Hey gang, This is massively last second at best, but a small group of us for quite awhile have been trying to reintroduce cruising on central on Saturday nights. With the success of Nick's Turkey Day cruise the other morning, it dawned on me that maybe we could make this happen again with the same group that responded there. The deal is this: We have been meeting at the Central Ave Macdonald's just after dark, and hanging out a bit and talking cars and whatever. I'd love to see this grow though, and encompass actually driving a bit. Even with the light rail Central is still easily navigable, and you exhaust system never sounded so good as it does bouncing off the canyon of chrome and steel downtown! Come down and say "HI", and let's go for a ride, maybe a bite to eat. I know I can con Bodi on this deal, TriPower Guy is always there along with MechanicKieth, and maybe Nick Flores Himself, possibly Mike and Mary too... Lets see if we can take our city's history back, have a fun meeting spot, AND central jumping off point to all the other happenings in this big city! I'll be down about 6:30 or so, and it's on Central a couple of blocks south of Indian School. See ya there!, Chip
I'll bump for you again, if I was still in the area I would have loved to join in on this. There never really was much to do in the time between car shows and swap meets, a nice mass Cruse would have been a lot of fun. Hope you get a bunch of people in on the idea, but I also hope they behave themselves so you can keep the cops away and prevent the nuisance tickets that chased everyone away from cruising in the 1st place. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Cruzin like American Graffiti , oh yeah, I would be there in a flash to enjoy that and just meeting and greeting new friends. Reminds me of the video of the chap who has a street legal drag car that after turning in some excellent times on the strip cruises main street Los Vagas with his wife .
We used to have a cruising scene here on Central that rivaled very few anywhere in the world. It's absolutely no coincidence that I live 12 doors from central for that very reason. It was shut down in the early nineties for several reasons, but mostly because the police were concerned about have that many "youths" in given area caused them concern... I argued in front of the city council as young business owner that if they were all there, then you knew where they were. They shut it down, and our youth violence and crime stats went sky high and have always been up since then... Too bad they didn't listen.
They did a similar thing here is Spokane in late 90's. Used to cruise Riverside and street race on Divison (not the smartest thing) until the cops posted. If they saw you pass more than twice in an hour they would ticket you. Basicly killed off the late night car scene in a few months. The local drag strip started openning up "high school drag" nights to give the street racers somewhere to go....but thats gone now also.
We do a cruise like that here in Jacksonville, Fl every fourth Saturday evening. The police are there in support and to catch an ocassional offender. Even the stores and restaurants stay open late for the event. It is called the Historical Springfield Cruise on Main St. It runs from 1st to 12th street. We have a couple of live bands, several food trucks, tv and newspaper coverage. It has been going for just over one year and we are averaging several hundred vehicles and a couple of thousand spectators lining the sidewalks in lawn chairs. If you can get your event going again, people will come from near and far to enjoy the nostalgia. Good luck with it.
That'd be way cool to have unscheduled cruises happen again. Its neat to have car shows and what not but the same thing kind of gets old...just sitting and looking at your ride. I'd rather drive it!!
I'm still a sidewalk commando at least until January. Too much work in the shop and Christmas related stuff to spend any time on my cars. This sounds great to me though. I'll be in as soon as I get something running.
Sounds like a good idea Chip. Glad you are close, it is about an hour each way for me but, the weather is finally nice. Keep us posted, I will try to attend from time to time.
Used to cruise Central back in the 80's. It was a huge scene. Sadly the scene was killed. If I still lived there I'd give it a shot, but I mean real cruisin' not just hanging out in the McDonald's parking lot.
We don't hang out at mcdonalds any more. One, they closed, and two sitting in parking lots sucks. Search for the "take back central az" thread. That's where we usually post about our weekly cruises (which as of late, involve actual cruising).
Hey, hanging out in the McDonalds parking lot is not MY idea of cruising either! I was there almost every weekend night of the eighties and know and understand the original scene, believe me. But, I have found this weird thing as I have tried to bring this back... People don't understand how to or what cruising was about! I was hoping to get people to McDonalds then go out and drive. We had people showing up, but everybody wanted to sit next to their car and talk.... I finally realized that in the twenty years since we were last significant down there, that the idea of a cruise night has definitely become a static, bad music, hula hoops, poodle skirts and lawn chairs type of thing.... Sad really. I truly believe that there are so many people that have gotten into this hobby since this static stuff has become the norm, that they honestly didn't experience the old days, and don't know "how" to simply cruise a street like Central. I know that sounds like sort of a condemnation, but I think it's the absolute truth. I just came home myself tonight from Camelback and Central, where the last little bits of our group still meet on Saturday nights. Went the long way home through down town and back up to home by the Heard Museum...
I know what your talking about buddy, I am from South Dakota, but right out of High School (1973) I moved to Phoenix to go too Automotive School and what a dream it was, Friday and Saturday nights, talk about Totally Awesome, all the Big Speed Shops, Girls,Girls, And HOT RODS. But other then that the big city life was not for me and I moved back home after the 2 year school was over, It is one of the greatest times in my life.
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