California is the birthplace of lowrider culture. Modifying cars with advanced hydraulics systems and elaborate paint jobs and then taking them on a slow cruise down a main drag is a decades-old tradition.
But certain lowrider vehicles are illegal in California, and many cities still have bans on cruising.
Some Golden State lawmakers want to change that with a new bill that would end restrictions on lowriders and effectively legalize cruising across the state.
“Our tagline is, ‘cruising is not a crime,’ ” Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat from San Diego who sponsored the legislation, told NPR.
About the proposal
The proposal would do two things. First, it would end restrictions on lowrider vehicles in California state law. Right now, owners are barred from modifying their passenger vehicles so that the body of the car is closer to the ground than the bottom of the rims.
Second, it would end any limits on cruising on California streets. Cities and towns across California are currently permitted to pass their own cruising bans, which several have done.
Reaction
Jovita Arellano, with the United Lowrider Coalition, said at a press conference that she’s been cruising since she was a young girl and supports lifting the limits on the pastime.
“The passion for cruising has never left my heart. It’s a part of who we are. And unfortunately, right now, on the books, it’s being criminalized,” Arellano said. “We can’t do that. We can’t criminalize our culture.”
The history
Cruising and lowriders both have their roots in postwar Southern California, where Chicanos made an art form out of car customization and…
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