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by Jason Dietrich
There
ain't no cure for the summertime blues like a summertime cruise, but when the
temperature starts dropping, even die-hard hotrodders wave the checkered flag.
Every Friday night this summer, woodies, bombers and little deuce coupes rolled up to Ruby's '50s-style diner in the harbor area. The weekly rally swamped the parking lot with as many as 200 mercs, caddys, and vettes as waitresses in pink and white uniforms carhopped cokes and cruisers compared chrome.
But Friday, October 27 will be the last night of tire kicking in 2000. The event has already been rained out once, and many restorers, having invested years and thousands of dollars in their babies, are loath to take them out in the wet weather. Cruise organizers plan to start the event up again in April of 2001.
"It's been a whole lot of fun. I never thought it would go so well," said Hermosa Realtor Darryl Boyd who started the event.
Boyd hoped 25 cars would show up when the first season of "Cruise at the Beach" kicked off in late July. Most cruise nights start early in the spring, picking up momentum as the summer rolls by and petering out as winter nears.
But the harborfront location, as well as many drivers' nostalgic memories of Harbor Drive as "the" place to cruise in the South Bay kept hotrodders coming back week after week. Next year, Boyd plans on organizing the gathering further, adding a raffle, T-shirts, commemorative plaques and a DJ, if he can sway area businesses and harbor officials to the support the cruise. For updates on next year's opening ceremonies, check out www.cruiseatthebeach.com. ER