What street/City did you cruise in High School?

Kings Road, Chelsea. UK. Late 70's.

 

Well it runs through a couple cities but Gratiot was the big cruise when I was in High School - Woodward scene was pretty much dead by then.

 

Service writer at Ford dealer...?

 

Wow, great memory jogger. Mid 1960's to mid 1970's. I grew up in a little town of about 2000 people at the time. Waterford WI. About 20 miles southwest of Milwaukee WI. You would cruise all of main turning at the high school, around the high school and back to main. This brought you between the high scool and the elementry (used to call it grade school) where you could really sound of the pipes, heh. Back to the other end of town around Milwaukee street to 3rd and back to main. About a 2.5 mile full circle. We were the local hot spot and cars from many towns all around would come for the cruising. And later drugs it turned out. Not much tire screaching or gear banging in town since Barnie Fife was pretty strict. Officer Belinsky made a vow, publicly, to give every teenager in town a ticket in some way or time. And I think he did--except me, heh. My house was right on main street at the intersection of 3 major state highways and was the focal point of the porch sitting crew, guys with no cars, or no rides, or, NO LIVES would gather and we'd watch the cruising. Even before I had my license I would cruise the circut on my trusty biycycle until my legs would fall off and then sit on the porch. Not a great moment in life but because my birthday was late in the year most of my buddys got their licenses and then girl friends well before I did so I spent a lot of time walking (wasn't cool on the bike any more, heh), so I happend to befriend the town bully because he had no one else that would talk to him. And I needed rides. He was hated throughout the whole county and I think there might even have been a bounty on his head. His family was a well off farm family with a farm right on the edge of town. One night riding in his new gift from Daddy, a beautiful nicley set up 271/289 K-code four speed 3:90 reared '64 Fairlane--from California no less, we ran into a few of his admirers, and they wanted to collect the bounty. So the chase was on. That '64 was really fast but the town was small so we headed out of town towards his farm. The barn was situated on the inside big sweeping curve where Highway 83 turned towards Mukwanago (yup, that's a town) and Highway 20 veered off to the left at the start of the curve. On a full sprint the bully ( can't even remember his first name anymore) ran off the start of the curve towards the barn on the grass with his admirers in full pursuit. Now I'm thinking this guy is going to make his stand at the barn and I'm going to die. There were stories of how many fights he had and how many guys he beat up, but, I was going to die. He was a really big farm boy and I knew he could fight but they were 5 guys strong. I was going to die. So, we slid up in front of the barn lined up with the front barn doors (they were open) And he drove up into the barn, thru the barn, out the back side away from the pursuers and out he back away form the line of sight of the lynch mob. Back onto highway 83 toward Mukwanago. As far as I know they never figured out where we went. We hung around Muwanago for a while then went home. The mob was gone, he dropped me off at home, I never went with him ever again, and I didn't die. Never saw him again after high school but heard he had killed an old man with his tractor one day in town. The Old man was crossing the street and he claimed he never saw him. Likely, yes, true? Don't know. Moved away a little while after high school. OK, memories are taking a rest. Just thought you'd like the story. Mark L

 

Sully's Drive on Saginaw and Waverly, Lansing MI.(now Wendy's) Saturday night the cars would be lined up on the street just to cruise through and look for a parking spot. Most of the serious street racing started here and progressed out to the Snow road invatationals, always good for about two runs before the police would be called. From Sully's we head down town to Washington Ave. and "Cruise the Gut", always girls and stop light action to keep us entertained. I bought a Corvette new in 1969, paid $4795 for it, put 311 miles on it the first night and never left the west side of Lansing.

 

2004-2006 would cruise downtown chesaning,mi after school or summer nights, once in awhile get a car full of people and cruise owosso,mi late at night after a movie or go mess around at wal-mart then hit up taco bell at 2am

 

cool story mark! and im glad you didnt die!!!!haha

 

Park row and Cooper street in Arlington Tx.,in a pinto with A 302. Late 70's early 80's.

 

I can tell you, Hwy 100 rocked in the 70's, especially on a friday night when the Hot Rod Nationals came to State Fair Park (called "Young America on Wheels").
Back then, Hwy 100 was turned into a dragstrip; burnouts started @ southbound lane before Cleveland Ave (front of Kohls Dept. Store) and staging, then runs from National to Oklahoma Aves or beyond down around by Beloit to Layton Aves.
It got really nuts and of course, the Police came in force, not only West Allis, but surrounding Milwaukee County including City of Milwaukee. They shut down Hwy 100.
I remember police chasing a guy with a bleach bottle in his hand and a cop standing in the middle of the street, he stopped traffic, then started doing safety inspections on cars, and issuing tickets.
I've heard stories of nice cars getting hit by club riddling police just for minor parking violations and told owners to get them out or get a ride in the paddy wagon and get the car towed to the impound lot.
All the times I've been out cruising Hwy 100, I never saw anything close to what happened that night.

