Nostalgia to Take 1 More Cruise Down Boulevard

‘We couldn’t deny our past. Cruising is the thing that made Van Nuys famous.’ Bruce Ackerman, Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce

What would you call a stream of automobiles in all their vehicular splendor slowly driving up and down Van Nuys Boulevard on a Wednesday night as hordes of gawkers lined the sidewalk?

“It’s not a cruise night. It’s a classic car parade,” or so says the head of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce.

Whatever they are calling it, that infamous ritual that for decades made Van Nuys Boulevard a true American cruising capital is going to be resurrected tonight by the same group that fought to have it abolished.

“It’s for one night only. Just one night,” said Bruce Ackerman, executive vice president of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t ever want to bring cruising back. No, not in a million years.”

But Ackerman said that, since the Chamber is right in the middle of a three-month commemoration of Van Nuys’ 75th birthday, with festivals and historic photo exhibits, “We couldn’t deny our past. Cruising is the thing that made Van Nuys famous.”

So the group is attempting to bring back a touch of the good in the good ol’ days by sponsoring “The History of Van Nuys on Wheels Parade,” which police predict will draw 10,000 spectators.

200 Cars Expected

Two hundred classic cars, most owned by car club members from throughout Southern California, will flow up and down the boulevard from Oxnard Street to Magnolia Boulevard from 7 to 9 p.m., Ackerman said.

“Oh, I’m going to be cruising again. I’m going to be out there. Yeah, it’s going to be a big parade,” said Joe DiFatta, 47, of Northridge, who will be driving his 1941 Chevrolet coupe “that looks like brand new.”

“I’m getting together my old gang from San Fernando High, a bunch of people in their 40s--we call it a gang. It’s going to be a big crowd. Is the Bob’s Big Boy still there?”

It is.

Just the mention of cruise night, though, sent shudders through the Van Nuys Boulevard business community and the police. Not more than five years ago, merchants were crying out against the undesirable youths, vandalism, public urination and deadlocked traffic that came with the thousands of teen-agers and car enthusiasts who cruised the boulevard.

Weekly police barricades of the boulevard followed. A Van Nuys police “boulevard detail” was formed, and their red flares, roadblocks and mass arrests for loitering and public drinking finally put an end to the cruising by about 1982.

“What was my reaction when they told me they wanted to revive it?” said Police Sgt. John Jergensen. “I didn’t tell them no. I told them hell no.”

Police Screen Participants

Jergensen will be supervising a force of 25 officers who will cordon off streets and patrol the route. The idea of a cruise night became more appealing, he said, after Chamber officials told him that all cruisers would have to send in applications and a photo of their vintage car before they would be allowed to participate.

“We only turned one down,” Jergensen said. “It was some gang type. We recognized the Chevy right away.”

“It’s been 20 years since I’ve been cruising on Van Nuys,” said Dan Brown, 40, of La Canada Flintridge, who will be driving a blue and white, 1963 Dodge tonight. “Oh, lordy. Back then I had a ’65 Buick Gran Sport. We were all out there cruising, meeting girls, setting up drag races for the next day. I met my wife cruising.”

And, what if tonight stirs up enough memories to prompt cruisers to show up again next Wednesday?

“It won’t,” Jergensen said. “If it does, we will squelch it.”