Where did you cruise in your youth?

[jerrym3]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

mintgrn

Yes, did the White Manna, but not in Hackensack. I went to the one in Jersey City on Tonnelle Ave.

One night, I'm sitting in the Manna eating a burger in my 57 BelAir 4 dr hardtop (unfortunately). I finish, and turn the key to get going. Car cranks, will not start.

Then I noticed that the hood was blistering. I pop the hood, and the motor is on fire. (I was running without an air filter and she must have backfired.)

Luckily, the guy next to me (nicknamed Manna Mike), also with a 57 BelAir (convertible), has a fire extinguisher.

He puts out the fire, I put the filter back on, the car starts, and I drive away.

Upstste NY? Yes. Orangeburg Hotel.

[AZTB]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

In Phoenix, the place to cruise was Central Avenue, with occasional stops at the Bob's Big Boy on McDowell Rd. The rods would park along Central at various parking lots and show off their goods to the crowds. Lots of hooking up, back when it meant something different than it does today.

[islandtime]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

For me, in Kent, OH, it was the A & W out on W. Main. Sometimes we went to Poot's on E. Main, because it was owned by a classmate's dad, and he was very generous with Cokes & milkshakes.

For Charley, it was, and still is Doumar's here in Norfolk, where many of you have joined us in the past!

[LuvOurBird]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

I grew up in California in Newark/Fremont area. We would go all the way to Hayward to cruise the main street. Three girls in an 1968 California Special with White Vinyl top, 8 track and tunes going....oh yeah!!

[fifty/fifty]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

In Forest Park Ga. in the mid 60's to mid 70's the place to go was Shoney's. It was the type that had curb service and if you were anybody with a hot car you would "bounce through Shoney's" to see and be seen. Several drag races were arraigned while backed into the stalls at Shoney's. Oh man, those were the days. Chevelles, Torinos, Mustangs, Camaros, Superbirds, GTOs, Cudas. You name it, and you could see it at Shoney's.

We also cruised Shoney's here in Charlotte...Had 3 different ones we cruised...We would just keep circling from Shoney's to Shoney's...Curb service and all the cars were a site to see...
Later we started cruising what's known as the "IDIOT CIRCLE" in downtown Kannapolis, NC...It was a circular street that was downtown...You just cruised it and rode around in continuous circles checking out the girls and the cars...Makes no sense today, but that's what tons of us cruisers did...Just rode around in circles going nowhere...
Ahhhhh, the memories of back then.....Kids today have no idea.....

[toysax]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

I would go to the drive in diner in Elberton Ga where you could watch the girls and not where you were going so I bought several bumpers during that time.

[EllisonCal]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

On the northside of Chicago, it was "Skip's Fiesta" Drive-in on North Avenue between 1st and 5th Avenues.

The carhops wore short shorts and cowgirl blouses and cowgirl hats. They attracted almost as much attention as the Cars that cruised around and around the building in the center of the property.

One time I actually got a date with one, my brand new '59 Chevy Impala 2 Dr. Hardtop helped a lot!

North Avenue starting at the traffic signal heading west at 1st Avenue was the starting point for many a 1/4 mile street race. So many that that section of North Ave. was nicknamed N.A.T.A. for (North Avenue Timing Association). I remember vividly being beat by my Pastor's Kid, with his '57 Ford Fairlane 500 Convertible. H.P. was close, his 245hp - 312cube vs. my 250hp - 348cube, but Fordomatic with 3 speeds won the day over Powerglide.

Cal

[Ediron]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

John (BIRD-02 Peterfurlan) we hit the same places.Whitestone Drive In was fri.nights .We had plenty of hot rods in this section of The Bronx. As a kid in the '50 I hung out in the Citi Service gas station at Boston Rd and McOwen Ave. It was the unofficial meeting place of the "Draggin Wheels " the local rod club.I was to young to be a full member but did make the coffee runs etc. at the meetings. We also hung out in the Wedge Inn which was a Bronx landmark.

