History Where was the "Paradise Road" in your town?

South side of Renton, East Valley Hwy. Meet up at Dave and Swede’s repair shop, turn the corner and run. Marked 1/4 mile, pulled into South End Auto Wrecking’ lot and wait for the rest to show up. Nothing but cat tails and ditches either side. Now they do this in the middle of housing developments.

 

The Harvey Taylor Bridge in Harrisburg Pa. was a hot spot on Friday and Saturday nights, 1/4 mile or 1/8. Many fast cars when I street raced. Some were trailered in and raced. We mostly had to wait till the police shift change at 11 pm, we had a 20 to 30 minute window, no cops on the street. We also had many other out of the way, off the beaten path spots as well.

 

E. Bond ave. Orange Ca. 1960-70s etc
Next to the sand and gravel pit.
Whole area is change from development now

 

...There were a lot of fast cars in Northern Virginia back in the late '60's-early '70's. They would sometimes come to Maryland and take our money.

 

"Paradise Road".............hell, I thought this thread was going to be about the more worth-remembering parking spots for couples.
So, ok our racing spot in Acton, Mass. was where Mass. Ave ended/blended onto route 2. Pretty close to a 1/4 mile down the hwy was a blinking light for a cross-street. Almost every racer in town was faster than my 64 (63?) Gran Prix 421/trips/4spd. My memory sucks

 

Was fortunate enough to see the real Paradise Rd. On a business trip to Modesto, had an early morning flight and the guy taking me to the airport passed right by it-mountains in the background, road empty, slight haze overall--my imagination was working overtime. And there was a street sign with the name.

 

So I’m guessing that is a resounding yes to the question! Everyone had a Paradise Road in their area.

 

I grew up in kenai alaska. We had a 1/4 mile stretch measured off and painted with a start and finish line. It was just before oceanside wrecking yard on the way out of town headed twords clam gulch. I raced there countless times.

 

Neil Howel rd. Just out side of Bowlinggreen,ky. Big subdivision now.

 

4 Dr Chevy II with baby seat & hub caps?
Cream color then Burgundy..

I can add to this list ,was there & still try to set beside others ,
There are many here not aware of fast street cars before 1995 ,M, DC ,NVa pretty much all
S-Rer's I was around / involved 9 -10s in 1/4 , there now 8-9s ,,, back before cell phones , you would show up @ race 50- hundreds of peps , 500- 20k races , to remind ,this before & until 1995 ,
( still happing )
There was a parking lot in Baltimore , we would some times Run 4 wide 1/4,
Aberdeen military, Belair, Tiny town Fells point, DonDoc,
Dakota Avenue, Metro ,495 95 split, rt32 ,210,301,50,
Brandywine ,Dulles toll Road ,295,395,
Rt29, Pepsi plant , Old stone house,
I-95 Fairfax county dump,
Interstate 95,
TBS Military base, Manassas air port
Rock Cory, V-Dot headquarters,
Possum point power station, 50/29, Hilldrops, Chantilly, there where so many places Friday Night - Sunday
Trailer & street driven

 

I posted earlier about Lower River Rd in the Couve but when I grew up it was across the river on 82nd. Lots of cops around Eastport Plaza. Make out spots at Mt Tabor, Rocky Butte and 92nd. That is where they were putting the new freeway (I 205) through town. They hauled away the houses and left the deserted streets. Like a dystopian tale, the streets belonged to the young. Led Zepplin blaring form the Kraco speakers in my longroof and the smell of teenage sex lingering in the vinyl seats. How did I get this old? Damn.

 

I was set free when my Mother convinced them that I wasn't racing
( 4AM in my primered up juiced up and jacked up '57 210 )
Just going to my job, that the family was finacially dependant on.
PA once, after many suspensions, sent me a letter telling me that my priviledges were revoked
I still bought gas and oil daily. After 5 years I was permitted to re-test

Philly had a spot called "Little City" Where? You say Rhawn street, Pennypack Park.
Use your imagination

 

......Of course.

 

In Pretoria in the '80s it was Vermeulen Street between du Toit Street and Hamilton Street.

 

East Harry Wichita ks

 

Some literally. Cape Town's actual Paradise Road isn't really suited to the purpose, though to be honest it's more sweepy than twisty:

That didn't stop me from hitting about 110mph in places at 1:00am about 20 years ago.

 

In Sunland - Tujunga Ca. we had 2 Wentworth street and Tujunga Canyon Blvd.

 

NE of town on hiway 35 we would run from a crossroads about 200 yards to about a 20 foot drop back to flat ground. Then my best friend that built 32 3 window hemi powered, known as Tuffy and now bought as a project and restored by @kisam, went to a new bypass on US275 that was easily accessed from his house and marked out 1320' section for some bored night action! Then one day at a serveice tation next to the State Patrol office one of the patrol officers suggested we go up to the Foster Bottom at night since it as dead flat and had a 5+ mile straight stretch with no houses closer than 1/4 mile to the hiway which sounds great, but it was about 25 miles away from Norfolk.

