Everything Comes From The Streets

"Everything Comes From The Streets" traces the early roots and history of lowriding in San Diego, California, and the borderlands, featuring the men and women who pioneered and shaped the Mexican American movement defined by self-expression and cultural ingenuity.

The film draws on intimate interviews, archival footage and rare old home movies and photographs unearthed in the making of the film to present an engaging and rich story covering nearly 30 years of lowriding from the 1950s to early 1980s.

The story begins with the advent of social or “jacket” clubs in the early 1950s, when young Chicanos and Chicanas were organizing dances and community events while developing a collective identity.

As jacket club members with cars began to modify them, a parallel movement was occurring in neighboring Tijuana, Mexico, and a distinct aesthetic emerged -- cars built to be slow and low to the ground.

Inspired by the organization and creativity of the era, the next generation of lowriders in the 1960s formed car clubs and became active in the larger Chicano Movement, including the land take-over of San Diego’s historic Chicano Park.

In the late 1970s, lowriders affirmed their identity by adapting old airplane hydraulic parts to make their cars hop and evading law enforcement regulations; and lowriding expressions expanded as women formed their own car clubs.

Police surveillance and media hysteria led to the eventual outlawing of cruising, bringing to an end one of lowriding's most dynamic eras.

But recently the old past time of cruising has been revived again with hundreds of car club members assembling weekly to express their pride in their cars and culture.

This film celebrates a deep form of cultural expression, reflecting a long history of struggle and affirmation rooted in the streets.

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Rigo Reyes, long-time member of the Amigos Car Club and member of the San Diego Lowriding Council.

Courtesy of Ryan Anson

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Gloria Cota (Bombas).

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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Lowriders on display at Sweetwater High School.

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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Close-up photo of the grill on a Buick.

Courtesy of Alberto López Pulido

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David Aguilar, member of Ilegales Car Club San Diego and lowriding since the late 1960s, working with his grandson on one of his cars.

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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Citizens hold up signs reading "Open Highland Ave."

Courtesy of San Diego Historical Society

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A police officer stands in the middle of Plaza Blvd. at night. The shutting down of Highland Ave. to lowriders back in the late 1970s led to the politicalization and organizing by the lowrider and larger Chicano community in San Diego in search of basic first amendment rights to cruise!

Courtesy of San Diego Historical Society

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Los Gallos was one of Logan Heights premier jacket clubs during the 1950s. Along with many other jacket clubs, they would establish the foundation for organized lowriding in the late 1960s.

Courtesy of Chicano Collection/University of California, Santa Barbara

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The Bean Bandits were car customizers and racers featured in "Everything Comes From The Streets."

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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One of the early lowrider clubs in San Diego. Soon after the Latin Lowriders was established, Brown Image came onto the lowrider scene in San Diego. The photo was taken back at Chicano Park early 1970s.

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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An early shot of members of Los Dukes de Tijuana after volunteering in a community/public works project.

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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Francisco "Pancho" Gonzalez representing Los Dukes de Tijuana.

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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The Specials are one of San Diego's first all women's car clubs. You can see these amazing women and their stories featured in "Everything Comes From The Streets."

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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A founding member of Ladies Pride, Chris Cano. Ladies Pride was one of San Diego's first women's only car clubs.

Courtesy of San Diego Historical Society

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Ladies Pride, one of the first all-women's car clubs in San Diego. Ladies Pride is featured in the film and you can see them here representing with their cars back in the 80s.

Courtesy of San Diego Historical Society

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Elsa Castillo, founding member of San Diego's Ladies Pride, one of the first women's-only car clubs. "Pride and joy ... actually was the logo I had on the back of my Monte Carlo. It started out black and eventually [I made it] a black pearl color, and I had a t-top put on, which was something really popular in the late 70s. I remember when we parked or stopped to eat, some of the males would come up to us and say, 'hey, is that your boyfriend's car? Is that your husband's car?' And we would get a laugh out of it, and we'd say, 'no, that's our car. We own it. We take care of it.'"

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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The incredible work of Robert Martinez - one of the pioneers of the custom car movement in San Diego in the early 1950s and an original member of the Bean Bandits. Look at this 1955 Mercury. This is nothing short of a piece of art!

Courtesy of Kelly Whalen

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An important local publication that appeared on the San Diego scene back in 1982 by the name VIVO - to address the the triumphs and challenges in our barrios from a lowrider perspective. It represents a historic and important publication to tell the story of lowriding.

Courtesy of Alberto López Pulido

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Producer Rigo Reyes, director Alberto López Pulido and producer, editor, photographer Kelly Whalen.

Courtesy of Jessica Cordova

CREDITS:

Directed by Alberto López Pulido, produced by Alberto López Pulido, Rigo Reyes and Kelly Whalen, and edited and photographed by Kelly Whalen. Supported by Cal Humanities and the University of San Diego.