Event Coverage Did you cruise back in the day?

Las Tunas in San Gabriel!! From Alhambra way out thru Temple City to the wilds of Monrovia. Chicks and Rods all the way.

 

Me and my friends were punks back in the 60’s. So it was more like Cruising for Bruising..

 

Cruised a lot 59-62. Had a pretty fast 57 Pontiac-won way more than I lost The main in Fresno( and hang out at Stan's or Mars Drivein)and 17th in Merced(hang out at Cecils Drivein 17th and G). Looking for girls and races. A lot of late night races, In Fresno it was Thorne or Snake Road, Merced was out of town to the East-don't recall the road and also outlaw Drags at Ballico.

 

Absolutely! I turned 16 in 1995. Only had a chance to drive my first car for one week, then it was totalled in an accident (not my fault). My second car was a '64 Ford Galaxie 500 XL. Dad and I did a ton of work to that car. When it was in shape to hit the road, I'd go to nearby towns (we lived in the country) and cruise with friends. 1996/1997. Morningside Avenue in Sioux City, Iowa was my primary cruising spot.

 

Back in the day? @Roothawg I was practically ready to hit the streets just last night...if not for my arthritis acting up, a bit of vertigo, cant drive at night without a prescription lens, can't stray too far from the men's room and I get awful tired after 8:00pm. It figures, I can finally afford the cars I always wanted and even the $5.00 per gallon go juice but these days I'm more concerned with a good BM than RPM. And stay off my lawn! Of course, after 8:00pm you're on your best behavior.

 

It's hard to imagine that there's anyone on the HAMB that didn't cruise.

 

I still do but it's been on my bike lately. The gas thing just happened to fall into place with riding season.

 

The road to happiness is through a clean colon….

 

Great Photo Dave !

 

late 50's, 60. Local dairy Mart, arrive 10:30+--wait for "new" challenge, or upgraded/modified old competitor. Everyone head to deserted steel mill road, easy to have 200+ kids depending upon racers. Even had a few rails show up. Here's my 55, 292 w/3 on the tree-hell, i thought is was quick until that 59 biscayne with the W motor showed up!

 

Or "looping". Loop through one drive-in then onto the next and so on. Most cities then made it illegal to "loop". Local large park (Elizabeth Park) even closed part of the road off so you couldn't loop and had to exit.

 

I have a 30 year old Grandson who doesn't own a car!! He has never had dirt on his hands much less Grease under his nails but he can blow your Computer apart and rebuild it blindfolded. It's SAD!!

 

Ain't it the truth , 40 years ago , neighbor across the street ( late 70's ) would say upon discharging flatus , " well that ends working, & for what it cost me to get it fixed , it better keep working " LOL

 

He thinks the same about us

 

I put on thousands of miles cruisin back in the 60's thru the mid 70's, mostly all in Dixon, Illinois on Galena Avenue, which was (still is) a four lane. Lot's of people cruised there It was three miles long, and longer if you cruised out to the Dog N Suds drive-in.

I'd start cruisin about 5 PM and finally go home about 11:00, or after midnight on weekends. A whole lot of those miles were driven in my avatar 55 Chevy.
Fun times for sure, just cruisin, listening to good old rock n roll and showin off your car.
Now, no one cruises Galena Avenue anymore to my knowledge.

 

Grew up in oil country out in Western North Dakota . In the early 80s there was a lot of fast car cause the guys that work the rigs had the money. So we would cruise from 9:30 to midnight to street race pic up girls and find the parties get home at 4 or 5 in the morning the next night did all over again. Those were the days.

 

I crused Duncan Okla from the time I was 16 until I moved to tulsa. No crusing here

 

I cruised the streets of York, Penna. in the late 50's and early 60's and then joined the Navy and cruised the streets of Oxnard and Ventura, Calif., those were good times.

 

Cruised El Cajon Blvd from Park Blvd to the La Mesa city limits. Oscar's and Carnation were popular spots. There was a drive in on the north east corner of the Drew Ford parking load with a display board of plaques from all of the local car clubs. Unfortunately it was inside the La Mesa city limits and the local cops got writer's cramp from issuing chicken shit tickets. And yes, when they shut down the Paradise Mesa drag strip there was the infamous El Cajon Blvd. "drag strip riot" in the late fifties. Forgot to mention that gas was nineteen to twenty one cents a gallon.

 

The local radio D.J.s pronounced it "hice-cool" and I was a class-of-'61 edition. Back then beer was still sold in quarts, so a "beer" was 32oz and a "case" was 12 of those in a flip-open box that would get reused a hundred times.
There were some 2-car families but not all. It was rare that Dad let you "borrow" the new car...... so usually you got to drive Mom's beater a couple of times a week. Higher up the car hierarchy were the 'under 21-ers' who owned their own beaters. The 'over-21-ers" were like Greek gods high up in the clouds on Mt. Olympus. They had the golden keys to new cars and the beer fridge at the liquor store.
The point of "cruising" was to get out of the house and hang out with the cool cats and hot chicks. Spend the evening in the living room? .......with your parents and your booger-eatin' little brother? ......and watch a TV with 4 channels?
"Gaaaddd!! Just shoot me! My life is over!" If that didn't work then you walked to the cruising district.

EDIT: Has anyone brought up a particularly important detail regarding girls and cruising?
Girls could legally buy beer and alcohol at the age of 18 while the guys had to wait until they were 21. (Might not have been true in all states but it was widespread.) So if a girl didn't get picked up on a cruise night, she really didn't want to 'cruise'.

 

There wasn't any purpose, that was the point. I grew up in a small town, so cruising only took about five minutes from one end to the other, but we would do it again and again all night. It was a time to just hang out and talk with your friends.

 

Was McHenry in Modesto in my day, up through high school. When I came back to visit at maybe 20? Years old, just didn’t trip my trigger.
Funny I recall many who were older than me, seemed they couldn’t let it go.
But the point of cruising in my teen years was finding a girl(rarely) or a race(often).

 

Yup! Kansas City had several "destinations" where cruising was hot. My part of town (south KC) had Blue Ridge Boulevard (6 mile loop from 87th to Grandview), Independence had Noland Road (from the dragstrip all the way north), Overland Park (Kansas side of town) had Metcalf Avenue, and several others. I cruised from the early '70s to the early '80s (marriage) and a cruise night would start about 6 and end around 2 or 3AM. Great fun!

 

Wish I had a nickel for every gallon of gas I burned on Bellflower Blvd. from late 60's to mid 70's. Loved the candy paint and flaked roofs.

 

Hell yea, back in the early 70's. Listening to the 8 track going down Main Street

 

Van Nuys Blvd was good , we were bad kids and threw our Ripple wine bottles at the 55,56,57 Chevys, rich kids with jobs and their new cars, they were our targets.

 

My grandson “cruises” to late night gatherings of exhibitions of doing donuts,burnouts and figure eights in mall parking lots. Wannabe drifters I guess.....

 

I’ve been to those. I’ve seen some impressive builds by some sharp young folks.
Much faster than the old junk I drove/drive.

 

hell yeah .cruised 4th st santa rosa ca , then nevada ave colorado springs