I was thinking the other day about when I was a kid and cruising the "strip" in my old Charger. I remember when the local Police started cracking down on cruising in my hometown in the late 80's to early 90's. I think it's dead now. I'm from a place that there is not much to do, so that was a fun and cheap thing to do back in the day.

Where I live now, I never see kids out cruising their cars. Or at least, the places I go to on a weekend don't have kids in their cars. I know there are a ton of kids (and adults) with performance cars as the local monthly cruise-in is always packed.

So, what about where you live? Do you see any kids out and just cruising around anymore outside of a planned local car event?

Attached are some pics of my car just prior to a Saturday cruise night back in '85.

Nope. But then by 8pm I'm in bed.

In Spokane WA, years ago, the kids would go down town and cruise the street, Riverside. Fridays and Saturdays were always busy, all kinds of cars. It was always fun, but the gestapo recommended to the City Council to pass an ordinance outlawing it. That was the end of an era.

Yup. In Renton we used a one-way street thru down town. They barricaded it, no more fun there.

Mansfield Ohio, Park Avenue West, still sees some cruisers from time to time, mostly in the summer. The popo crack down from time to time, but it still "gets busy" every once in awhile

The police shut down cruising due to traffic concerns and people misbehaving.

Today's youth has a different set of priorities.

Today's youth don't have a big interest in cars other than transportation. The tuners were the last enthusiast and most of them are older now with other priorities.....Back in the day Hikes Point was the place in Louisville. Sometimes hundreds of us punks just driving around looking at each other. Downtown 11th street was the place to street race for a while.

We talk about this very subject ever so often. On Saturday night in our small town of 8,000 or so people, Main street (and it's adjacent parking lots) were FULL of young people "draggin' Main" to see what was up. That was in the 70s.

Now you could bowl down Main street by 9 PM on Saturday nights.

Was outlawed in Sacramento in the 80s

No.

Fr the last 5 years i would work hard to set up a "Cruise" night in our area and it went well for the first few years but since the main place we all met at closed down its pretty much a bust. There are some new people who are doing it now and they gave it a good shot in 2016. So we shall see if things keep on getting better in 2017.

Here is a photo of a little press i got in the local paper.

Stu

I would say within about the last 5 years it's completely died here.

Have to say it's a good thing:

1. No noise from Posers with their loud stereos and blue bottle exhaust on a 305.

2. Less accidents in town

It was fun while it lasted, but I'm glad social media is their thing instead of poluting and burning a hundred bucks worth of fuel for nothing.

yup
but nothing like we used to do back in the day..lol

i just happen to know some gearhead youngsters
who drool over the hellcat
the hobby is still alive here!
they are out every weekend night fri,sat and sun
the local wawa's are the hot meeting place
they have a bunch of parking,free wifi
during the summer months on the main drag they will place cops
in the wawa parking lots just to keep the people moving along.
these kids will stay until they wear out the welcome
and then go on to the next wawa,repeat,rinse
some of them have some pretty fast rides on a low budget
you would be impressed by a few of them.

A part of Americana that is gone. Sad.


https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ame...amp;FORM=VRDGAR

We have cars shows/cruises here that attract hundreds of cars and you won't find many under 35-40 at these events driving, or spectating. Drag strip is the same way. The silver haired dudes that have disposable income make up the majority, and without them the track would probably close.

In Tulsa on Friday/Saturday, Memorial Dr. is packed with cars & kids. I always forget about it till we happen to be in that part of town & it is nice to see proper socializing.

Cruised around the capitol back in the 80s. It was PACKED, but then again it was Street Machine National's weekend...

Back in "the day," it was Brookside, here in Tulsa. About a two mile circuit, if you ran all of it. At one end, a burger joint and a car wash, to turn around in the parking lot. At the other end of Brookside, Bel Aire shopping center. Either turn around in the lot, park in the lot or go around the block adjacent to the center..
Along Brookside, these were some of the spots:

Der Weinerschnitzel [hot dogs and the like]
McDonalds
Quik Trip convenience store
A couple full service gas stations that closed early, and one that was 24/7
A grocery store with a huge lot.
A Jr High school with a big lot.
2 strip clubs and a bar.
A host of other businesses, closed in the evenings.

We tried to be respectful of the property we parked on and the business lots. Supported the gas station [full service] and the two drive in restaurant [a root beer stand and Penningtons]. That way, we didn't get run off. Lasted until the eighties, then yuppies moved in and opened their businesses. Complained and their squeaky wheels won. Now kids hang out in a newer part of town, as previously stated. Cool, but not as cool as I remember...way back when.

BTW, we raced a bit, stop light stuff. BUT, there was a 1/4 mile section marked off on US 75 highway...lots of money traded hands.

I was not pleased with this either. I graduated in 1983 and even though I only had a 318 69 Dart, I still loved to cruise it. By 1987 the city oof Sacto had banned cruising, soon thereafter there were other small towns nearby joining in against us ruffians. I had at least 3 "loitering" tickets from back then.

In my small town, there was a drive-in restaurant on the north end (burned down a year or so ago) and a gas station on the south end. Probably a 3 mile stretch. The town grew up alongside US HWY 411, so the strip was right down the center of town. Anything adjacent to that were side roads to housing. So, the cops knew where to go, but we only had 4 or 5, so at any one time, there was probably only one on patrol. Especially, late at night. I had a few run-ins with them. Some deserved, some not. Used to go to other cities looking for action too. Seems there was always something going on.

Attached is a pic of the old drive-in. The pic is from the 2000's and not really a good representation of what it was in it's hey day. I remember it had a couple of speed bumps on the entrance and exit sides. You were cool if you could roll up to the speed bump and get your front wheels to hop/jump over it. I never got that technique down pat. Same on the rear wheels.