 

On the south side of Kansas City in the 60's Troost Ave. north of 95th street had a long straight stretch with a large Bendix plant on the east side of Troost and not much on the west side so racing took place nearly every weekend. Posted a lookout on the north end to alert those racing that cops were coming by flashing their lights. Fun times.

 

I grew up in the suburbs north of Dayton, OH. In Dayton we met at Frisch's and set up the races. We went away from there to race and then came back after the race to brag or wallow in shame. Closer to home we had Riprap Rd. It wound along the river and had two one lane bridges that were around bends and had about a 3/4 mile of straight road between them. If you parked cars on the bridges with the hoods up, nobody could get around to bust us racing. At one point there even were starting and finish lines surveyed and painted on the road. The local cops didn't mess with us until things got out of hand and people were trailering in race cars. Cops hid in the corn field blocked the two bridges so nobody could leave and then came out of the corn to surprise the unsuspecting street racers. The road has since been closed and re-named Radvansky Lane. Had to google map it and do a walk down street view to riminess. I don't remember the road being that narrow.

 

In the 60's it was Barnes Bridge Road east of Mesquite, Texas. That is under Lake Ray Hubbard now. In the 70's and 80's it was Behind Miller Brewery in south Ft. Worth, Texas. May still be.

 

Oak Ridge, TN. Edgemoor road bridge was supposed to be a real quarter mile. Lots of partying around there, seems like the cops stayed away. They couldn't arrest everyone. The road to the Oak Ridge National Lab, the old X-10 site, was Bethel Valley road. Straight and flat for miles, convenient to town, no real traffic except shift changes. Guys did get busted out there a bit. For stupid racing, behind Warehouse Road in town. Nothing around, shitty road, if you went to far, the curve and hump at the railroad would prove what a dumbass you were. I overheated my slowass Fairlane there many a night.

 

Motown, we had a few.
Eckles Rd, and for drag race lore we all know n love, was the site of the 1st organized real drag event here. But us? We ran Schoolcraft at Eckles. Long enuff, dark enuff. Actually a bit safe too, no side roads or driveways, long shut down. Hardly ever cops. One night we raced so much we just quit and went home at near 4am.

The cars were getting faster. Started running a spot called "Cherry Hill Nats" at an industrial park a ½ mile long. Some cars were too fast for that because it just went to a dead end cul-de-sac.
French Rd by City Airport. Watched, didn't race, scary. Homes, too many ppl. Hundreds of lookie loos. They'd literally be IN THE ROAD then fan out as the cars went by. No thanks...
"Carnavales" by a speed shop in Livonia, another industrial park. Cops always broke it up but was fun while it lasted.
We had some really fast cars out there, surely too fast. Races moved out to Willow Run Airport a ½ hr west. Big double blvd, clean exit routes. A 9sec truck raced a 9sec Model A out there. Yeah locals, that one.
Eventually we all got smart and dominated Detroit Dragway on Fri night test n tune. That was really good times even though I scattered my 1st 477 there. NOS will do that now n then.
Yes, I miss it. There's more. Maybe later...

 

The industrial park. Two wide lanes, basically a 3 lane road with no divider lines. It started with 1/4 mile straight beside a cotton field and then after 100 feet or so where the buildings started there was a few degree change to the right and was basically flat and straight for another 1/2 mile. Mid 80s I saw some good stuff with some slightly OT cars late at night. Good times.

 

Bennett rd in Eldersburg. Rt 26, Liberty rd was the main stretch, arcade, McDonald's. Pick a race an meet at the start. There's a traffic circle and tons of houses there now.

 

Phoenix, AZ. in the 60's, East Bell Road and 7th. Street...waaaaay out in the boonies then....

 

Back in my younger days we had Sir Joseph Banks Drive located in Kurnell, a remote south eastern suburb of Sydney.
It's located amongst the coastal sand hills and was very desolate ...... there's more commercial activity there now.
Some of our then well known Sydney drag racers tested and raced out there. As usual, there is only one road in and out of Kurnell so if the law turned up you were in trouble ..... some good times though.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.02...RCR9WEzXGiRihG7g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/-34...2m2!1d151.2089309!2d-34.0246012!3e0?entry=ttu

 

There were a lot of streets, boulevards, even freeway on-ramps near me where street racing was done over the years but “Paradise Road” was up in the Baldwin Hills oil field….You all have a different idea what Paradise is or was!

 

In the Maryland suburbs that I was familiar with, there were two places where races and challenges often got talked up. They were the Capital Plaza Hot Shoppes in Landover Hills/ Bladensburg on Rt.450 and the Queenstown Mighty Mo in Hyattsville. These were hot spots on Friday and Saturday evenings where cruising and profiling took place. Even if no race took place on a particular night, it was fun to check out the ladies, find out about a party somewhere or just admire the new chrome reverse wheels or paint job on your friend's car. Continual cruising through the outside curbside dining area.

 

In St. Paul in the 70s we had Lafayette bridge ( city street turns in to a 4 lane hwy over the Mississippi River) back then no traffic at night. Long straight road and no place for cops to sit, you could have run a top fuel car on it.