 

4th Street in San Rafael during the mid sixties.

What was it like? Its where the cruising scenes in American Graffiti were filmed.

 

Ditto on East Pasadena Bob's and Colorado blvd. but spent more time rolling between there and Burgerlane in Monrovia. Henry's in Arcadia. Chevron Station at Huntinton and Rosemead.

My Cruising years were from 1955-1965 when I married a Bob's Big Boy carhop. hasn't been the same since lol!

 

Mercer st. downtown Princeton , West Virginia , kinda like a minature scene from American Graffitti , but , the powers that be came down on it , now , they only have homeless people and crack whores lining the streets, that nice cars used to line .....,

 

Van Nuys Blvd. Went to Birmingham, Reseda, Taft and Canoga Park High Schools.

 

Beebing, I always heard stories of Highway 100. Drove it many times in many years but never got to the cruising scene. I sure wished I had though. Mark L

 

Lived in a small town, (pop ~700) so we cruised the square.

Drag raced on the highway in front of the sale barn. Someone had painted white stripes for the 1/4, that lasted for almost a year.

 

cruised ocean ave. and H st. here in lompoc ca. back in the late 60's and into the 70's
lots of street racin ,stoplight to stoplight and out at floradale ave.
my first car was a '55 2-door post ,no front bumper,bb springs,4-speed,301, then a '65 chevelle ,327 4-speed,
we would go over to santa maria and cruise there also and sometimes state street in santa barbara,
man i miss those days
one year we had gone down to van-nise blvd and got pulled over for cruising with ape masks on(it was around holloween)

 

In jr. high I'd go to Hopkins, MN with my sister in her '79 T/A. By then it wasn't a happy place to go, lots of drunk and stupid people doing drunken stupid stuff. There was a guy that had this Milk Truck that was supposed to be the baddest thing wheels, around '86-87.

In high school we'd cruize Anoka, '88-90. A friend had been smoking funny ciggies and spotted a bunch of girls in a crappy white Fairmont and he said, "There goes a car load of white chicks!" He tried to explain he meant there were chicks in the white car. The cops shut it down, I even got pulled over for "cruzin'" in my 81 Civic when I made the mistake of driving up main to Main Motors for parts then back down it to get back to the hiway. Not all policemen are dinks, but this guy was. Now they've got a saturday night power-parking event that's pretty good. Not cruizin' but I take what I can get.

 

When I was stationed at Ft. Ord, near Monterey/Carmel in the early '70s, we'd go over to Salinas and cruise Main St. on the weekends. Not high school but close enough.

 

Washinton Blvd. Ogden Utah. 2nd aka 5 points to 36th. Chevelle, firebird, cj's, truck, wagons, bugs, vegas pintos damn if it had wheels we rolled the vard.

 

LA in the 50s & 60s The Wich Stand at Slauson & Overhill to Hodys at La Brea & Rodeo and Schrivners in the hole on Manchester and Crenshaw. When finished with my military oblagation every thing had changed and it was cruzin Hawthorne blvd around the A&W at 140th and Hawthorne, never felt the same.

 

Hey Rick, Wisc. Ave for sure. Early to mid 60s. Started on the " Ave " & then moved over to the Pig & Whistle on Capitol Dr. When that got to hot ( cops ) we hit Villard Ave, then out to Lily Rd. for the serious money drags. I had the Jade Green 57 Chevy that everyone should remember, ( didn't lose to often ) 348/Tri-power, Muncie 4-speed, and 4:11 gears, Used to run consistent 11.70s to 12.10s at Union Grove. All the surfer types were at Gilles on Blumound but all of us hard core car guys hit the streets and you are 100% right on about Bradford beach. All that's gone now and when my oldest son was in high school everyone was on Hwy 100 around Oklahoma Ave. He was a pretty dominate figure with the 66 Rambler American we put together with 350 Chevy power. Hope someone is still keeping that all going. I'm going to go take a nap now, all that reminising tired me out. Oh ya, I grew up in Pewaukee, over on Edgewood Ave, where my dad started the Club Interceptors Edgewood, Still run his club plaque on my 29 Roadster.

 

I'm still a senior in high school. I cruise the circuit; Henderson and Main. Go down Henderson, loop around the courthouse and head back.

The hangout spot is mainly the Kroger (grocery store) parking lot. There is a snow-cone stand there and a front row seat of all the action on Henderson. Mainly cowboys with big diesel trucks, but a few late model Mustangs, Corvettes, etc.

