Event Coverage Did you cruise back in the day?

Guys don't cruise unless they are on their way to a cruise-in, pull in and park and the one we attended for more years than I care to remember was the one at the McDonalds on the interstate, It always pulled in between 100 and 200 cars but the new owner thought all the cars hurt his business and he refused to work with the long time local rodder that put on the cruise-in.

He negotiated with the city to rent the farmers market, a great location but no restaurant's close by, he ask a couple of food trucks but they wanted guaranteed sale, after two years Tommy said he was just tired of fighting, he worked hard for over 40 years giving us local guys a place once a month to gather up and shoot the breeze. HRP

 

We had an E-day. (No students)
a group came by for a visit. It’s a 4 door but they don’t care. They were out cruising enjoying a nice day.
289 k code.

 

As a teen int he early 60s you shouldn't have to ack

 

This is just getting too weird. Somebody must have been huffing starting fluid.

 

I didn't have any trouble doing burnouts with dad's Olds, even with 4 guys in it. I do remember cruising around one Friday evening, then going home for the night. The next morning, the Olds wouldn't move, my 1st dead auto trans! Dad made me pay for the replacement trans. When the back tires were wore out, he made me buy them too....

Funny thing, right after I started driving the Olds, it wasn't running quite right, so I did a tune up on it at the gas station where I worked. When I got done, it ran worse then it did before. Dad got mad, and took it down to his buddy's place (they ran dirt track cars) and they tuned it up. When he got done there, he came up to the house and made me go with him for a ride. We went a mile or so out of town, where he stopped, and flat out smoked the tires, and manually shifted the auto trans through the gears, to over 100 mph. Then he stopped, turned around and did it again. I never heard that Olds engine wind so high of rpm as it did that night. His only comment was "This is how they are suppose to run after you tune them up." Then we went home.
I spent several hours at the gas station a few days later trying to figure our what he did that I didn't. Lets say that was a very valuable lesson. Gene

 

That’s one thing we are very fortunate about here in Florida. If I’m willing to drive 20 to 40 minutes from my house, I could probable attend a cruise in about 6 nights each week, year around. Also Florida is very forgiving about no fenders, no mufflers, slicks, run about anything you want.

I grew up in St. Johns, Michigan. In the 1980’s, downtown, all three blocks of it, was alway packed with hot rods and cruisers of all types every Friday and Saturday night. I definitely miss those days. It seemed to fade away and disappear in the early 1990’s.

 

In '63 I got my driver's license. At the time I had a 54 Mercury convertible that my dad and I had resurrected. My home town was Springfield, IL. Springfield has a South Grand and a North Grand Avenue. They are both about 10 or so blocks from the town square. A typical summer night was a cruise through Top's Big Boy just off South Grand and on to 6th Street all the way to North Grand for a cruise through the Icy Root Beer lot. From there it was on to 5th Street back to South Grand and the Big Boy. There were many block to block drag races. Repeat as necessary.

 

I grew up in a small town just north of Louisville in southern Indiana. I got my license in 1967
The best places for cruising was the Frisch's Big Boy in New Albany and 4 th Street in Downtown Louisville. The big dogs would race across the Sherman Minton Bridge, a double deck thru arch between New Albany and Louisville. Many cars were factory muscle with some home built hot rods mixed in. I would sometimes drive my mom's 67' Rivera, 430 ci. It was ok fast but took a while to get up to speed.
A close friend had a 69' super bee with a 383. It was stupid fast and with 2 stupid kids in the front seat, we had lots of near misses in the stoplight drags. The winner was usually the the car that could not stop at the next light. That was usually my buddy.
Another buddy had a 64 Dodge with a 383, 4 speed. Again, it was fast.
Those 383's were strong runners.

 

Probably didn't even want to work for a living but spung off his parents....

 

Yes, my VW club cruised Whittier Blvd and ocasionally Van Nuys Blvd, in the late 70's and 80's.

 

Got my license in 1970 on my 16th birthday. Had a '66 tri-power GTO. Lived in Fontana, CA then so cruised "E" street in San Bernardino every Fri and Sat night. Later that year, moved to Bakersfield, CA so it was Chester Ave. There were race cars on the streets with license plates back then. 1972 I moved to Portland, OR to live with my dad. Picked up plenty of girls "draggin' Broadway" In Oregon I'd put on cheater slicks and install washers between the headers and collectors for some extra sound. One weekend Richard Nixon was in town staying at the Benson Hotel on Broadway. I did a block long burnout as a Vietnam war protest in front of the hotel hoping to disturb "Tricky Dick".

