'm an old Geezer I still wish I could roll out of the garage and cruise just like "Back In The Day" but it just doesn't exist anymore. I feel sorry for you younger rodders who never had the opportunity we did. The sixties to me was the essence of the automotive culture.
DUDE hollywood blvd and whittier blvd....we cruised every friday and sat night!!! lowriders, mini trucks and a few old bombs....that was back in the mid 90's
Gman, did you even watch the video? That was George Barris and the Kopper Kart and Norm Grabowsky, father of the T bucket in the first few frames. Definitely southern California. Even up here in the sticks I recognize hot rod and custom history. MooseJaw had a killer cruise scene in the sixties. Main street was wall to wall cars cruisin. I also lived on the west coast of Canada in the Vancouver area and it too was a hot bed of cars. I never cruised the 50's though, only mid sixties and later. Pat.
Thanks for sharing that video Kripfink! Nice footage and tunes too. I'm 51. I caught the tail end of the cruisin' scene in the late 70's/Early 80's. I wish I could have been part of the golden age of cruisin in the 50's and 60's but I was too young. It must have been cool, man. Our best cruising spot in my area was Valley Parkway in Escondido, CA. I spent many a night there. Alas, like many places, they outlawed cruising there years ago.
fordnutz, yes I watched the video and agree it has a lot of So Cal history. Back in the early sixties I would have done anything to participate in the So Cal scene but never had the opportunity. I'm like the other right coast guy's, back in the day, we didn't even know we were cruising.
What a totally awesome video! I wanted to grab my 'little books' as I saw so many memorable cars and trucks! I just buried my dearest custom buddy, and how I wish he could've watched this video with me tonight! Hey Ron, this one was for you, ole buddy! Thank you so much for preserving and sharing!
We still had the Wolfman in the late 70s in Erie, syndicated from somewhere and broadcast every weekend. We always tuned in whenever we were cruising, our local rock station, WCCK (now called K104 I think) had an awesome reverb setup at that time. Radio was hot stuff back then.
I was there. My brother said one day as were cruising Thank God we grew up on Long Island when we did, because it just ain't the same
You can cruise in the daytime too. While not it's not really "cruising a boulevard", I had just met Brian Setzer at his place, he decided we should go get some eats, told me to take the roadster and he'd take the coupe ( both his ). We hauled into a Malibu eatery along with Tommy "Itchy" Otis ( he, in his '36 Custom ), and parked in back. Photo shot by "Itchy" of me, at speed on PCH, and Setzer and I, in parking lot.
Cruised Pasadena early '60's, up and down Colorado Blvd, from Henry's Rite Spot on the Glendale side to Bob's Big Boy ...31 Ford roadster, 40 Ford Tudor, etc...our parents thought that we were on the highway to hell, as did our high school teachers...cruising came before homework, so most of us graduated in the top 95% of our high school class and went to work at a gas station (I did, ran the lube rack at Seth Miller's Union 76 in Pasadena) It was different, as other have remembered, no lawn chairs, just cars (mostly stock, maybe raked or fitted with Olds Fiesta's, or lakes pipes)...we did have car shows (great ones at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Grabowski's T was there along with other famous rods and customs)....
I am 40 and we used to cruise Cedartown Ga every friday and saturday night in the late 80s early 90s.It would be bumper to bumper for miles!There were even a few customs roaming around back then,but it was mostly lowrider trucks and muscle cars looking for a race.I was lucky enough to have a dad with connections in the car business and he got me a job as a helper at a friend of his bodyshop.With that job I was able to build and paint my super cool Ford Courier truck.It was my first attempt at building anything.It is not HAMB friendly,but it is where I started. Thats me on graduation day 1990
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