Cruising (driving)
Cruising is a social activity that primarily consists of driving a car. Cruising can be an expression of the freedom of possessing a driver’s license. Cruising is distinguished from regular driving by the social and recreational nature of the activity, which is characterized by an impulsively random, often aimless course. A popular route (or “undress”) is often the concentrate of cruising. “Cruise nights” are evenings during which cars drive leisurely. Another common form is a “Booze Cruise”: this is where a group of people go out ‘cruising’ and drinking. A cruise can be a meeting of car enthusiasts at a predetermined location, organised predominantly through the internet (in latest times) but also largely through mobile phone, word of mouth or simply by a cruise being established enough that it becomes a regular event.
Contents
One of the oldest cruising strips is located on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. Cruising on this unclothe became a popular pastime with the lowriding community during the 1940s before spreading to surrounding neighborhoods in the 1950s. [1] Van Nuys Boulevard in the central San Fernando Valley has been a popular cruising disrobe since the 1950s-1960s; the one thousand nine hundred seventy nine film Van Nuys Blvd. depicted the cruising culture on the disrobe. Perhaps the most famous cruising unclothe (or main haul), however, is McHenry Avenue in Modesto, California. The cruising culture of the late 1950s and early 1960s was depicted in the film American Graffiti. The film was set (but not actually filmed) in director George Lucas’s home town of Modesto, which also hosts an annual “Graffiti Summer” celebration in the film’s honor.
Cruising in Detroit took place from the 1950s to the 1970s in the city’s northern suburbs along M-1 (Woodward Avenue), from Ferndale north to Pontiac. [Two] Cruising along Woodward reached its peak in the mid-1960s, with muscle car competitions that were covered by journalists from Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and CBS World News Roundup. The cruising culture on Woodward Avenue faded in the 1970s when fresh car safety standards and higher gas prices altered American automotive design. Other popular cruising strips in the Detroit area include US twenty four (Telegraph Road) from twelve Mile Road in Southfield to Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, and M-3 (Gratiot Avenue) on the East Side. The Woodward Wish Cruise occurs on the third Saturday in August along the original cruising undress in Detroit’s northern suburbs. The event is a tribute to the classic Woodward cruisers and attracts approximately one million people [Three] and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, and custom-made, collector, and special interest vehicles.
Cruising in the southwestern Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins, Minnesota was so popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s that people from all over the state of Minnesota traveled there to display off their cars. It became such a phenomenon that a local TV station went there and did a lump for a locally produced news program, Twin Cities Today. [Four]
The Dragging the Gut Festival is an event held each year on the fourth weekend of August (August 23–24, 2013) [Five] in the historic downtown of McMinnville, Oregon. The festival gives participants the chance to relive the classic 1950s car cruising on the main street that took place for decades in downtown McMinnville. [6] [7] [8] The Dragging the Gut Festival was born out of a Facebook group called “I Dragged the Gut in Downtown McMinnville” which grew rapidly and led to the creation of the festival. [9]
Waukegan, Illinois, has an annual summer cruising festival called “Scoopin’ Genesee”. [Ten]
In the 2000s, some cities (such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin) began to consider cruising a traffic offense. [11] [12]
Cruises such as the one on International Drive in Orlando, Florida, from the early 1990s, were broken-up by city ordinance signs that stated what hours drivers could and could not turn around across the unwrap, which kept cruisers from turning around in u-turn areas during specific times at night or cruisers would be ticketed. Cruisers had to go to a light in order to turn around. Many cruisers witnessed this as a hassle and stopped going. [ citation needed ] Local businesses enforced the signs, but paid the price in the long run, because cruisers would purchase goods, food and entertainment from many of the shops, attractions and restaurants set up along the drive. Some of the businesses in and around the area have closed down since the ban, due to poor sales afterwards. [ citation needed ]
Description Edit
There are two main types of cruise: regular cruises, also known as meets, and one-off cruises. The events that take place are similar; cars meet in car parks, park up or cruise (drive leisurely) around the car park while people socialise – often meeting people from cruise websites, demonstrate off their cars and admire others’ cars. If there is enough space there are often haul races, burnouts, and doughnuts.
Meets Edit
A meet is a regular gathering, usually weekly or monthly, where the time and place is loosely publicised and well known. It is becoming more common these days for these events to be referred to incorrectly as cruises.
