“I hear people saying lowriding is making a comeback. The fountainhead of the culture remains Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles, a place that is almost treated like a shrine for SoCal lowrider clubs. Lately, cruises or lowrider meetups happen every weekend across the region, from Oxnard to Riverside, San Diego to Lancaster. Though Lowrider magazine ended its print run last year, by the time the once-revered title hung up its hat, the web and social media had stepped up with easy networks for car clubs to get together. VAN NUYS Boulevard and the San Fernando Valley are part of a constellation of historic nodes of lowrider culture in Southern California. Keeps him busy, gets him out of trouble,” the lowrider says. Today, Utudzhyan is trying to get younger motorists interested in the craft of maintaining a vintage vehicle, so he’s building a new lowrider with a nephew. Admirers seem magnetically drawn to it when it is parked. His 1960 Chevrolet Impala lowrider, painted verde chiaro, an earthy and inviting green, has the sheen of a trophy. Utudzhyan, now 49, survived the incident with a permanent indentation in his calf, which he confirms by pulling up a pant leg.Īnd now he drives something arguably a little better. Cruising is back in a major way all around Southern California. Masks are mandated, at least on the fliers. The sounds of funk, freestyle and R&B oldies ooze loudly from passing cars. Onlookers post up on the sidewalk, sometimes with folding chairs and coolers. It’s a monthly meetup of lowrider and custom vehicle owners but also a street party. Molina is one of dozens of car lovers drawn to Van Nuys Boulevard for a long-running cruise night. “It’s a rare find, because it’s a shorty box, no windows.” Molina says of his father’s van. But it emotes a certain character, in the way a well-loved car often does. Parked on Van Nuys Boulevard, the in-process remodel looks a bit out of sorts, not quite as polished as the other lowriders and vintage cars drifting by. Consider Mike Molina’s powder blue 1972 E-100 Econoline Ford van, which he inherited after his father and then his mother died during the early months of the pandemic.
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