[bronzebird]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

Jerry... you primed the memory pump with this thread.

Growing up in the fifties in Hamilton, Ontario (about 60 miles north of Buffalo) was a fun experience. We'd cruise the main drag in Hamilton by going east on Main Street, make a loop at the Delta and come back west on King Street. At that time my ride was a '54 Dodge hardtop with the small six cylinder engine.

One afternoon we were working on both my Dodge and my buddy's '55 Buick Century. Mine had the engine bay empty ready to transplant a '50 Cadillac V-8 and his had the seats out being reupholstered. We decided to cruise anyway and put two lawn chairs from his back yard in the front of the Buick and off we went.

All went fine until we hit the red light at King and James Streets. A chopped, '41 Ford came alongside and began rackin' his pipes. Lot's of noise and rubber dust as the cars squealed away when the light changed and both lawn chairs collapsed and put us in the back seat. We almost took out the front of Woolworth's lunch counter as we hit the sidewalk and came back on the road.

I sometimes wonder how we survived those days.

Bronzebird

[jerrym3]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

In North Jersey, for hotdogs, we'd go to Callahan's in Fort Lee (just up the road from what was once Palisades Amusement Park), and drag race on cobblestone Edgewater Road which ran along Hudson River.

Callahan's is gone (now a bank), the amusement park closed down years ago (replaced by high riser apartments), and the road along the river is now a four lane road lined with upscale riverfront condos.

The condos replaced large plants such as Alcoa, Lever Bros, Ford, and Hills Bros.

(One of the piers that now houses shops and condos used to be a Ford assembly plant.)

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

I went to high school and college (UNLV) here in Las Vegas. So the big cruise area was always downtown Fremont Street. Las Vegas had a much lower population back in the late 70's and early 80's.

Can't do that anymore after they closed the street to vehicle traffic and built the giant canopy with the laser light show above it.

[Lonestar]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

In Ft. Worth, Texas during the late 60s the place to see and been seen was Forest Park Blvd. Between 7th Street and Forest Park. The main hang out was Carlson’s, a huge drive featuring the famous Carlson’s bacon cheese burger with secret sauce (Thousand Island dressing). Wow o wow, and top that off with a thick chocolate or strawberry malt and you thought you had died and gone to heaven. After the tasty delight it was time to do a bit of peeling out of the parking lot and onto Forest Park Blvd. and then proceeding to find a nice place in the park to watch the submarine races.

[lbyh2os]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

You won't believe this but "cruisin" was such a big thing in my small city that somone has actually made a Facebook page about it. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friday...?v=wall&ref=ts

[Red Bird Dave]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

I grew up in Sacamento California, where we cruized J St & K St. and hung out at Mel's Drive In. The movie American Grafitti denotes alot of what we did. I was a member of the Burgiemen Car Club (named for Burgiemiester Beer). I had a yellow 60 Ford Starliner and then a 63 Pontiac Grand Prix in Candy Apple Red.

I met my wife on K St. on August 19, 1963, we married on May 25, 1966 and we are still happily married ever since.

Red Bird Dave

[lostjohn]

Re: Where did you cruise in your youth?

Oh boy here we go, I feel like an outlaw. Late 60's Northern Virginia. High school days, had many old fords- 55 club sedan,58 white conv.,60 black sunliner , 56 victoria,60 starliner black 390. Had a long leash in those days.Used to go to D.C {Georgetown} to get beer-Va. was 21 yrs. DC was 18. Then cruise through Alexandria up Number 1 highway. End up at cinderbed rd. in Franconia for some late night drag racing. Then started going to Manassas Raceway on the weekends to watch the 3/8 mile oval track. The only drive- in I can remember was in Annandale. Lots of hotrods hung out there.
Then in '75 I moved to a little town of Coshocton ,Ohio where Main st. was the only cruise there was. Thanks for bringing back "the good ol' days"