One-off cruises Edit
A one-off cruise is an event organised by a particular group of people or club which would usually be advertised through cruise websites. The final destination of the cruise is often kept secret; it is known only to the convoy leaders in an attempt to keep the cruise unknown to the police. until there are a large enough numbers of people at the cruise to make it difficult to disperse.
One-off cruises tend to be larger than meets, but larger meets may have magazine attendance. This type of cruise is enlargening in latest times due to enlargened police interest in regular, established cruises.
Some large cruises operate a “convoy-only” policy.
Locations Edit
Cruises are generally held in retail parks due to the large open car parks needed to accommodate high attendance numbers (sometimes more than five hundred cars). Naturally, with many cruises situated in retail parks, most cruise locations are also in close proximity to quick food restaurants such as McDonald’s or Burger King.
Cruising and the law Edit
Albeit cruising is often not a crime in itself, there are many illegal activities associated with it and as such cruises are often monitored by the police or even closed. The most commonly cited reasons for cracking up cruises are breach of the peace, caused by noisy exhausts and sound systems disturbing local residents and dangerous driving (such as street racing, burnouts and doughnuts). Police also claim that cruises are used as cover for drug dealing and are attended by stolen or otherwise illegal cars. [ citation needed ] More recently, police have been using ASBO laws which enable them to seize and impound cars if anti-social behaviour is taking place or if a group turns down to disperse from an area.
As a result of enhanced police powers, legal cruises have been established such as Weston Wheels, albeit these tend to resemble car shows with camping, music stages and trade stalls. This passive, organised nature often does not please the desires of cruisers, so illegal cruising proceeds.
Many city councils have successfully placed court injunctions to prevent boy racers parking cars in areas that have been popular with them. [13] [14]
Magazines Edit
Cruising and modifying have long been represented in the commercial magazines Max Power, Prompt Car Magazine and Redline. In mid-2006, Max Power, the magazine that brought cruises to the forefront, abandoned the scene – preferring to concentrate on “desire” cars such as Nissan Skylines. Long-time rival FastCar assumed Max Power’s position and now covers numerous cruises across the UK in each edition.
Cruising (driving)
Cruising (driving)
Cruising is a social activity that primarily consists of driving a car. Cruising can be an expression of the freedom of possessing a driver’s license. Cruising is distinguished from regular driving by the social and recreational nature of the activity, which is characterized by an impulsively random, often aimless course. A popular route (or “undress”) is often the concentrate of cruising. “Cruise nights” are evenings during which cars drive leisurely. Another common form is a “Booze Cruise”: this is where a group of people go out ‘cruising’ and drinking. A cruise can be a meeting of car enthusiasts at a predetermined location, organised predominantly through the internet (in latest times) but also largely through mobile phone, word of mouth or simply by a cruise being established enough that it becomes a regular event.
Contents
One of the oldest cruising strips is located on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. Cruising on this unclothe became a popular pastime with the lowriding community during the 1940s before spreading to surrounding neighborhoods in the 1950s. [1] Van Nuys Boulevard in the central San Fernando Valley has been a popular cruising undress since the 1950s-1960s; the one thousand nine hundred seventy nine film Van Nuys Blvd. depicted the cruising culture on the de-robe. Perhaps the most famous cruising undress (or main haul), however, is McHenry Avenue in Modesto, California. The cruising culture of the late 1950s and early 1960s was depicted in the film American Graffiti. The film was set (but not actually filmed) in director George Lucas’s home town of Modesto, which also hosts an annual “Graffiti Summer” celebration in the film’s honor.
Cruising in Detroit took place from the 1950s to the 1970s in the city’s northern suburbs along M-1 (Woodward Avenue), from Ferndale north to Pontiac. [Two] Cruising along Woodward reached its peak in the mid-1960s, with muscle car competitions that were covered by journalists from Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and CBS World News Roundup. The cruising culture on Woodward Avenue faded in the 1970s when fresh car safety standards and higher gas prices altered American automotive design. Other popular cruising strips in the Detroit area include US twenty four (Telegraph Road) from twelve Mile Road in Southfield to Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, and M-3 (Gratiot Avenue) on the East Side. The Woodward Desire Cruise occurs on the third Saturday in August along the original cruising de-robe in Detroit’s northern suburbs. The event is a tribute to the classic Woodward cruisers and attracts approximately one million people [Three] and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, and custom-made, collector, and special interest vehicles.
