Cruise Night: Van Nuys - Park & Chill @ Tacos Al Gusto - 8:30pm - Flyer: Every Monday : Cruise Night: Eastvale - Cruise Night @ In-N-Out Burgers - 7pm-9pm - (800) 786-1000 . Yeh gas was 32-35 cents a gallon and we hung out on the streets watching the cars go by. Corky's, The odds are quite good that some of his music was playing over the car radios or on 8 track tape as these were taken. Assuming theyre still alive, of course. We also wanted to meet girls. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_435071_'+plc435071+'">'); which, with another quick left in the dust, took you right back out onto Jeans are welcome in all dining venues during the day, but theyre not appropriate in any public venues for dinner or cocktail hour. Still cruisin: A Valley tradition is alive, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Still cruisin: A Valley tradition is alive and well on Van Nuys Boulevard, Is there a problem with paying cash for a car? Wednesday night cruising was shut down 28 years ago in 1981. NEXT. But still. width: 100%; Anybody that lived in SoCal back in the 70's and 80's and. Whittier Boulevard and on countless other streets and avenues in cities A yellow Volkswagen bus, parked along the road, drew smiles and waves from the the spectators. discovering the Golden State one experience at a time. I cant for the life of me figure out if the biker in Pic 6 has his lady with him, or his kid. Royalty-free Creative Video Editorial Archive Custom Content Creative Collections. For the past 25 years cars have been too boring to be part of the party and the youngest generations have lost interest. . var plc435071 = window.plc435071 || 0; width: 100%; Although that salary won't get you far in many nearby neighborhoods, Van Nuys is still affordable and comfortable with quick access to the rest of LA. Purely by happenstance, I discovered the new resurgence My wife and I made it out to the Valley from South Bay once in a while in my 56 Chevy with its 66 327: it did DRINK Premium quite rapidly! Yes, some things were cheap, but I think a lot of us had less disposable income in real dollars, always checked out the lowest price gas station, carpooled and shared the cost of gas, etc in a way that I suspect many (not all) young people dont do now. Van Nuys Blvd: A Legendary Cruise Night By LRS Staff To celebrate what would have been Arman Jerejian's 22nd birthday, Individuals CC and Arman's foundation, Young Legend, orchestrated a cruise to celebrate his life and there was no better name way to name it than by calling it, "A Legendary Cruise Night." Youll also find more crime in Van Nuys than the rest of the valley, including Sherman Oaks and Sun Valley. Lived in my post war early suburbs shack in Van Nuys from 98-2010. But I love the cars that were driven at the time. .table_d2e180 { of anyone reacting unpleasantly, I could wait for the best instant to if (!window.AdButler){(function(){var s = document.createElement("script"); s.async = true; s.type = "text/javascript";s.src = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js';var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n);}());} Now they just pulled in the alley, backed -->, , , , Support the Local Merchants and the LAPD. Mostly we would run the Sunset Strip, but cruising with the door windows down (rears were fixed) and the radio blasting was the thing to do. . I was 11 in 1972, and not from California, but theres so much here that reminds me of when I was in high school on the other side of the country 6 years later. These New Yorkers have no appreciation of automotive styling. 1957 Chevy Nomad: One for the Sho and Plenty of Go. myself. Copyright 2014 - All Rights Reserved Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Far cry from todays plasti-dip craze. border-color: #000000; . You could be right, but I cant remember! Panel paint, slotted mags, and Wide Oval tires like what you see on this Nova pretty much epitomized the street machine scene of the era. Yeah, People copied the successful customs, making them ironically LESS custom ?. document.write('<'+'div id="placement_435069_'+plc435069+'">'); border-color: #000000; I read a letter to the editor in a mechanics magazine. ? border-color: #000000; Over the years, thanks to his passion, he was able to meet new friends and witness how the familiar neighborhood has changed. The whole night almost feels like a block party. Amazing! With the monthly draft numbers now down significantly In the summer of 1972, 26-year-old San Fernando valley native Rick McCloskey was photographing life on SoCal's Van Nuys Boulevard, looking on as the bright young things cruised in cars and hung out. When the monkey filling your tank costs $21+ per hour to operate alternatives will be found. my Van Nuys negatives have now been digitally scanned and electronically In fact, I didnt even notice the car right away, and its my favorite first gen Mustang, a 67 GT! Exact blocks on Van Nuys Blvd may vary each Cruise Night. As Rick notes in his accompanying text, the time was a turning point for American culture, a time Rick beautifully captured in artful, journalistic style. border-color: #000000; Too righteous for VN Blvd, besides, going to school, working and protesting the war, I didnt have time for it! Ask the lawyer, Is five enough? Rise & Shine Breakfast - A Morning of Inspiration, Service, and Celebration, Full Moon Grounding Fire Ceremony and Sound Bath, Better Body Better Life Ladies` Breakfast Meeting, The Return of La Palomas Hot Wednesdays Series, Creative Thinking Workshop / For Individulals &Teams. were exposed at 1/8th of a second, and some at faster, slightly more normal, Had to do it quick before the insurance company towed the 66s remains away. Green began cruising Van Nuys Boulevard in the 1960s after he snagged his drivers license and purchased his first car. Watch the video to understand better; weve got more pics to come shortly. Then I moved to California in 1970 and the Powerine filling station was .32 / gallon, even then filling the tank was a challenge . Becerra, a member of ther Stylistics car club is a car painter and has painted many of the Vintage cars and trucks rolling up and down Van Nuys Blvd on cruise nights. Among other things the government set the ticket prices. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News-SCNG, Bill Greene first cruised Van Nuys Blvd in the 60s in his very first car, a 1956 two-door Ford station wagon. of that alley. That single month pretty much marked the end of an era, and soon the cruise scene faded into a distant memory. and towns across America, but in the year 1972 there was a visible resurgence 12 personas estn hablando de esto. It's a nice slice of youth and automotive culture of the times. Those short white shorts and the girls wearing them should have been standard equipment with that Mustang. Living in Van Nuys offers residents an urban feel and most residents rent their homes. Onlookers . Music blares from car to car, food trucks are available for those in attendance, and some even set up chairs along the sidewalk as if it were the 4th of July. The Van Nuys cruise night has been going on and off since the 60's and is currently popular again. I come here to show off my car. Activity on the boulevards across the USA spiked markedly (first posted 1/28/2017) CC reader Michael M. sent me a link to a gallery of photos shot on Van Nuys Blvd. .table_d2e127 td { Rick Rick Mack McCloskey Van Nuys Blvd In The 1970s, By Rick Mack We didnt mind driving hair shirt vehicles either, I imagine most assumed theyd buy a fancier car after college . Puh-lease. Enjoy. At $5 a pop, I couldnt mow enough lawns for even two days worth of gas. Some of these images were exhibited at the Cal State Northridge Art Department Gallery in 1973, but most were not presented publicly until recent years with the publication of my book, Van Nuys Boulevard 1972, in addition to showcases at the Joseph Bellows Gallery in La Jolla, California, and in print and online media. Rick McCloskey spent the summer of 1972 chronicling the vibrant and bustling cruising scene on Van Nuys Boulevard, a part of the booming suburban San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. Manual everything, feeble heater, not even a radio for $200. To Cruising So there will be even more Mopars. Learn how your comment data is processed. Wednesday Night was girls night, or club night, Friday was Cruise Night, and Saturday Night was date night which was the night you cruised with your girl. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News-SCNG Hugo Gardado in his 1957 Ford Fairlane on . Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. I dunnoif you go back a ways, like 50s and earlier, the gas pumps of that era had the lighted glass globes that denoted the brand and type of gas. border-color: #000000; Our club is going to try to go out in force next August 12th. New 2023 Lincoln Navigator Black Label in Van Nuys, CA 5LMJJ2TG3PEL04709 Not only could we hear the young peoples cars cruising on the boulevard, Share this: Like this: Loading. Ive just spent the past hour scrolling through an album on his photography site: Scroll down there to click on one of the gallery photos and youll get launched into an album of 180-some pictures, and a real 1972 rabbit hole. From Van Nuys to Whittier, Crenshaw to Laurel Canyon, the scene is alive and well, and if you love custom cars then the right night on any of those Blvds could change your life. I highly recommend it. Van Nuys (Cruise Night) Lyrics Down in the valley something stirs You don't need no Jaguar or Thunderbird Get down under the valley skies And go cruising on Van Nuys It's Van Nuys. Vista Del Monte, a street one block west of Van Nuys Boulevard with large Its the engine swap of my era the new regs are designed to circumvent, yes you can still stuff the biggest V8 you can find into the smallest car it will fit no problem,, but if you want to drive it on the road you need it certified as safe. Simply fantastic! I had a ball.and you couldnt beat the iron. Id forgotten about Hughes Markets; they were bought out by QFC, yet another Seattle biz enlarging its borders. Only differences are the owner demographics and Dayton wire wheels instead of Cragar mags. Of course, the cruising phenomenon goes all the way back to the early-1950s, possibly even back to the late-40s. Cruising of this type does not happen anymore. For a minute there I thought this was a typical evening in 72 and that was really depressing! We only live once so why not make the most of it?! Guy sitting on a hood without it denting. Often people would pull up to the pump and ask for (you didnt pump it yourself back then) one or two dollars worth because that was all that they could afford. Parking: Street parking available. Our home actually had half Also the girls leaning on the Mustang in the white shorts: thats a religious experience. And those gas prices they didnt seem cheap at the time. You get in a car, turn on old-school music and meet people.. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; -->. A situation that would soon After the heavy cruising crackdowns in the 1980s and '90s, locals began reviving the cruise night around 2009. , Click here to see the "Ghosts of Van Nuys Blvd " from the Wild Bunch Car Club,