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KQED's Forum

California Lifts Ban on Lowrider Cruising

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2726 Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lowriders defy convention: they lean, they hop, they bounce. Their paint jobs are works of art, sometimes with museum-worthy images or a melding of colors that gleam with a lustrous sheen. Lowriding, the drivers will tell you, is not just about the car, it’s about convening with the community and celebrating art and culture. But for decades, restrictive bans in California prohibited where lowriders could cruise. Last month, activists succeeded in pushing lawmakers to lift the state’s ban, which they said discriminated against and targeted Latino and Black communities. Despite the bans, lowrider culture flourished in California and devotees can now be found across the globe, from Japan to Argentina. We’ll talk with lowriders about what the change in the law means and what riding low and slow means to them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for KGBD podcasts comes from Landmark College, offering a fully online graduate level certificate in learning differences in neurodiversity program.

0:09.8

Visit landmark.edu slash certificate to learn more.

0:13.9

Greetings boomtown.

0:15.3

The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming.

0:17.6

Xfinity combines the power of internet and mobile.

0:20.8

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0:24.4

Learn more at Xfinity.com. Restrictions apply. Xfinity, internet required. actual speeds vary.

0:30.3

From KQED.

0:35.6

From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.

0:40.1

All my friend know the low rider.

0:46.5

The low rider is a little higher.

0:50.9

California removed a decades old ban on on lowrider cruising last month.

0:56.0

But of course, no matter what law was on the books, lowrider culture has flourished

1:00.0

in the Bay Area.

1:01.0

From the mission to San Jose, wherever Mexican Americans have lived, the cars have been part

1:06.0

of the culture.

1:07.0

Today we'll explore the role that lowriders have played in Chicano culture in the region, the changing gender roles within lowriding, and look at the intergenerational bonds that have formed around these beautiful objects.

1:17.6

And yes, I did want to get a lowrider, a Lincoln when I was a teen, and I'm still kind of sore.

1:22.6

I got a Ford escort instead. We'll discuss it all after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.

1:35.3

Though it's been some years since I was a kid browsing through Lowrider magazine,

1:41.3

lowriders still deeply appealed to me. The Baroque paint jobs, the perfect

1:46.7

detailing, the opulent interiors, the way they push taking care of your car to a gorgeous,

...

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