lowriders of the barrio full

it is the history and legends of mexico back to  the earliest times and it's spray painted on a   supermarket in the barrio in san jose california  it's a reminder to the mexican americans who live   here of their past their heritage it is bright  and it is bold and it's there for all to see   there's a lot of bright bold art in this  barrio it's just not the kind you would expect it is a full-size car with under-sized tires  as often as not it has a custom paint job   and it always has a tiny steering wheel often  welded chain and its owner is mexican-american with hydraulic lifts he can make the  front end go up in the air [Music]   and as far as that goes by using the  hydraulic controls inside the car   he can make the front end go down down  far enough that it scrapes the roadway the car is called a low rider or a ride it  can have lifts just in front or all around   a fancy low rider is called a bad ride and is  the pride of the california chicano who owns it   he'll do anything to make  it the best bad ride around the east side of san francisco there are 600 000  people in san jose and 22 of them are chicano   all but a handful live on the east side san jose  has always had a large mexican american community   originally they came to work on the farms now  they work when there is work in construction or   industrial plants and they have made san jose  the low-riding capital of northern california the term low rider refers  to the car and the driver   and there is nothing a low rider wants more than  for his bad ride to be noticed and admired [Music]   for the last 18 months low riders have had their  own magazine published from a small office just   off the san jose state campus called low rider  it has a circulation of 30 000 and that is going   up the editor is sunny madrid in the u.s it's  supposed to be like a melting pot and so everybody   just blends in right but like with the chicano  community and probably with mexico being so close   it hasn't really been that  way they've kind of tried to   they create their own style their own fashion  who lowers their cars but mexicans who paints   their cars the way with all the flashy  paint jobs but you know the young chicano like where'd the style all come from  i blame the indians i blame the mayas   the aztecas they were the very first  pachucas they were the first low riders in those days they customized their bodies and  like nowadays they're customizing their cars low riders have been around since after  world war ii but they are just beginning   to organize into clubs and the clubs are just  beginning to organize what they call happenings   like this one in los angeles low rider clubs  are usually rivals but they have been talked   into cooperating by other chicanos who can't  see any sense in fighting among themselves   after all they share the same memories dennis  eagleson i remember i used to stay many nights   outside of my mom's house or outside of  one of the boulevards in the neighborhood   and just look at cars going by and kind of make  believe in my mind that that's my next car coming   here this is my car of course i didn't have a  job i didn't have the money to finance a car but   i always kept my mind occupied on the  status symbol of a shiny automobile what i'm trying to do is to create a feeling  of uh hey pride like hey i have my car here   why not you know i have a group of guys i'm  with why not why not dress the zoot suit part   you know [Music] [Applause] low riding is not a  teenage fad it is a chicano social event involving   men and women of all ages families go for low  rider picnics and sunday afternoon drives caravans   of them all of them going as they describe it  low and slow so they'll be noticed and admired low riders have their own music  a classic among them is titled   let's take a cruise down whittier boulevard it  was written and recorded by willie g he used to   be a mechanic he is now a musician who some years  ago had a national hit called land of a thousand willie g dances dezoot suit is a low rider  and he says music led to low riding that's   what started me in it music and the  people around it we're the action ones   kept this display of moving art on the road  constantly everywhere there was a place where   people could come together and get it get  it together admire each other so to speak   and say yeah man i want to be like that  i want to do that i want to have that   before i have to leave along with its own music  low riding has its own art these were done by   teen angel a low rider in san jose but low  riding is not all aesthetics a considerable   part of it is economics but like the music and  the art the economics are somewhat different   the economics dictate just what kind  of a low rider you're going to be   and so you do that but now there's like  a reverse going on in that it's a very   unfashionable thing to get the old car if you're  the usual car owner these cars may look like junk   to you something you'd pay somebody twenty five  dollars just to tow away you shouldn't do that this is a 1950 ford it was running when joe  limonas bought it for about four hundred   dollars now he's making a low rider out of it  and when he's through it will sell for not quite   three times what it was worth when it was sold  brand new and it was sold brand new for 1539.86 joe got it from the original owner complete  with owner's manual and sales invoice [Applause]   however much it costs buying the car can be  the cheap part this dash here is going to be   ripped off right here we're going to install a  television in here but make all this blend down   with padding all the way down to the floor make  it look like one piece you won't see no metal in   here the whole interior is going to be what you  call a custom job to the max something like this   i would say it run close to three thousand dollars  the 3000 is for the inside a custom paint job on   the outside a good one will cost another sixteen  hundred and to repair a scratch could cost six   hundred dollars then there are the hydraulic lifts  you can't have a bad ride without them preferably   all around we're going to start out with the  pump that's the main main part of the setup lifting all the way around is going to  need two of these pumps are about one   130 each and they're used to pump the fluid  into the car then you need your cylinders   take four of them for all the way around [Music]  if you come in and buy the whole complete setup   you have a real sweet deal if you coming by  piece by piece you know you just be spending   like right around a grand for front and back  naturally uh the majority of the people they   don't have very customized card to the max  they just got probably a chain steering wheel even though maybe they don't have all  the accessories and they can't afford   the elaborate paint job they'll  pull but that's enough to identify with all right or new ride you've all got  these little steering wheels yeah they're   easier to handle simone perez bought his 54  chevy for 300 and has spent 1500 more on it not all bad rides are designed to be driven  low and slow some are designed for the low   riders favorite sport hopping earlier  this year the staff of lowrider magazine   neighbors friends and the curious watched a  hopping test the car has a permanently raised   rear end so when it travels on the road it  goes by truck but it does have an engine engines don't play much of a part in low  riding anyway but they don't count at   all in hopping ralphy douglas whose brother  owns a hydraulic shop knows what does count   bouncing the front end in the air using the front  end hydraulic lifts the object is to get the front   wheel as high off the ground as possible ralphies  goes high enough that one week after this test   he won 3 300 by duplicating this feat  standing the car on its rear bumper [Applause] [Applause] at least once a  week usually saturday afternoon   low riders go to a do-it-yourself car wash  crank up the music and clean up the cars   there are probably no cleaner automobiles anywhere  in the country after all if you're going low and   slow on saturday night other people may notice you  but they won't admire a dirty car [Music] whatever   they do washing the cars or cruising the streets  low riders do together and that causes problems   motorists complain that they block traffic  shopping center owners say they congregate on the   parking lots at night leaving trash and disorder  behind the lowrider clubs admit that there has   been trouble on the other hand they say no one has  ever given them a chance to do it right [Applause] the events the car clubs do organize  usually go off without a hitch   this disco party in san jose was  sponsored by the chicanos pride car club   the members all came in their low riders  many of the men in zoot suits [Music] [Music]   vince chavez president of the club [Music]   it was a good night for him his club's dance was  a success and he was wearing his first suit i was   broke and uh i sold some hubcaps for five bucks  and that's how i ended up getting a suit [Music]   and the panther jacket was 1.25 and the tie was  35 cents you know so i made out all right you know looking pretty good it looked like a 50 suit you   know i was pretty proud of the first  suit i ever had in my life [Music]   you know i've been low riding since i guess i was  about 16 when i've got my first car you know with   your ride that's your that's your identity that's  how people know you you could be anywhere [Music]   a lot of people don't have jobs they  don't have the the money you know to uh   you know to uh be going skiing or um you try  to you know do one thing and a lot of people   especially chicanos they they  get into their cars [Music] you know it's pretty nice you have your car  that's your ride when you go out you know   that's what you call you that's your pride you

Channel: Lowrider Fever

Views: 55,257

Keywords: yt:cc=on

Id: HaCPtZJPmQI

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022