San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
ONCE-BANNED CRUISING BACK IN NATIONAL CITY
Saturday’s car show was the first of three city-funded events planned for year
When Marcos “Rabbit” Arellano pops the hood of his red, 1962 Chevrolet Impala, it would be wise to wear sunglasses before looking inside.
“It’s a 350 engine with a 350 transmission, and I’ve added a little bit of chrome on it,” he said, proudly standing over machinery that sparkled like a jewelry cabinet — every silver inch polished to a mirror finish. “It takes me about a good hour just to clean the engine.”
Arellano’s lowrider was first in line Saturday morning for a cruise that would launch from Kimball Park and onto National City Boulevard at noon.
It was the first car show and cruise organized and funded by a city that had outlawed such events 31 years ago.
At the time of the ban in 1992, Sunday night cruises had taken over Highland Avenue in National City, and the term lowrider had become associated with gang activity. The city and others throughout the state began banning the activity.
Over the years, however, lowriders became more associated with culture, families and craftsmanship. During the pandemic, Arellano’s wife Jovita, president of the United Lowrider Coalition, recruited people through Facebook to begin cruising again and to work to get the ban lifted.
In May 2022, the coalition held a city-sanctioned test-run that attracted hundreds of participants and spectators. It went well, but the city said car clubs would have to pay for police and other expenses for future organized cruises, and costs could be as high as $20,000.
Future cruises were canceled, but the City Council was convinced it was time for a change. In April, council members unanimously agreed to lift the ban, and the last “Cruising Prohibited” street sign was removed in National City last month.
The City Council also agreed in May to foot the bill for future cruises. Saturday’s car show was the first of three Family Cruising Day events funded by the city. The next ones are scheduled at Kimball Park from noon to 4 p.m. on Aug. 12 and Sept. 9.
“There’s a sense of freedom,” United Lowrider Coalition board member Rafael Perez said about Saturday’s cruise. “For many of us, historically, especially in the ’90s, we felt there was a really good chance we’d get pulled over.”
At 58, Arellano has seen the image of lowriders change to be more familyfriendly.
“We were young and we thought rules weren’t meant for us,” he said about cruising in decades past. “Gangs were very popular at that time. The barrios were not united. There were always fights. That’s why they had to do something about the boulevard.”
On Saturday, more than 100 cars pulled out of the park around noon for a cruise down National City Boulevard and surrounding streets. Mayor Ron Morrison stood at the intersection, waving cars forward.
“The culture has changed a lot,” he later said. “If you look around, they’re older. They have families.”
But Morrison remembers the scene was not always so peaceful.
“It was causing a lot of problems,” he said about the 1980s and early ’90s. “A lot of gang activity. We’ve gotten away from that.”
Morrison said Highland Avenue would be shut down each Sunday night with as many as 10,000 lowriders from East Los Angeles, Stockton, El Centro and other cities.
“Times have changed, and we’ve changed with them,” he said about the city’s attitude toward lowrider culture.
Morrison noted that cruises have been allowed on occasion even before the ban was officially lifted. A national lowrider show and cruise has been held at Kimball Park each September since 2019. This year it will be funded by the city for the first time.
Saturday’s event brought out a variety of vintage lowriders from various decades and with a variety of accessories and modifications.
Jose Lopez’s 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster painted sangria red took the term lowrider to the extreme. Airbags in the car could be deflated to lower the body until it touched the ground.
“When I saw a picture of it, it was a rust-bucket,” he said about the car he bought five years ago. “It sat in someone’s backyard for years.”
But Lopez said he saw potential in the old car, and he’s been modifying it ever since. Like many other lowrider owners, he admits that he probably will never be done, and he’s lost track of how much he’s spent on it so far.
Mike Gonzalez’s 1987 black cherry Cadillac Brougham was parked nearby, hydraulics lifting it so high that the front driver’s side wheel was off the ground.
At 25, Gonzalez, a member of the Game Over Car Club, said he’s been into lowriders since 11. He has owned 10, buying the first right out of high school.
“They’re not the safest car,” he said, looking up at the Cadillac towering above the asphalt on three wheels. “I’m not going to lie. They’re fun to drive, but not the safest.”
Acceptance of lowrider culture is changing throughout the state. A bill that would end cruising bans across California was unanimously approved by the state Assembly in April and just reached the state Senate.