Readers respond: How did you like to cruise?
Reader Ray Van Mater posted a popular question on The Bee’s Graffiti event Facebook page: “How far back does your cruising go and where?”
His own answer: I would have to say, 1975-76 being lucky enough to ride in the back seat of my sister’s Mustang cruising Yosemite in Manteca and if there wasn’t anything going on in Manteca, we would take off to McHenry Avenue in Modesto.
While many of us tend to think of cruising as mainly a Modesto phenomenon, it was a popular activity around California, as readers were quick to point out.
A selection of other responses:
Stephanie Hall Hitchkiss: I practically lived up and down McHenry Avenue back in the mid-late 1970s. It’s where everyone went. We would hang with friends, meet boys, find out who was gonna drag race out in Finch Road then migrate out there. There was always something going on. Before all the thugs and gang bangers ruined it for everyone
Valerie Robello: 1971-72, San Leandro Strip ... East 14th Street, my ’63 Chevy Impala. The best time ever with all the girls ... Rebecca, Debbie, Doreen, Pamela, Chris, Claudia,Teresa & Lorraine and several more good friends !!! Love & Miss those days for sure.
Cindy Van Mater: Those were the nights! That mustang was the bomb! The very first time I burn rubber around McDonald’s there has to be a cop in the parking lot!
David Paul Dorrity: Most fondest was in 1984. I was 15 and I rode with my next-door neighbor and his 1969 ’Cuda. We cruised McHenry (two hours) then he began hitting the railroad tracks on Orangeburg Avenue, catching air. After four hours, my mom busted me for being gone so long. I felt her wrath. Then I moved to Sacramento.
Lynea Didion Clark: 1976-79 Fremont Blvd. Fremont, CA
John Garcia: 1962-1965, Santa Rosa, California, Fourth Street, and Healdsburg, California, Main Street around the park.
Valerie Stiles: 1966-1968, 10th and 11th street!
Mary Annell Greene Vecchione: 1972 V.W. Bug ... 10th and 11th street.
John Raybourn: Livermore, First Street 1976 till 1980 in my brother’s Ford pickup at first, then my own 1967 Mustang Fastback once I turned 16 in ’78. Lived in Tracy though, so I would cruise McHenry sometimes too. Always had a great time!
This story was originally published May 23, 2015 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Readers respond: How did you like to cruise?."