Lowriders Mexican Art

La Times Portrays Gangster Lowriders as Mainstream America

Think of the words “Southern California” and several iconic images come to mind: palm trees in the breeze, well-toned men and women on the beach, the Hollywood sign, and lowriders moving slowly down the boulevard.

Modified to ride only inches from the ground, top chopped and refitted, custom paint job burnished to a proud shine, the lowrider since the 1940s has appropriated L.A.’s ubiquitous car culture — the famously gridlocked traffic, the pollution, the inability to walk the neighborhoods — and re-imagined the automobile as the ultimate urban art form.

On Sunday, the 14th annual Lowrider Nationals event brings together hundreds of these cars for an entertaining and family-oriented day of auto shows, concerts, dance clubs, and food trucks at Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield.

Rick Muñoz, the event’s producer, sums up the dynamic between the city driver and his vehicle: “The lifestyle of the urban person is very flashy and very loud — the cars certainly match that lifestyle.”

With more than 10,000 people in attendance and approximately 750 cars competing among four categories, Lowrider Nationals is the country’s largest urban car show. The size and scope of the event, along with the cash prizes (up to $1,000 for winners in each category), have drawn cars and those who love them from as far away as Miami, New York and Chicago.

Each of the four categories has a national champion: cars, trucks, bikes and DUBS (a custom rim designation meaning at least 20-inch rims — “dub” being slang for the number 20). Each category also has trophy and plaque awards for several specialties — imports, Euros, etc. But the winner of the major categories takes home the cash — which Muñoz says is the largest offered at any urban car show — and also a Super Bowl-style national champion diamond ring.

According to head judge George Torrez, who has been judging the competition for several years, he and the other judges consider a wide variety of components in a vehicle. “We look at the quality of the paint job, the craftsmanship of the car, the engine, the interior, the hydraulics and the overall display,” Torrez says. “There have been moments where I’m staring wide-eyed at the details and modifications of a car and ask myself, ‘How did the car owner go about doing that?’”

For instance, one show favorite is a 2009 Cadillac Escalade that Muñoz refers to as “a Transformer,” with a custom red paint job as well as a trunk, hood and four doors that can detach like puzzle pieces, allowing the car to transform into an entirely different design.

VDARE.com: Blog Articles » La Times Portrays Gangster Lowriders ...

, August 5, 2011

Think of the words “Southern California” and several iconic images come to mind: palm trees in the breeze, well-toned men and women on the beach, the Hollywood sign, and lowriders moving slowly down the boulevard.

Modified to ride only inches from the ground, top chopped and refitted, custom paint job burnished to a proud shine, the lowrider since the 1940s has appropriated L.A.’s ubiquitous car culture — the famously gridlocked traffic, the pollution, the inability to walk the neighborhoods — and re-imagined the automobile as the ultimate urban art form.

On Sunday, the 14th annual Lowrider Nationals event brings together hundreds of these cars for an entertaining and family-oriented day of auto shows, concerts, dance clubs, and food trucks at Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield.

Rick Muñoz, the event’s producer, sums up the dynamic between the city driver and his vehicle: “The lifestyle of the urban person is very flashy and very loud — the cars certainly match that lifestyle.”

With more than 10,000 people in attendance and approximately 750 cars competing among four categories, Lowrider Nationals is the country’s largest urban car show. The size and scope of the event, along with the cash prizes (up to $1,000 for winners in each category), have drawn cars and those who love them from as far away as Miami, New York and Chicago.

Each of the four categories has a national champion: cars, trucks, bikes and DUBS (a custom rim designation meaning at least 20-inch rims — “dub” being slang for the number 20). Each category also has trophy and plaque awards for several specialties — imports, Euros, etc. But the winner of the major categories takes home the cash — which Muñoz says is the largest offered at any urban car show — and also a Super Bowl-style national champion diamond ring.

According to head judge George Torrez, who has been judging the competition for several years, he and the other judges consider a wide variety of components in a vehicle. “We look at the quality of the paint job, the craftsmanship of the car, the engine, the interior, the hydraulics and the overall display,” Torrez says. “There have been moments where I’m staring wide-eyed at the details and modifications of a car and ask myself, ‘How did the car owner go about doing that?’”

For instance, one show favorite is a 2009 Cadillac Escalade that Muñoz refers to as “a Transformer,” with a custom red paint job as well as a trunk, hood and four doors that can detach like puzzle pieces, allowing the car to transform into an entirely different design.

Mexico and the United States

Lowrider

Lowriders in Chicano Culture, From Low to Slow to Show

Education in the new Latino diaspora, policy and the politics of identity

Technicolor, race, technology, and everyday life