Low and Slow

IIt’s been a good couple of years for Sacramento’s lowrider community. More than three decades after the capital city banned cruising, it repealed its anti-cruising ordinance in 2022. Gov. Gavin Newsom followed suit last October, legalizing cruising statewide. The changes mark a new era for lowrider enthusiasts whose shared culture spans generations. Local documentary photographer Andri Tambunan chronicled our city’s lowrider community over the past year and a half, and the Sacramento History Museum is hosting a lowrider exhibit, which features his images, through Jan. 28. In the meantime, sit back and take a slow ride through 10 of Tambunan’s portraits, and the stories of those behind the wheel—in their own words.

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ANTONIO “OG“ CARDENAS

“I am from an old Sacramento car club called The Originals. I’ve been cruising for over 54 years. My brother was a Pachuco [the mid-20th-century Latino subculture known for zoot suits and jazz], and he had a ’51 Chevrolet Deluxe. He was an artist, so he started pinstriping it and fixing the car up. Then, on the dashboard, he put a bunch of beautiful roses. I fell in love with that car, and that’s where it all started.

My first car was a ’60 Chevy Bel Air. I fixed it all up. I put rims on it. I lowered it—heated the springs so the car would go down. Back then there were no hydraulics, but we put stuff in our trunks to lower our cars. We threw some batteries back there; whatever I had to do to make that car low. We cruised on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday morning we went to the park. Then Sunday night, we would take all the stuff out of the trunk and go back to work in the same car.

When you’re cruising, you’re like in another world. You just get into it. You’re thinking about all the girls that are out there—the ones you used to be with, and the ones you want to be with. I just love the music. I love the environment. I love the lifestyle. We have so many cars here in Sacramento. The atmosphere is beautiful; it’s like moving art. We go out there, show off our cars, and play our music.

But now we kick it down and we stop at an earlier time. I waited 34 years for us to get the streets back. We try to respect people’s wishes because we want to come back and cruise again. We don’t want to lose our boulevards like we did before. We don’t tolerate throwing cans and burnouts and all that. If you come to one of our events, have some respect. It’s our culture, and I’m glad that I’m out here doing it.”

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BOBBY BASQUEZ

“I have always been fascinated by automobiles. It started with model cars. That’s where I got my painting skills and how I learned to build a car. I built the car that I drive today. I wanted to build something different. So that’s what made me build a station wagon, because nobody takes a station wagon and puts all the bells and whistles in it. I brought the car home, took it all apart, did the bodywork and paint job, and put it all back together again. It came out beautiful.

I’ve been cruising since 1975. Back then, your daily driver was your lowrider. You drove that car everywhere you went and tried to work on it at the same time. We cruised in rain and fog. It wasn’t just a summer thing. We cruised all year long. The St. Rose church has memories for me because we used to get harassed by the cops a lot, and I got pulled over right in front of the church for hitting my switches on the hydraulics on my 1954 Bel Air. They cited me for having a hydraulic system. To get the tickets signed off, we had to remove it, and then the following weekend we reinstalled it back in the car and cruised again until we got pulled over again.

Franklin Boulevard was a meet-up point for every Friday and Saturday night back in the day. It was a thing to do: Come out on the boulevard and show off your ride. Showing everybody your ride means a lot, especially when you do all that work on your car day and night just to come and cruise on the weekends. My main thing was coming down there and looking for the beautiful ladies. Actually, that’s how I met my wife—on the boulevard. She had a 1957 Bel Air that she bought from her grandfather.

Cruising today is way better because you’re not looking over your shoulder. In the old days, there were a lot of fights and a lot of shootings. Today, people are more mellow. It’s more family-oriented; I can take my kids and my grandkids cruising with me. Our passion is to drive works of art.”

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SHAVOLLA RODRIGUEZ

“My love of cars started at a young age. I can remember back to when I was 3 years old, going to different events and car shows. My dad always had some car or motorcycle in the garage, listening to old-school funk and oldies and having all his friends in the garage ’til late hours of the night working on stuff. And then on the weekends, it was time to have fun. We’d get in the car and go cruise.

When I was young, I did not see many women lowriders. They were always the wives or the girlfriends, or the half-naked girls who came in teeny-tiny swimsuits and were ‘models.’ I hear a lot of older women talk about how they saved up and bought their cars. They had to wait until their kids were grown, because as women, we had to put our family, kids and household first. I have two girls myself, and I’m always telling them, ‘Never be afraid to be different. If this is what you want to do, don’t take it as this being a guy’s arena.’ There are a lot of women out here doing it as good, if not better.

This car was one of my dream cars. I wanted a car that would fit all my family. I didn’t think I was going to find what I wanted. Luckily, this car popped up, and it was pretty much love at first sight. When she came off that trailer, just to see her in person was amazing.

On our rounds, we hit Old Sac. We hit K Street. We go to William Land Park and stop and talk to friends there. If it’s on a cruise night, you can catch us on Broadway or Franklin Boulevard. It’s really good to see our community thriving. These are things that we’re able to pass down to our kids—the love that we have for the cars, for the culture, and doing these things together.”

