Lowriders cruised up and down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena in tricked-out, vibrant cars for a show of Chicano culture and a celebration of last Sunday’s International Women’s Day.
The award-winning, all-women’s car club called Lady Lowriders organized the cruise and riders showed off their cars from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Founded in 2021 by current club President Sandy Avila, The group empowers women in the male-dominated lowrider culture and car culture as a whole.
Brilliant colors and decorations on the cars not only showed the drivers’ personality but also their cultural pride. “Low and slow”, or in Spanish “bajito y suavecito”, is the name of the game for lowriding. Lowriding has deep roots in Chicano culture, having started in a post-World War II Southern California, specifically Los Angeles and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bans were placed on the practice in the 1980s but have been repealed in recent years as activists argued it was discriminatory towards Chicanos.
Hydraulic suspension, one of the defining features of a lowrider, was a way to circumvent a ban on cars with bodies lower than the bottom of the wheel rim. The idea, thought of by car customizer Ron Aguirre in 1959, has evolved into jumping and leaning cars.