The lowriders hang out at the H.E.B. (grocery store, go figure) parking lot, which has a gas station, and also a front row seat to some of the action on Henderson.

In the summer I worked at Kroger and I would get of at 10 and cruise around in the '63 Electra. Great times, nothing like those summer nights. It's like American Graffiti all over the place. You'll just be driving and a car full of girls will pull up and yell at the window at you, people are posted up in parking lots dancing with the lowriders and the music they play.

It was surreal. I can't wait for those summer nights to happen again.

 

Bumpin Atlantic in North Long Beach
Bellflower Blvd
Tweedy
Whittier Blvd
and the Grand Dad of all
Van Nuys Blvd (the cruise has returned here)

Junior

 

Kansas City, MO in the late 50's those of us on the south side of town cruised 63rd street between Allens' Drive-in and Nuway Drive-in. Also recall a few drag races at the Troost Ave. stop light. Good times and good memories.

 

Scooped the Loop many times on Genesee St. in Waukegan from '63-67. Mostly in the folks cars... until I got my Healy 100-6.

 

Mark, did ya ever hear or hung out at Whitnal Park cruising scene back in the 70's? It was a great place in the summer for hot chicks and the asphalt pavement was excellent for doing easy and endless burnouts. The whole park always smoked up in one way or another.

 

Another Northwest rodder here. We would head into Coeur d’Alene first, cruise the “Dyke Road” and scope out the bathing beauties and then we would “cruise the gut” (Sherman Ave.). There were always some sweet rides down at the “Topper” drive in to check out. When things would start to slow down we would head into Spokane and cruise Riverside Ave. It was always bumper to bumper action there and you could cruise from dusk til dawn! I really miss the old days of cruising, when lopey cams and “Purple Hornies” were the music of choice.

 

Whittier blvd in so cal in late 60's.. got so big cops had the street blocked so you had to go around there loop.. after a while,, they started giving tickets to anyone that had gone around more than twice.. and if it was a custom car they had a safety check.. guaranteed to find something and impound your car as it wasn't street legal.. it was time to quit cruising there..

 

DETROIT had numerous cruising strips in the late 50's, 60's 70's

fort street, DOWN RIVER, telegraph road--TAYLOR township up to grand river, US12 martin st/ DETROIT--thru DETROIT and out to YPSILANTI, ford road--DEARBORN out to NANKIN TOWNSHIP.....

THIS IS ONLY 'SOME' OF THE SOUTHEAST AND FAR-WEST SIDE!

TED'S on woodward and square lake started 'charging 50 CENTS to 'pull thru'----which would be deducted from your order! rent-a-cops were a necessity to collect the the 'toll' and 'keep count of the number of times cars were repeating their visits each car pulled thru'! numerous communities enacted cruising ordinances which impacted the 'traffic issues' along cruise routes. IT WAS OPEN SEASON FOR THE COPS, ONCE CRUISING ORDINANCES WERE ON-THE-BOOKS!

there were numerous unofficial drag strips, northline road south of metro airport, armhein road in livonia, lilley north of cherry hill in canton township, [POWER, INC--a car club from nankin township would used I-94----from wayne road to merrimen road as a LATE NITE grudge race route---two cars/ one race and they'd disappear, no spectators and traffic worries!] wonder what happened to this club?

the north woodward ave cruise route was an 'unofficial big 3 test track'---WINK,WINK!

in the mid-60's THE ROYAL BOBCAT GTO'S were the guys with the $20 and $50 bills taped to their vent windows at REDFORD's plymouth and telegraph big boy's
REDFORD's telegraph and grand river had telway's and keiglers--[probably not spelled right]

for those on the H.A.M.B.---from this are--- there is only one DALY DRIVE IN left LIVONIA plymouth road and merrimen road! [down from 6 thru the years]

the woodward dream cruise, gratiot cruise, / downriver/fort street cruise, telegraph cruise, michigan avenue cruise are supported by numerous communities along their routes.

IF YOU LIVED IN THE NORTH or EAST OF MOTOWN......WHERE DID YOU CRUISE?
DO YOU RECALL THE NAMES OF THE DRIVE-IN?

barhops---romulus chick inn---ypsilanti bali hai---garden city
blazo's---dearborn top hat---detroit bray's---nankin township
kluck's---ypsilanti A&W---'lots of them!' totem pole---royal oak


red ryder

 

Santa Fe Ave., which was also route 66 through the middle
of Flagstaff, Arizona. (Early 70's)
Let's see... cars I had....(not all at once)

1962 Comet
1950 Ford PU (w/tilt hood)
1966 Falcon
1968 Merc Montego
1971 Maverik
1968 Ford LTD