Cruising in lowrider cars is becoming legalized again in California, amid protests by enthusiasts who say they have been unfairly targeted on racial grounds
By Jim Carlton | Photographs by Jason Henry for The Wall Street JournalRobert Gutierrez was like a lot of California Latinos coming of age in the 1970s: He loved cruising the boulevard on weekend nights, in a 1972 tangerine Pontiac Grand Ville modified to ride low to the ground with hydraulics so it could bump up and down.
On weekend nights, he joined thousands of others in processions of so-called lowrider cars, cruising back and forth along Story Road on San Jose’s predominantly Latino east side. Beginning in the 1980s, San Jose, Calif. and many other cities passed ordinances that banned cruising on favorite lowriding streets, after some were disrupted by shootings and other violence.Now, lowriding is becoming legalized again in California, amid protests by enthusiasts that say they have been unfairly targeted on racial grounds.In 2022, San Jose and Sacramento repealed their bans.
Lowriding became popular within Latino communities of California and other parts of the Southwest in the mid-20th century.Chevy Impalas, Buick Rivieras and other classics were outfitted with narrow tires and hydraulic pumps that allowed the driver to raise and lower the wheels as much as 20 inches, sometimes separately. Over time, lowriding became popular within the West Coast Black community too.
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