Is "Cruising" a thing of the past? (Old guy reminiscing alert)

[twostepct]

In the late 90's we cut it short and would cruise from Sonic down to Goodwill and back. Knight Carpet, the old Luskey's and Western Auto (seemes like it was Parts America then) were our hang outs. We'd go to Bandera but there never was much at Automation.

Early 80's we cruised N. 1st from Automation to Sonic and back. We'd either race at Automation or head out to Bandera Rd. When it started getting stupid with all of the drunks screwing around, we started racing on Sun. afternoon and had some pretty stout sub-10 sec. rides coming out. I was running a '49 Ford F-1 with a .040 over 429/C-6 and 9" rear in it. Still got the old truck and may put it back together one of these days...

[Hawk77]

Another Galloway cruiser here back in the mid 90's. Taco Bell parking lot and the Loop 12/Regal Row street races....I'd love to duplicate some of those nights!

[Buckwheat]

Is "Cruising" a thing of the past? (Old guy reminiscing alert)

Valley Mills Drive in Waco in the 80's for me.

It is still alive in Laredo and South Padre Island.

X2 in the 90s. I graduated high school in 2000. We cruised "the valley" all through high school. Then it turned into back roadin. I have hit every dirt road and rabbit trail I'm McLennan and bosque county. Good times.

[100%TtId]

Tube Street in west Euless/far east Ft worth. At the time, it was barely a street.

Good times until the real estate developers decided to build warehouses there.

[timbobowhunter]

Yep. A lot of cruising and a lot of drag racing (in the 80s) on Wesley Street, in Greenville,Texas. Between Krogers and Rolling Hills Parking lot!!! Good Times and a lot of Fun Sure miss the good ol days......

[hondo]

57th st. in Temple in mid 80's. Sonic was the spot, then to the land. Great story about two girls who just went to a George Strait concert.

[KNF]

I graduated HS in 2003 (i'm from nacogdoches) the top places to "cruise" were the plaza and sonic...and u bet there were cops around just waiting on someone to "mess up" we would usually get tired of the cops and hit a back road with the music blasting

[Bill M]

Last night I was channel surfing and stumbled across the move "American Grafitti". Although it took place in 1962 it brought back memories of what a big deal "Cruising" still was when I was in high school in the early 70's. It seems every small to mid-sized city those days had an area that drew the kids on Friday and Saturday nights. In Tulsa where I grew up there was a 3-4 mile stretch of Peoria Avenue that pulled in kids from all over the city every weekend. My best buddy had a 1969 Roadrunner that we worked on constantly to the point it was practically a Funny Car. Friday and Saturday nights we would spend hours rumbling up and down that street with the radio blaring one of the two local "Top Forty" stations. High schoolers from all over would be bumper-to-bumper and hanging out in parking lots, and the local drive-in burger place "Pennington's" was always hopping. In those days the muscle car culture was still in full-swing and whenever two Z-28 Camaro's/Trans Am's'/ GTO's/ Super Nova's, etc pulled up next to each other, IT WAS ON when the light turned green. The big deal was to idle along next to a carload of girls from another school and try to get them to pull over and talk. It was a more innocent time I guess, there was always some drinking and the occasional fistfight but rarely anything that made the papers. Cruising gave a 16-17 year old boy a sense of freedom and excitement that was downright intoxicating. Any of you older guys remember those days? Does anyone do it anymore? Is it limited to small towns now?

Good thread John.

From Pennington's to the Brook Plaza Shopping Center at 51st St. The Restless Ribbon. Parking lots crowded, Peoria crowded. I worked at two places along there too, Der Weinerschizel and Camelot Inn. Those were some good times no doubt. When wanted to do the serious racing we headed out the Okmulgee Beeline. OK state troopers knew it too.

"A Tulsa newspaper article coined the term "Restless Ribbon" in 1967. People had been cruising to Pennington's Drive in for a lot of years before that but in 66-67 people just started driving up and down Peoria between 21st and the Plaza Shopping Center Parking lot across from the KAKC Studios at the Trade Winds. This prompted the News article about the Restless Ribbon because Kids were now just running up and down Peoria or hanging out in the Parking lots up and down the street."

[kornsqueezer]

Late '60's here. Lived in North Shore(houston). Cruised Market st to Federal Ritzy and Princes drivins. Left in 1970 haven't been back.

[Slingshot]

Late 70's and early 80's was ruled with KZ900's and 1000's. That's what we all cruised on. Think about those days all the time.

[Tmag]

They still cruise the Sonic in our town. Not like it used to be back in the days Jerp speaks of. I recollect a few DPS troopers I would have loved to see chained to a post back in those days, man they had my number. Never got a speeding ticket in my Charger but they sure didn't like my Thrush Glass Packs.

[robbyreneeward]

From sonic to the food basket grocery store in Clarksville 10-12 years ago. I still remember buying gas around $1 a Gallon in high school. Or if we were really looking for trouble we would "cruise the Beau" (Mirabeau Square) in Paris. One big circle for hours with bumper to bumper traffic. It is 100% banned now. Nothing like it used to be.

[mpotts]

Valley Mills Drive in Waco in the 80's for me.

It is still alive in Laredo and South Padre Island.

Fuddruckers hangout and turnaround in Albertson

[tgil]

We hung out on Camp Bowie. A buddy of mine had a relative with a business out there so we could hang out without the Police running us off. We had permission from the owner to loiter all night long!
I managed to make it over to Cooper St a handful of times, but behind Miller Brewery were the best of times!
I used to borrow my sister's '78 Cutlass, get a few blocks from the house, hop out and flip the top over on the air breather, then let the 4bbl breathe!
Good times!

[MikeJ]

From '77 thru '80 I was one of the Lake Jackson hot rodders, we cruised the Sonic/Dairy Bar/Car Wash on Plantation, the Mr. Gatti's/Weingarten's parking lot, and out to Thumb Park on FM2004...

Stu

I picked up the next shift, cruising the same routes until 1985.

Thumb Park....man I haven't heard that name in ages.