Cruising

I could not wait for Friday night to come. I used to go to school and then to my part time job cleaning lighting fixtures at a lighting store in Hollywood, it was pretty routine but Friday night was special.

First back in the good ol' days we used to get paid weekly, non of this by-monthly pay schedule we now have. So Friday night right after punching out the first order of business was to go cash that baby (the paycheck) and then hit the car wash.

I bought my first car when I was 17 years old and my first bike when I was 18. My car was a 1971 Chevy Impala, with a 400 engine, it was the smoothest and fastest car I have ever owned, yes even faster than my current Mustang. My bike was a candy apple red 1980 Kawasaki KZ400.

So back to Friday night, what made it so special was that it was cruising night. I grew up cruising. Every Friday night we would go down to Whittier Blvd., in East Los Angeles and cruise from Eastern Avenue to Atlantic Boulevard and back. Whittier blvd. held a special charm for us Latinos. It was the place for "La Raza" to have fun while showing off the cool cars which in East L.A. were mostly of the "lowrider" kind.

My bike also saw many cruising nights, it was funner to go in the bike because in California we got to white line (riding between cars) which made it possible for us to cruise up and down at least two times but sometimes three times through the boulevard. A normal amount of time to cruise the 1-mile stretch would be about an hour to an hour and a half.

Of all the cruising spots Whittier Blvd. was the epitome of what cruising was all about. Its mystique and history were second to none and it took a special kind of person to cruise up and down the boulevard.

For a more diverse kind of cruising also on Friday night we would go to Hollywood Blvd. There you would find from lowriders to hot-rods, to bikers, to crotch rockets all cruising from the exit of the Hollywood freeway on Hollywood Blvd, all the way up to La Brea Blvd. Hollywood Blvd. could be experienced both on foot as well as driving, to this day I believe it's still a fun place to visit.

Van Nuys Blvd, on Saturday's offered a different kind of cruising. Van Nuys was to the Anglo population what Whittier was to the Latinos, and Hot Rods were the predominant car of choice there.

There were lesser known places such as Pacific Avenue in Huntington Park, or going to "Angelo's Burgers" on Beach Blvd. in Anaheim, and I can say I cruised them all.

In the mid 80's I joined a mini truck club and we would cruise "Puente Hills Mall" every Friday night as well, those were my last cruising days. Eventually one by one all the cruising spots were closed by the police, barricades would be placed on Whittier Blvd from Eastern to Atlantic between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and Hollywood tried doing the same, except the chamber of commerce complained as many businesses relied on traffic that only goes to Hollywood at night. So cruising was allowed there, but cop cars were placed in every intersection.

I used to be pulled over by the Sheriffs almost once a week on my mini truck. My mini truck was borderline on everything but was not illegal, so once a week they would pull me over but also once a week I would drive free of citations, needless to say "mi chica" hated my mini truck with a passion.

So there you have it, for many years cruising was a big part of my weekends and I truly hate the fact that none of my kids got to experience one of the best American weekend pastimes.