What is cruising? Your thoughts please

OK here's the deal. This is not for different age groups to bash each other it is just an open discussion.

So we use the term Cruising a lot and there has been a lot of discussion about cruising. But after reading through several of them it occures to me that no one is on the same page as to what cruising is. Some of us think its all about American Graffiti and others are thinking lawn chairs and waxing.

So when someone mentions cruising what do you think?

I'll start and let you fellas give your opinion or definition as to what cruising is.

When I was of the age that I determine cruising to be important what would be considered cruising we called "running the gut." You went to what ever town and cruised up and down the main drag. It was normally about seeing and being seen. Sometimes it was about finding the rodders from whatever town you went to and racing or fighting. Sometimes it was about finding a new friend of the opposite sex. Most times it was about all of the above.

So what do you believe cruising to be? Uh educate me.

 

I think you pretty well summed it for me in my youth.

 

Pretty accurate definition....My main focus was the girls!

 

That's kinda what we did, in High School it was up and down Riverside drive in Clarksville, TN - Shoneys Big Boy on one end and the big 7-11 parking lot on the other, with McGregor park (boat ramp on the river) in the middle. If you continued on out of town there was a little drag racing out on the interstate connector.

When I was in the Navy I lived in Charleston, SC, - there it was up and down Rivers ave, parking at Robert's drive-in (home of the SUPER PIG bbq sandwich) then on out to Dorchester road to street race - it was between two counties and neither really claimed it.

I think guys now get 'cruising' and 'cruise-ins' mixed up. Cruise-ins around here = lawn chairs, car dusters, power parking and LOUD doo-wop music. Don't forget the older ladies in the poodle skirts and the hula hoop competition!

 

Mine wasn't I'm ashamed to admit , although I did jump in with a chick in a thunder hawk once. I told the fellas I was with I'd find them or hitch hike home.

I found them sooner than later, the girls dad was mad as hell. I gues she wasn't supposed to have his car and he sure didn't like that greasy looking germ from two towns over in it with his little girl. Needless to say I didn't cruise over there for awhile.

Gator I didn't need that image of the older ladies in the poodle skirt in my head. Thanks buddy.

 

I'd say you nailed it PnB, that is pretty much what we did. Although it was dying out and turning into hangin in a large parking lot for us in the early 80's when I was a punk kid.

 

I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it.

And I ain't seen it for about 25-30 years.

 

Sometimes I wish the focus wasn't so much on women back then....I bet I would have learned alot more in many aspects of my life. I tell my son "don't worry bout them girls....they will be around whenever you want....focus on cars and such". I bet he doesn't listen too well.

 

Pretty idealized version, but you get the picture.

 

.....Ya....petty much summed it up the same here........When I was young. I when cruising for chicks....... being an old fart now...I go cruising and only get thumbs up.......

 

Was the same for me man, and I'm 24. Cars were probably a bit uglyer when I was cruising though...

 

yup, we'd go from Dog & Suds to Fricsh's to the Park & Eat, Frozen Custard and a few others who's names escape me now....

 

For a lack of money or anything better to do in a boring little town, cruising was the thing. In Mexico Missouri we would cruise from one end of town to the other, along the main strips, between a fast food restaurant on each end of town, which were the turn around points or a hang out.

Same for Escondido CA, cruising was big in the 80s until the cops started harassing folks and essentially shut it down. Cruising was being shut down all over CA.

Even in Tucson AZ, during the 80s people would migrate to the strip 'Speedway Blvd' and cruise.

It was all about the chicks and getting there in anything that burned gas and would roll. People would drive for many miles from their boring little spots to the magnet of the cruise.

Cities worked at shutting these things down, and now that they have learned they can make money on cruise nights, they have become trendy.

 

We never had any designated streets to cruise on. We had Mighty Mo's to cruise to... It was not like American Graffiti.

We traveled the same routes to get to one from another but it was the destination that mattered not the route. You could only nurse a Coke so long before the manager kicked us out and we rode up to the New Hampshire Mo to start the timer again.

The first time I ever saw cruising as we have come to know it was at the Nationals in Oklahoma city. That was so cool to see everyone cruise by. We did cruise from from one motel to the other in Columbus just to check out the cars in the parking lot but we all jumped into one car instead of "cruising". Again it was the destination that mattered and not the route.

I don't cruise. I can't talk to anyone or check out an interesting car if I'm in traffic. I park and walk.

 

Been MANY years since I have done it, or even SEEN it done, but for me and my buds, it was all about driving around looking for a race.