 

Late 60s before Uncle Sam got me, we called it cruisin the drag, Central Ave 14 blocks of 4 lane 2 way traffic 10 of the blocks had a street lights on the corner, a race at almost every light. Had a drive in you could get 10 cent hamburgers where we turned around. Cars parked off machinery row by the Great Northern depot you could check all the cars and the ladys walking around always crowed fri and sat nights. Gas was 21 cents a gallon pack of smokes 28 cents. get a 6 pack of beer for 99 cents 5 bucks you could have a hell of a good weekend.

 

forgot to mention 66 Merc Cyclone GT 390 4 speed

 

69 Torino GT Fastback in 1980 purchased for 800.00 , cruised everywhere in NY 5 boros....looking for and meeting young ladies...and once in a while older ones....

 

We used to cruise around Rockland Maine in the early 1980's during our junior and senior years of high school. We would hang out at McDonalds on North Main or the supermarket on Park Street. We had a mixed bag of hot cars, daily drivers and winter beaters, but we always had a good time. Friend of mine was with me one night, and he had brought along ZZ Top's Eliminator to listen to. He happened to see a cute girl in a silver Scirocco and had me follow her. That's when "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" started playing; after some questionable driving manuvers on my part we were able to pull up beside her, and that's how he met his wife.

 

'67,68,69 (until I went in the Navy) it was primarily Garey avenue in Pomona, Whittier blvd, harbor Blvd (Anaheim by 91) and sometimes Van nuys boulevard. Then late 69 it was Overton park in Memphis in my 51 Merc. That was during Navy 'a' school. Then stationed in San Diego where I'd drive back north to my home area for the weekends (if I wasn't out at sea...) Even hung out with 'big Willie' a few times when LA street racers were in the Pomona area...

Still cruise when the opportunity happens... (even in my bad ass Prius!)

 

I have many fond memories of cruising. I turned 16 in 1996 so my cruising time was the late 90's/early 2000's. While most of the cars were mini trucks, imports, or jacked 4x4's, my buddy had a Nova and I had my Model A. They stood out and were widely regarded as the 2 cars to not mess with.

In summation, I kind of had an American-Graffiti-esq youth. It just involved baggy pants and rap music. Still, the soul remained. Generations behind me never carried the torch.

 

Started right out of high school 1962 for me in Long Beach,CA. Almost every Sat nite begining at Hody's Long Beach, Oscars -Traffic Circle,Hody's Lakewood, A&W in Bellflower then Harvey's Broiler.We would organize occasionally cruises to Hollywood on a Sat nite from Oscars.Had 28 cars one time.Started Early Times in '65 and kept on for a few more yrs until I got a real job in '68.

 

Cruised then, curse now.

 

Hello,

When we were young… we did not know about cruising. My older brother bought his first car at 15.5 years old. Then I started hearing stories about cruising. Cruising to where? I thought going with our parents to visit some friends in Indio, near Palm Springs was cruising over to their ranch. Going on a long fishing/camping trip to Baja, Mexico was cruising down the coast to go across the border. I had a lot to learn about cruising.
One of the original drive-in restaurants in the Bixby Knolls area, the center of the local teenagers from the time it opened in the early 1950s.

By the time I was in junior high school, circa 1957-58, it was an eye opening thing to hear those stories about where the teenagers hung out and what they did for fun. It sounded like the whole world was hanging out in Bixby Knolls and that was our local high school arena. By then, Lion’s Dragstrip had opened nearby and that brought another hot spot to go with friends.
1957
The world started opening up when my brother brought back stories about going down the coast to Orange County and the hot beach environment all along that long oceanfront highway. Let alone new cities and towns that were a part of the cruising scene with other “local” teenagers from different schools and communities.

Jnaki


But, as much as becoming a driving age teenager, 1960, that was the starting point of falling into a big expanding world all around us. No longer was it just the local harbor and a long…beach. The ocean was enormous and the So Cal coastline was calling us like no other. The high school environment had stories from the classes that went before us. Their stories were the basis for our involvement in continuing the local lore of cruising and racing.

As each set of 4 years comes and goes, the stories were passed on with the younger girls and guys that were our friends. Some followed suit and did the same cool cruising scene until it was their time to move on in their older, post high school lives. But, the famous, Cherry Avenue Drags Stories will always be a part of the local lore.
cherry avenue acceleration

Each group of teenagers melded into the group before and after. It was like a big family with similar tastes and looking for adventures. By the junior year, my world expanded into surfing, whereas others were just not interested. But what hooked all of us together was the teenage cruising scene. Girls borrowed their dad’s sedans and cruised with more teenage girls.

