The new year came a cavalcade of polished chrome through East Los Angeles.
A crush of L.A. car clubs celebrated with a New Year's Day cruise along Whittier Boulevard yesterday, in which over 200 lowriders rallied over the reversal of anti-cruising laws enacted on the first day of 2024.
NBC reports that those long-signaling "No Cruising" signs are being taken down from their posts in light of last October's passage of CA Assembly Bill 436, making it no longer a crime to pass the same spot within a six-hour period. The signs stem from a 25-year-old law designed to tamp down on nocturnal celebrations on the street and at neighborhood chill shops, as well as California's infamous car culture and the gathering of young lowrider and classic car enthusiasts of color.
The law also removes restrictions on vehicle owners modifying their cars to a specific lower height.
Anti-cruising laws were established in 1988, leaving it up to local jurisdictions to decide whether or not "cruising" could be cited as a traffic offense. Notoriously anti-fun local legislators in numerous cities and neighborhoods—many hyped up about the era's rising crime and murder rates—followed suit, putting an end to cruising on iconic stretches such as Whittier Boulevard, Crenshaw Boulevard, and Ventura Boulevard.