Drifting On Memories

Xavier ‘Harvey’ Reyes of Carnales Unidos Car Club has been labeled a role model, founder and life long lowrider. What makes a life long lowrider? Perseverance and longevity in the world of lowriding. Harveys got that! Bakersfield, California might be a small town to many but the cruising scene is strong. Carnales Unidos and Harvey have been cruising those streets since the 1970s. A special thanks to Harvey and his son Cirilo.

On this haunted edition of Drifting on Memories, Raul and Armando revisit some of the spookiest stories in lowriding. Cursed cars, car trailer fails and haunted murals. A collection of real life nightmare builds and the show cars now rotting away in yards. Beware, these stories will make you cringe!

Amber Tilden has been getting down on the lowrider influenced ‘Varrio Love’ characters. Her own version of ‘Love Is’ and ‘Precious Moments’. Amber is an artist in so many forms and her influences come from different places. Tattooing, sketching/painting and designing, she really is that talented. Her art represents a lot of her life and experiences. I’m positive we will keep hearing about ‘Tilden Art’ for years to come.

Best know as ‘Dr. Cintli’, Roberto Rodriguez can recount a time when his family had recently migrated from Mexico, to right smack in the center of Whittier Blvd. in the 1960’s. Roberto followed a somewhat different path in life, than most of his friends growing up. He chose to, Cruise to College. Oralé! Early activism work and publishing La Gente magazine earned him a spot on the up and coming Lowrider Magazine. He spent years there reporting on the lowrider movement in the barrios. While on assignment covering the opening of Boulevard Nights, Roberto was attacked and almost beaten to death by ELA Sheriff deputies. Suffering traumatic head injuries, years in court, and almost a lifetime of healing. He still continued on his journey of teaching, writing and honoring his ancestors. A true inspirational story. Check out his books, Our Sacred Maiz Is Our Morher, Yolqui, and Writing 50 Years Amongst the Gringos.

Johnny has just about seen (lived) it all. The man grew-up a block away from the world famous Whittier Bl. arches. His neighbors were the Valadez family of The Imperials car club. So we can all imagine what type of inspiration Johnny received from Jesse and his brothers. Not that he needed anymore inspiration. Johnny was already cruising at age 16 in his 1969 Plymouth’Roadrunner’. East Los Angeles in the 70s was just different. New car clubs popped up all over the area. One club that made an impact on the scene was New Life CC, and Johnny was there for it. A club that inspired many others. Unfortunately, the tragic loss of a club founder casused the club to fade out. Fast forward 30 years and New Life is back! Thanks to some of the original members. Now, Johnny and his wife (plus grandkids) can be seen cruising the same streets and with the same plaque, like he did back in the day. Cruising in thier traditional 1969 Impala lowrider.

Marcos might be the true epitome of Chicano. An artist, car builder, muralist and old school punk rocker. I mean, the guy started a lowrider bike club at age 12, in his hometown. Him and his friends would take a bus to find possibly the only lowrider car show in California. When talking about early days of lowriders, he seen it all. He grew up where Lowrider Magazine all started. Story and King in downtown San Jose. Thing is, he’s not only known by that. His art has been featured in numerous magazines, art galleries, community walls and theater shows. His 1966 Impala, Psychotic Pineapple is not too shabby either. Marcos talks about all the influences of art, culture and punk music that went into the build. So much history in so little time. Cheers to you Marcos!

Lowrider Today is what happens when you get three guys that have made car building, photography, writing and editing for magazines a life long career. Saul Vargas, Marco Patino and Mike Harrington introduce to us what the bases of Lowrider Today is, and why it’s a perfect time for it. Yes, there’s over 50 years of working for Lowrider and Kustom car magazines between them all, but this is different. The idea is to feature all of the car culture. From the builds, to the people, photograpy/film, models and show cars and more! Trust me these guys know about car building too. Take a listen and let them tell it.

Great conversations about photography, car models and the re-birth of magazines. Beto knows those topics very well, by working for Lowrider Magazine and now his own project Lowrider Centerfoldz! He goes into the most memorable stories on assignment, like the time he met Bob Morales (Richie Valen’s brother) and almost smoked out with him. If you’re a car culture photographer take a listen to what this man has to say about it all.

Art Garcia from the San Fernando Valley knows all about lowriding and all the changes along the way. Lowriding has played a major part in his life since 1979 when he got his first (and only) lowrider. Art and his 1977 Malibu Classic have seen a lot over the years including 3 paint jobs, car club life, and being featured in a music video from the early 80’s. Let Art tell you about the early days of “Carnalismo” and how we might get back to it. P.S. he’s got a mural of himself on the trunk. Like a boss!

After almost 50 years of lowriding your gonna experience some real ups and downs. Which make for great stories. George Gaytan has more knowledge about lowriding then the average car enthusiast, that’s for sure! One of my favorite stories is the making of the movie Cobra, later renamed Boulevard Nights. George has has some great early memories of lowriding, including buying a lowrider off the showroom floor, filming movies, and obtaining a 1959 Impala for $130.00. Yes, you read that right. Well, George has plenty more memories to make and I look forward to seeing him and his family cruising in that beautiful car.