 

Was doing the math on this.....you must have cruised Speedway. That would have been over 20 years ago......gee, I am getting old.

 

Damn the Arf and Barf I thought I was the only one who had ever been to one of them.

They had those back east too?

We used to go to the Artic Circle the home of the $.19 hamburger when I was in High School, or Scotty's Drive in. You could always find a race or whatever at either place.

Tommy I don't recall cruising ever being like American Grafitti. That was just a movie as far as I'm concerned. I do remember older guys like Milner picking up teenie boppers so that part was probably accurate.

Actually we did screw with the local constabulary on occaision also but that was just because they screwed with us. If they would have just kept the peace everything would have been alright bertween us.

 

You nailed it, there cruzers and squaters, and its is what ever you make of it, its about PEOPLE, .......the cars just get us togather just my take for 40 yrs

 

You older guys are lucky, you guys could find girls cruising. Me and a few of my friends cruise in are cars, much like whats been said above on a much, much smaller scale.

Sadly today being 19, the only kind of guys girls go for is guys who look 13, are short and have voices that haven't cracked yet.
Girls don't go for men any more.

 

Cruising is a traffic jamb that nobody minds.

 

Main street,stop at the Frisch"s Big Boy drive-in restaurant,all the hot cars and chicks there, then cruise through the Golden Arches to get a few 19 cent burgers,find a couple of out of town cruisers looking for a race,head out to the old airstrip and have a ball then back to main street to show off the cars and talk shit.Lived in a dry county so Sat. am drove 35 miles to stock up.Good old days.You really hit the nail on the head with the description of crusing.

 

Neither would I.

 

Hey Benno, it's funny you made this thread, I was just thinking about the same thing.

I'm a youngster, so I'm sure my idea of cruising is different than the OG fellows here. To me, it's about getting out there and enjoying your car- new or old. Go down the main streets, just doing the loop of the town. Looking for a few things: 1) Guys to race, 2) Random people to get recognition from, 3) Girls to show off to. Not necessarily in that order.

We cruise the strip, yell from car to car, ask questions and comment on people's rides while we're driving. Or sometimes we'll post up in a parking lot adjacent to the strip and watch the cars go by, there's usually somebody racing or pulling gears.

So I guess it's a combination of cruising and a cruise-in. We never have a set up for music or anything like that, we're nomads. Wanderers of the asphault jungle. Gotta be ready to move. Because you never know where the action is going to be.

 

This is exactly what it was as i fondly remember it.
Not a single fat woman in a poodle skirt in sight

 

Cruising to me was being seen, looking for hide and street racing. Not like the lawn chair events of today. Local cruises now have more new Corvettes then on a Chevrolet Dealers lot. Vette owners way over middle age "Gold Chainers" accompanied by overweight spouses.

 

yeah, started in 77 when I got my license, mostly quit by 82-83. I moved to SV in late 83, and there never was much of anything going on down here.

 

What are you talking about? Fry Blvd is a national hot spot!

 

I really don't think cruising existed in my area. (Long Beach, 80's) I didn't know anyone with an old car in high school even. Mine were sitting in the back yard and didn't run...

When the older dudes talk about "picking up chicks" while cruising with their custom, I am always wondering how that went. Girls just got into strange cars because they looked cool? Hmmm... I know it worked in American Graffiti, but culturally I'm thinking that ship has sailed. I've had plenty of fun with girls in my '50... but I actually knew them before they got in the car!

Another thing about that word... "Good cruiser" in a car ad, does that mean good cooling system? It idles well? Does it mean it's only good for putting around? It always makes me skeptical when I read that.

 

heh....set a record low temp yesterday morning, it was three degrees.

 

Back in the day, we cruised Main Street looking for girls, parties and someone to race! In my town, in the late '60s it was predominately "muscle cars". I cruised in my '41 Chevy pick-up, then later in my '48 Chevy panel truck (quadraphonic 8-track and a mattress in the back!).

These days I'm married with children and the extent of my cruising is at the yearly "Cruisin' Ocean City" weekend in Ocean City MD. I haven't missed this show in 15 years! There are multiple shows all over the beachside resort with lots of awesome cars cruising the streets, day and night for the 4-day weekend. After hours, especially on Thursday and Friday, the "burnouts" rule! The whole town reeks of burned rubber! The prime hotel/motel rooms to book are not an ocean view, but one on the street side with a balcony to watch people cruise by after you finish your own cruise. (I always park when I start drinking beer!)