They were not in some hot rod or fast drag racing sedan, but still had the same fun as we did. They were a part of the scene as it was a huge draw to see carloads of teenage girls come cruising into the local drive-in restaurant spots to hang out with all of the cool guys and their hot rods. Of course, there were the dating teens that cruised the same locations and made the trek South to places like “1000 Steps Beach (9TH Street/PCH ) in South Laguna Beach for a moonlight walk on the sand.
thanks, @themoose
It was not just a bunch of guys going down the street, but the destination for a scene like no other time period of our teenage years. Explorations, adventures, new places and meeting new friends from similar locales along the coastal cities, North and South.

The time period of 1956 to 76 was a time to remember and enjoy. But, our lives were just on the move since then and the future was relatively bright for those of us that became a part of society in the best of ways. YRMV

 

Back in61/62 the Berlin/Newington CT Turnpike was the place to be for me. Back and forth between MickeyD's and Sesame's, 32 5window.
Paul in CT

 

Yes I've always liked cruising, and I still do. In high school we all cruised every Friday, and Saturday nights. Then we usually met, in the early mornings for some drag raceing on one of the secluded area's stretches of road. The Beacon stretch, The Lebanon Church stretch, and the Fishers Hill Rt. 11 stretch. It all seemed safe, and FUN at the time? There wasn't much traffic back then, and you could really see in any direction. So if there were any other cars coming we would stop. Back then we had 3 Tastee Freeze's, that everyone would hang out at. Then we cruised between them. Great Fun, and lots of great memories! Now it's just me, and my wife. Maybe the grandkids too. Sometimes I'll call a friend, and we will just go cruising. But I don't understand todays { cruise-in's }? They are just mini car shows. There's NO Cruising??? Back then, I usually drove the Vette, But nowadays it's mostly in the Nomad, with the grandkids.

 

Cruising = Seeing and being seen.
Cruising = Looking for some action
Cruising = Parking with a hottie

 

My sister doesn't care about driving, but I got a permit the day I was 15 and a half, and I got my license the day after I turned 16!

 

I did not miss out, however instead of burning gas I was pumping it into the tanks of those who rolled. Often I would get to hear tales about the escapades of those who "got out of line".

Sometimes I ( rarely ) had the energy to check out the Late Nite 'hot street' challenges around Philly. My main job began at 4 AM. Sleep usually came around 2nd and 3rd period in school. Two of my teachers would have staring contests with me, and I always let them win.

 

Cruise? Having turned 16 in '64 and living in Southern California, cruising was a natural thing to do! If you had a car, you cruised. If you didn't have a car, you hitched a ride with a buddy and cruised. Week day evenings we would cruise locally and on the weekend evenings, we would venture out to Whittier, Pasadena, Newport or Huntington Beach. Yeah, we cruised!
There are some people here in the Clarksville and Russellville areas that are trying to re-establish cruise nights with moderate success, I'll keep trying to support them...

 

I was fortunate enough to grow up in one of those rural areas where cruising seemed to hang on just a little longer than many areas. Cruised several small Iowa towns(Eagle Grove, Clarion, Webster City, Humboldt) and occasionally made a trip to Des Moines. There wasn't much left in the way of hot rods by that point. But, there were still a few cool muscle-era cars. Even at that point, when we probably should have been more aware of how fast things were changing, most of us believed it would just always be like that. It's pretty crazy to look back on. I was cruising thru the late '90s up to 2001 or so before I had different priorities/obligations. It was almost like turning off a switch. By 2005 or so it seems like the scene was dead and buried. R.I.P.

 

Dragging Main 1960s.....it was the social media of its time but in person - girls who wanted to meet guys walked along or sat on cars, taking invitations for a ride when they liked what they saw, sometimes guys sat on their cars and waited for the girls to drive by - two of my best friends met that way on a street in Turlock, been married 51 years - my girl lived in the Santa Cruz hills, running a loop on Beach Street and The Hill along the Beach Boardwalk were the route when we went out, it was a way of life - there was a private air strip up in the Santa Cruz hills we raced on, great times - now at night sometimes I take Main and cruise along, remembering how it all was, check the Sonic lot for others....

 

I scooped that exact same loop but it was in the mid 80's. If you did the full loop it was exactly a mile. We'd spend hours driving or hanging out in the parking lots with our buddies. A few kids from car families had some vintage cars, but there were more muscle cars. I mostly drove a '67 Chevelle or my '55 Chevy, but occasionally I would take my Dad's '40 Ford coupe.
The loop died sometime in the 1990's when they changed the one-way streets to 2 way and started giving tickets for loitering.

 

We had a local McD's the next town over in Enfield CT. Enfield had a reputation for lots of fast cars. This was in the late 60s and it did not disappoint. My group was always driving one of our Mom's cars so we were pretty much spectators to the hot cars. Seemed like 396 Chevelles were everywhere, Z28s, GTOs. And of course hanging out with your buds and maybe running into some girls (figuratively of course). Then there was the endless driving nowhere in particular.