Cruising in the southwestern Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins, Minnesota was so popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s that people from all over the state of Minnesota traveled there to display off their cars. It became such a phenomenon that a local TV station went there and did a lump for a locally produced news program, Twin Cities Today. [Four]
The Dragging the Gut Festival is an event held each year on the fourth weekend of August (August 23–24, 2013) [Five] in the historic downtown of McMinnville, Oregon. The festival gives participants the chance to relive the classic 1950s car cruising on the main street that took place for decades in downtown McMinnville. [6] [7] [8] The Dragging the Gut Festival was born out of a Facebook group called “I Dragged the Gut in Downtown McMinnville” which grew rapidly and led to the creation of the festival. [9]
Waukegan, Illinois, has an annual summer cruising festival called “Scoopin’ Genesee”. [Ten]
In the 2000s, some cities (such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin) began to consider cruising a traffic offense. [11] [12]
Cruises such as the one on International Drive in Orlando, Florida, from the early 1990s, were broken-up by city ordinance signs that stated what hours drivers could and could not turn around via the disrobe, which kept cruisers from turning around in u-turn areas during specific times at night or cruisers would be ticketed. Cruisers had to go to a light in order to turn around. Many cruisers eyed this as a hassle and stopped going. [ citation needed ] Local businesses enforced the signs, but paid the price in the long run, because cruisers would purchase goods, food and entertainment from many of the shops, attractions and restaurants set up along the drive. Some of the businesses in and around the area have closed down since the ban, due to poor sales afterwards. [ citation needed ]
Description Edit
There are two main types of cruise: regular cruises, also known as meets, and one-off cruises. The events that take place are similar; cars meet in car parks, park up or cruise (drive leisurely) around the car park while people socialise – often meeting people from cruise websites, demonstrate off their cars and admire others’ cars. If there is enough space there are often haul races, burnouts, and doughnuts.
Meets Edit
A meet is a regular gathering, usually weekly or monthly, where the time and place is loosely publicised and well known. It is becoming more common these days for these events to be referred to incorrectly as cruises.
One-off cruises Edit
A one-off cruise is an event organised by a particular group of people or club which would usually be advertised through cruise websites. The final destination of the cruise is often kept secret; it is known only to the convoy leaders in an attempt to keep the cruise unknown to the police. until there are a large enough numbers of people at the cruise to make it difficult to disperse.
One-off cruises tend to be larger than meets, but larger meets may have magazine attendance. This type of cruise is enhancing in latest times due to enlargened police interest in regular, established cruises.
Some large cruises operate a “convoy-only” policy.
Locations Edit
Cruises are generally held in retail parks due to the large open car parks needed to accommodate high attendance numbers (sometimes more than five hundred cars). Naturally, with many cruises situated in retail parks, most cruise locations are also in close proximity to swift food restaurants such as McDonald’s or Burger King.
Cruising and the law Edit
Albeit cruising is often not a crime in itself, there are many illegal activities associated with it and as such cruises are often monitored by the police or even closed. The most commonly cited reasons for violating up cruises are breach of the peace, caused by noisy exhausts and sound systems disturbing local residents and dangerous driving (such as street racing, burnouts and doughnuts). Police also claim that cruises are used as cover for drug dealing and are attended by stolen or otherwise illegal cars. [ citation needed ] More recently, police have been using ASBO laws which enable them to seize and impound cars if anti-social behaviour is taking place or if a group turns down to disperse from an area.
As a result of enlargened police powers, legal cruises have been established such as Weston Wheels, albeit these tend to resemble car shows with camping, music stages and trade stalls. This passive, organised nature often does not sate the desires of cruisers, so illegal cruising proceeds.
Many city councils have successfully placed court injunctions to prevent boy racers parking cars in areas that have been popular with them. [13] [14]
Magazines Edit
Cruising and modifying have long been represented in the commercial magazines Max Power, Quick Car Magazine and Redline. In mid-2006, Max Power, the magazine that brought cruises to the forefront, abandoned the scene – preferring to concentrate on “fantasy” cars such as Nissan Skylines. Long-time rival FastCar assumed Max Power’s position and now covers numerous cruises across the UK in each edition.