Marysville cruising, outlawed in 1986, fondly remembered

Teenagers looked forward to cruising on Friday and Saturday nights on the streets of Marysville and Yuba City back in the day. It was the popular thing to do, and a lot of kids did it.

But the Marysville City Council put an end to cruising in 1986 with an ordinance that remains in effect today.

Bruce Buttacavoli has lived in Marysville his whole life and cruised during the early 1970s in his ’66 Ford Mustang. Buttacavoli said cruisers used to drag race across the 10th Street bridge because neither the Marysville Police Department nor the Yuba City Police Department would chase them.

“There were no issues with (cruising) back then,” he said. “It wasn’t against the law, and there were no ordinances. It was just a good time.”

The cruising route went from Ninth and E streets to the Yuba City McDonald’s, he said. There is still a “no cruising” sign reminding residents of the ordinance at that intersection.

“It was a lot of fun and a good way to pick up some girls,” Buttacavoli said.

Brynda Stranix, another area native, cruised during the late ’70s and early ’80s, but as a passenger.

“It was really the thing for teenagers to do,” Stranix said. “Within about 30 days of that ordinance taking effect and that sign going up, it stopped. I guess we were all extremely afraid of traffic laws and traffic infractions.”

Marysville Police Lt. Christian Sachs said his department doesn’t have problems with cruising in 2017.

“After the cruising ordinance came out, (cruisers) kind of transferred it into Yuba City,” Sachs said. “Everybody just kind of started making up their own route. It’s not so much popular anymore.”

He said parents today keep their children engaged in sports and other extracurricular activities year-round.

“I think it just seems a majority of teenagers are so involved in sports throughout the year that they’re all too preoccupied,” he said.

Stranix said there were lulls between sports and other activities when she was a teenager.

“This was back in the day of the drive-in theater and all of that. It was such a different time,” she said. “It was always so much fun being out with your friends.”

Chuck Smith, a local history enthusiast, said noise and traffic complaints pushed the Marysville City Council to draft the ordinance preventing cruising.

“If you were just trying to get through town, it was going to take you longer just because of the cruise,” Smith said. “I understand why others mourned it. It just seemed to be a thing that if you didn’t have anything else to do, you looked forward to cruise night. There wasn’t much for teens to do in this area growing up.”

Smith said he cruised as a teenager in Marysville, but spent most of his time as a passenger.

“You might be in three or four different cars a night if you weren’t driving yourself,” he said. “It was pretty busy, and I think those of us who were involved were kind of oblivious to the problems associated with it. If you were cruising, you remember it as fun.”

George Devereux, owner of Superior Radiator in Marysville, said police routinely pulled him over because of his cruising car. Devereux said he cruised around town during the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“They were cracking down, and I understood it,” Devereux said. “Basically, cruising was all you had to do around here. It was a good pastime.”