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LOUIE L. MORENO SR.

“My dad was a mechanic and always had a workshop. That’s where I picked up working on cars—especially lowriders. I have five sisters, and there were five of us boys. He had us all in the shop helping him out. It was very exciting and busy. My dad was able to support all 10 of us. We were all involved in restoring cars. People thought we were loaded with cash because we drove nice cars to school. We were poor, but people looked up to my whole family because we were good people.

My dad taught us how to hustle, buy an old car, clean it up and flip it. And that’s what we did. I found a ’58 Chevrolet Impala on the sidewalk in front of this man’s house, and I asked him about it. The guy said he wanted $100—and that was without a motor. I went home and got my dad. We came back and ended up buying it for $90. A ’58 Impala with one dent on it! We went to U-Pull-It and bought the drive train, motor and exhaust system. I think we paid $250. And within four weeks, I was driving that car to school.

In late 1970, as far as I know, I was the first Chicano in Northside Sacramento with hydraulics—the first Mexican with juice. I would hit the surplus stores in town, out of town, out of state, and fill up the trunk with hydraulic stuff. I’d do my own or do somebody’s hydraulics, sell them, whatever I had to do. But I was the man. If you wanted your car juiced, you’d come and see Louie. My wife is my partner in crime. She can wrench as good as anybody else.

Time is moving fast, especially after I retired in 2016 after working for 19 years with Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail. We don’t waste a lot of time. We have fun working on these cars, because the reward is getting it done, test-driving it, and playing our oldies and doo-wops. It’s been a journey. Sure, I’ve had my ups and downs. But for the most part, I would never, never change it.”

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JOHNNY LARIOS

“I started driving when I was 15. I just turned 70 years old, and I’m still lowriding. It’s in the blood.

It started at an early age, cruising downtown—J Street, K Street and L Street—with all the hot rods. That’s what got me into wanting to do what I do now.

You want to go low and slow for people to look and enjoy. Everybody loves it. I call my car ‘Poor Boy’ because I wanted to give a different impression of a lowrider, something that was built back in the ’50s from the ghetto. Back then, people didn’t have a lot of money, so I built this one to make it look like it was put together from a junkyard—a piece here and a piece there. I built a wreck into a beautiful car. It attracts people because of all the little bullets that I put around it. And little knickknacks make people come closer and look at it. It’s different.

Back in the ’70s, when you cruised a lowrider, you looked like a criminal to the police. They always harassed you. You didn’t want the harassment, so you went home. But that gave us more time to work on our cars. Now we’re cruising, and it’s legal. They can’t say anything to us. We’re not breaking the law. We just go low and slow.

Throughout my entire life of lowriding, I’ve been offered many opportunities to join car clubs. But I never did. I became a solo rider. I’ve been that way all my life. I hang around with car clubs because I know everybody. But as far as joining the car club, no. I want the freedom to go when I want and come when I want and meet people. And I love it. It’s freedom to me.”

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READ MORE: Cops Who Hop – Converting police cars into lowriders to strengthen community relations

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OLIVIA FONSECA

“Let me tell you about my car. It started back in 1974. In high school, I had a boyfriend who had a beige 1952 Chevy Deluxe, so he picked me up at the corner, not in front of my house. I wanted my mother to believe that I was getting on the bus. He took me to school. We cruised everywhere afterwards and on weekends. But lo and behold, the car went away. Our lives continued, and we went on different paths.

And then I reconnected with him in 2008. We’re not married, but we’re living together, so we might as well be. I kept telling him, ‘You know what? I want a 1952 Chevy. I want to go back to memory lane, when we went to high school together in the car.’ It took five years to find the car. They’re very rare—the 1952 Deluxe two-door, which is specifically what I was looking for.

We’ve been out-of-state to car shows, and we always say when we come back, ‘Man, Sacramento has beautiful cars compared to what we saw.’ It’s so beautiful to not only look at, but also to ride in. It’s a different world once I get in the car. I love being a passenger. I’d rather be a passenger than drive. I enjoy every moment of it. I like people’s smiles as we’re driving by—their waves or thumbs-ups. It feels good to know that we have a vehicle that makes us happy and other people too. We will be driving, and kids are waving at us. It’s almost like we’re in a parade, and I wave back.

It’s an enjoyment that you can’t replace with a Tesla or BMW. I look at my lowrider as an investment to pass on to my daughter so she can carry the legacy of cruising, the legacy of the car, the legacy of the year, the legacy of my memory.”

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DANIEL MORENO

“I do custom interiors for lowriders, hot rods and muscle cars. I’ve been doing this for 46 years. I got this machine probably in ’95. To me, that’s my first wife. I have three older brothers and they’re all into lowriding. When I was 10 years old, I used to stay up until 1 in the morning helping them with their hydraulics and their cars. When I was 12, I had a ’49 Chevy Fleetline Deluxe. I did my first interior job because my dad owned two wrecking yards. We took the interior out of a ’64 Impala Super Sport and put it inside my ’49. One of my brothers does bodywork and is a painter, and the other one’s a mechanic. Growing up around cars, it was just in our blood.

