Candy paint, custom rims and sometimes hydraulics — all that style and flair comes together in lowriding.
Starting in the new year the cultural and artistic pastime, known as cruising, will be legal throughout California thanks to the efforts of National City's United Lowrider Coalition.
“Other communities started seeing what we were doing and said, ‘hey, let's do this here.’ So other cities started trying to fight for the repeal of their ordinances,” said Marisa Rosales, the organization's vice president.
The National City resident sparked the movement that grew across the entire state.
Standing proudly in front of her dark-red 1949 Hudson Brougham nicknamed "Christine," Rosales explained how the car is a priceless piece of artwork to her.
“My friend sold it to my boyfriend. My friend passed away,” she said. “Then my boyfriend passed away. And that's how I ended up with the car and I restored it in memory of my boyfriend.”
Rosales said the effort to get more people cruising in National City began in 2020.
She suffers from PTSD and wanted to socialize with other like-minded people to improve her poor mental health.
“I needed contact with people. So I got this idea of putting a post on Instagram and asking people ‘let's cruise National City Boulevard," Rosales said. “I guess others were feeling the same way as I was, and people came out.”
For Rosales, lowriding is her favorite form of therapy.
“When I'm cruising, everything goes away. The anxiety, the depression, the worries of day-to-day life, it all goes away. I'm in a different zone. And to me it's beautiful,” she said.
Fast forward three plus years, and Rosales’ local effort has made waves statewide.
Last week California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 436 into law, repealing city and county bans on cruising.
The bill also lifted a state prohibition that now allows cars to legally drive while being lower to the ground.
“I just started crying tears of joy,” said United Lowrider Coalition President Jovita Arellano.
She said local San Diego Assemblymember David Alvarez put their efforts on a bigger stage by sponsoring the assembly bill.
In a statement Alvarez said, “The law will allow the historical legacies of cruising to continue for the current generation and many more. Governor Newsom agrees that “Cruising is Not a Crime” in California!”
Now, the United Lowrider Coalition is looking to give back to their South Bay community.
“We are already preparing for events,” Arellano said. “We have a ‘trunk-or-treat’ this coming Saturday here in Kimball Park. On Dec. 2 we are having the AB 436 celebration.”
National City overturned its local ban on cruising earlier this year, but other major cities like Los Angeles still have them in place.
“Everybody throughout the state should be able to cruise without that worry in the back of your mind that I might get pulled over, I might get my car impounded,” Rosales said.
After decades of stress and fear of punishment, she said the statewide change of law has provided a sense of acceptance to the lowrider community across California.
Rosales said the decades-old bans were based upon false stereotypes, but the truth is that the lowrider lifestyle is all about family, fun and helping your community.
“It started off as the repeal but it actually all by itself has evolved into something more,” she said. “Preserving the culture, empowering our youth, educating our youth so that we can pass on this culture to them.”
Assembly Bill 436 allows people to legally cruise across California, but large-scale organized cruise events still need special permits according to Arellano.
The new law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
