Motorcycles emerged at the start of the 1900s after the first U.S. motorcycles (sometimes spelled “motocycles”) were manufactured by a San Francisco company. Today, classic bikes are stars at many California motorcycle events that celebrate California’s long-established, world-renowned history of motorcycle cultures. We used to call these smooth-gliding gas-guzzler classics “tuna boats”, and for good reason.The Cruisin’ Morro Bay Car Show (first weekend in May) is just one of numerous events that attract thousands of classic cars and their owners from around and beyond the Golden State.Lowrider cultures started in southern California during the 1940s and became especially popular among some Mexican Americans who learned how to rehabilitate and rebuild old classic cars. Showing them off and cruising became so popular (and sometimes raucous) that some towns and cities banned cruising through their streets. California just passed a law (starting in 2024) to legalize cruising in the state. This is in Barrio Logan in San Diego.Classics converge on Newport Beach.Celebrating California car luxury history.Name your make and model and you are likely to find a classic car show in California that showcases it.The first Woody Wagon? Long after wood trims became impractical, California surfers brought many of them back from the dead. By the time the Beach Boys sang, “We’re loading up our woody, with our boards inside”, car cultures and surfing cultures were fused into our history. By the 1960s and 70s, Volkswagens had also become stars, especially among surfers and young counterculture rebels searching for affordable transportation. Nostalgia fuels this Vintage VW Bus Show in Huntington Beach, May, 2023. Old VW buses are now a form of car history art. It took a lot of love and small fortunes to get them up and running and it will require another small fortune if you want to buy one that is in such good shape. The author and passersby appreciate what most old VW’s look like before their makeovers. And here’s a Vintage VW Bug car show. Some of these relics were once owned by young Californians looking for more affordable ways of finding their freedom. Their engines are under the rear hoods, behind the rear axles. Early paddy wagons were also called “pie wagons”, due to their resemblance to bakery delivery trucks. They offered a backseat ride to your local jail that anyone would want to forget.It’s all flowers. There always seems to be more than one float dedicated to California car cultures at the annual Rose Parade. The car serves as foundation for this bizarre art installation at Desert X in the Coachella Valley.Here is Artist Gonzalo Lebrija’s “History of Suspended Time (A monument for the impossible)” in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was installed when the exhibit of “American Roads” appeared to ”capture our love of and dependence on cars, while also contemplating the complexity of this country’s major highways and local roads.”Classic and bizarre automobiles (and people) are featured in Pasadena’s annual Doo Dah parade. Anything and everything goes during this parody of parades that has been described as farcical, flamboyant, weird, wacky, and wild.Even the aliens seem to be obsessed with their modes of transportation as they duck flying tortillas in Pasadena’s annual Doo Dah Parade.It’s been a long and storied car history in California and we’ve got the license plates to prove it. I ran into these frustrated aliens after they got sucked into our car culture only to have their race car break down in Baker.
Thank you for a great essay about cars and California! I’m looking forward to the day when driving won’t be a necessity of life in L.A.