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I was born in 1987 and I simply don't get it. What was "cruisin' " actually for - was it to meet new people? Or simply to meet your existing friends when you have no way to contact each other over the phone to agree on a time and place? Or it was like an informal carpool meeting location to start a shopping/social trip? Or something else?
In my generation, if you want to meet new people, you go to bars, clubs, or group events, and to meet friends, you pre-agree on a time and a place. If you have buddies in the car, that is "carpooling". "Cruisin' " is not even part of our vocabulary as Millennials.
I guess the closest my generation gets to this is picking up one friend in the car, then having that person call/text all the others to coordinate plans while you're driving, potentially to pick up another friend or two. But that doesn't sound similar to what you all are talking about.
Cruisin would be any combination of;
meeting up with friends and talking cars while showing off your cars. many of us modded our cars a little at a time and we'd get ideas from those with the same hobbies.
It could be the classic Sunday drive to nowhere. Part of Americana, cruize and take in the scenery while listening to the motor.
It could be just driving around, listening to the radio/motor, looking for girls (or guys for the girls who did it), revving up the motor and perhaps a little burn out here and there, a quick blast to the next light. Just being out of the house and having harmless fun.
It could be going to some parking lot and waiting on who shows up to decide what to do for the night. At the time, people typically had 1 phone line and perhaps 2 TV's. We could always watch TV later, we wanted to go out and do things so instead of calling our friends, we'd go to where we would probably meet up with them. You won't meet new people hanging at home trying to play phone tag!
It could be a get together (sanctioned by a restaurant or just an informal gathering) of people with classic cars on Friday or Saturday night where people would hang out and show off their cars to one another and BS while passerby's would look at the cars. Those cars could be anywhere from drivers while restoring (or dreaming of restoring) to works of art that are only driven to those gatherings. A few of these are still around now.
If you have a nice car and enjoy cruizing in it, why go to a bar. Trust me, meeting up at bars is OK and I've done plenty of that over the years as most of my friends where I've lived arent into the car culture. But its a totally different thing to do. Same with clubs which are different then a local bar for different reasons. Movies, restaurants. All different ways for friends to meet and hang out. But what if your into street rods? Muscle cars? Low riders? Lifted trucks? Lowered trucks? How do you meet people with the same interest as you do? Its amazing how many people you meet who have an interest in the type of vehicle you have while just driving around.
American Graffiti was brought up and it is the classic cruizen movie of another time. (great soundtrack as well). That is a perfect example of actual cruizin. I didn't realize at the time as most of the cars were a bit different but me and my friends were living the exact same way mid 80's to early 90's. I feel that the mid 90's marked the end of the era. And what came out and started being popular later in the 90's....the internet so everybody started staying home and bsing in AOL chat rooms (prehistoric facebook). Then the cell phone put the final nail in the coffin of the weekend cruises I believe!
We-ll, a decade or so back in this century, I use to celebrate Friday afternoon by driving 20 or 30 minutes out on one of the country back roads, to enjoy the country, how great it was to be alive. I was embracing the Charlie Brown philosophy of life that all you need is a Lake and a Convertible.
my boss lives near there and still attends. He has a 2007ish pony with the v6 - but a stick, and puts in his laps and a tire patch at some intersection they do...
I was born in 1987 and I simply don't get it. What was "cruisin' " actually for - was it to meet new people? Or simply to meet your existing friends when you have no way to contact each other over the phone to agree on a time and place? Or it was like an informal carpool meeting location to start a shopping/social trip? Or something else?
In my generation, if you want to meet new people, you go to bars, clubs, or group events, and to meet friends, you pre-agree on a time and a place. If you have buddies in the car, that is "carpooling". "Cruisin' " is not even part of our vocabulary as Millennials.
I guess the closest my generation gets to this is picking up one friend in the car, then having that person call/text all the others to coordinate plans while you're driving, potentially to pick up another friend or two. But that doesn't sound similar to what you all are talking about.
I really feel sorry for the new generation. We have a kid at work, he is so happy to share stories how him and his buddies get together, online and okay some stupid games, there are achievements they are proud of. I feel sorry for him mostly and there are a lot of kids like that.
We couldn’t wait to hit the road and get out and cruise as far as $10 in gas could take us and that’s in nyc.
Recently my kid showed me MrBeast episode on YouTube. While, the work and money he puts into production is impressive, the robotic humor is cringy and just sad. Again I felt sorry for that whole scene. Glad I have many memories with my favorite girl in my car seeing sun come up.
In most towns here its illegal to "cruise" thanks to the fights, drug deals, and other things I just cant say without repercussion. I met my wife cruising a few months after my first wife died. We cruised a good bit, and parked and gathered with friends in different places, never anything bad, then in the early 90s certain groups came in and things went south from there and the shut it down.
I was born in 1987 and I simply don't get it. What was "cruisin' " actually for - was it to meet new people? Or simply to meet your existing friends when you have no way to contact each other over the phone to agree on a time and place? Or it was like an informal carpool meeting location to start a shopping/social trip? Or something else?
In my generation, if you want to meet new people, you go to bars, clubs, or group events, and to meet friends, you pre-agree on a time and a place. If you have buddies in the car, that is "carpooling". "Cruisin' " is not even part of our vocabulary as Millennials.
I guess the closest my generation gets to this is picking up one friend in the car, then having that person call/text all the others to coordinate plans while you're driving, potentially to pick up another friend or two. But that doesn't sound similar to what you all are talking about.
Start off with high school age. In those days you rarely interacted with people from outside your school. You might meet them at the mall, concerts, festivals, or some other event but meeting new people in those events weren’t always easy. While we didn’t have much money, gas was cheap and parking lots and public roads were free. Sometimes we would park at a vacant section of a parking lot to check out each other’s cars, listen to music, each and drink cheap food and drink, and whatever else we felt like doing at that time. So,e times it was a stretch of road people would cruise along with windows down to see and be seen. This included opening sun roof, removing T tops, or dropping the top on a convertible. As people under the legal age, we never had alcohol at such events <sarcasm>. As young adults it was a way of relaxing after work and or recapturing our youth. It was also a way of keeping tabs on our teenage kids occasionally. As adults our cruising became less frequent and more of a road trip. Driving on a winding country road became a relaxing joy. As adults meeting at car events, we shared tips and tricks on vehicles as well as places to go for a road trip.
Last year we flew to Vegas for a conference with kids. Rented a BMW x5. Drove all over Death Valley, then to Grand Canyon. Cruised all over and racked up 1400 miles within a week. Kids were not thrilled, but we sure did get our fix. Great views, nature and roads. X5 was also wonderful. Too bad buying one used is a financial suicide. I started looking for land cruises/ Lexus lx570, for light over landing in north east.
Next time you're in that area, you might visit Spring Mountain Raceway. They have a fleet of Z06's that Ron Fellows holds class with....
Or come a bit West and enjoy a day at Chuckwalla. Tell Micky that Norty sent ya...
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