I was 16 when I first started cruising. I had a ’61 Chevrolet Impala. It was primered, and I would cruise that. Cruising today has just blown up so big. There are a lot of spectators and husbands and wives bringing their kids out cruising. It’s a beautiful environment. It’s nice when the communities and families get involved. I come from a big family. I have nephews, grandchildren, uncles and brothers that are all into it. We enjoy waking up early on Sunday morning, washing our cars, and getting ready to go cruise the parks. Before we hit Miller Park, before we hit William Land Park, you’ve always got to hit Broadway first.

Lowriding is whatever you desire for your car. For me, it’s just low and slow and making the car look good.”

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JOE DILLINGHAM

“The first time I saw a lowrider was back in 1979. My cousins down in Stockton had ’64 Chevy Impalas.

The first lowrider I ever had was a 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. Believe it or not, it was my mom’s car. I was getting ready to go to college. My mom made a deal with me that if I graduated, I could have the ’79. And that was my motivation because I knew I had a car waiting for me.

For me, the excitement starts the morning of [cruising], when I start wiping the car down. You pull the car out of the garage, you hit the hydraulics switch the first time, the music is playing, and you just know you’re ready. The first song on my playlist is Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Love’s Holiday.” When that comes on, it’s on.

The way I relax is to go in the garage and work on my car, or to be around my buddies and help them work on their cars. For me, that’s the part that a lot of people don’t see—the amount of time it takes to put a car together. We rally around each other. Wherever you are in your process and your build, we’ll get together and we’ll go out and help whoever’s in the club. I wouldn’t have the circle of friends that I have right now without our interest in cars and lowriders—I’m not sure where I would be without them. I’ve been in the Stylistics club going on 27 years because it’s a family. Lowriding isn’t just something that we do, but something that we are, and the friendships and the brotherhood that we build. We’ve watched people get married and have kids go off to school. All of that. It’s deeper than cars. I’m a lowrider, and I’m always going to be a lowrider.”

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LINA J. MORENO

“In the earliest picture I have of myself, I was 6 years old in my brother’s ’66 Impala in front of my mom and dad’s house. All my siblings in the family always had a lowrider, and there was always some type of lowrider in our driveway. Growing up, my brother would always let me drive his cars. When my brother gave me those keys, I would just go from Northgate Boulevard to Norwood Avenue and then back. Those cars were huge, and I was still young. Then I got braver and started going to downtown, Broadway and Old Sac. This car was my 18th birthday/graduation present from my brother.

I’ve been lowriding for a long time. I’ve never had anyone disrespect me for being a female lowrider. I’ve had nothing but respect and love from a lot of people out here. I’m just truly blessed that I have the support from everybody in Sacramento. It’s amazing. It’s like all your worries go away. I love it. You feel like you’re in a different world. If I’m stressed out or I just want to go listen to some music and just enjoy the day, I just go hop in the car and we just roll out. It’s normal for my kids. They know on Sunday we’re going to go lowride; we’re going to cruise, we’re going to go to the park. We’re going to end up somewhere, but it’s going to be in a lowrider.

Everywhere you go, you see families gathering, and everyone gets along—especially in Sacramento. It doesn’t matter what car club you’re in. You see everyone with their kids. It’s just a good environment. It’s no more gang stuff anymore. It’s just spending time with your family, enjoying everybody’s company and just having a good time and talking about cars and eating a good barbecue.

I lowride because it’s my life. There wouldn’t be any Lina without lowriding.”

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CARLOS “BIG GATO“ GAMINO

“Back in the ’70s, there was a lot of movement in politics with Cesar Chavez and the Royal Chicano Air Force. Watching all the older guys, they were like our heroes. They built their own culture, which is how the lowriding culture was adopted. Every time they had political gatherings, you’d see the lowriders, the unity, the people. As a young kid, I could say, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ You learned that there’s something bigger than just existing. They didn’t just teach me how to work on cars. They taught me about life.

In those days, there were some traditional hoppers [cars with specialty hydraulics to make them bounce off the road], but they didn’t hop very high. If you were hopping 8 inches you were doing big things. Now my homeboy hits 64 inches with a single pump. I had a lot of cheap paint jobs and a period of rushing everything. Doing it the cheap way and the fast way is more expensive in the end. So I said to my club, ‘You know what? If you’re going to be in the Lo-Lystics, your primered job better be straight right before the paint, because I would rather see you with a clean primered job than a wavy paint job.’ We got some nice rides. We have a reputation. We don’t have the best, but we’re clean.

I just want to let everybody know that we have come a long way. And people need to appreciate everything that was fought for to make us not be identified as troublemakers all the time. The anti-cruising signs are down. You meet a lot of good people—more good people than bad. Everybody needs to get together and come together as people.”