Modesto’s Cruisers Vow to Defy New Ban

Teen-agers and car club members vowed Wednesday to keep cruising in Modesto, the city that inspired the movie “American Graffiti,” even though they may soon be in violation of city laws designed to limit the weekend ritual.

“They’ll never be able to eliminate cruising in Modesto. . . . It’s something special here; it’s part of our heritage,” said Dennis Lema, president of the Modesto-based Central California Coalition of Car Clubs. “They might ban it on one street, but the kids will just start cruising somewhere else.”

The Modesto City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved ordinances to curb cruising on McHenry Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Although authorities say they are only trying to limit cruising to control gang and drug activity, some fear the police may use the ordinance to outlaw the activity completely.

“If they try to shut down cruising, we’re ready to fight it to the end,” Lema said. “We’ve already talked with a lawyer and, if necessary, we’ll challenge the ordinance.”

One of the Modesto ordinances will prohibit cars from passing the same spot on McHenry Avenue more than once every four hours. The City Council also passed an anti-loitering law that prohibits pedestrians from lingering in posted zones on the street between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. The ordinances, which require a final hearing at the next council meeting next Tuesday, are expected to take effect in early May.

Anti-cruising ordinances are not unusual. Cities throughout California, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, have passed similar laws during the last few years. But curbing cruising along McHenry Avenue in Modesto has symbolic import because of “American Graffiti” and the national attention that the issue has attracted.

Cruising has been accorded near-sacred status in Modesto since the 1973 movie immortalized the rites of cruising on “The Strip,” a street similar to McHenry Avenue. But cruising has become too popular in Modesto, city officials say. During the last few years, up to 6,000 teen-agers from all over the San Joaquin Valley have descended upon McHenry Avenue on weekend nights.

The move to limit cruising has divided the city. The Modesto Bee even devoted an impassioned editorial to the cruising controversy, calling “American Graffiti” the city’s “claim to fame.”

“Generations of former young people remember cruising with nostalgia. . . ,” the editorial said. “Mainly, though, do we want police at blockades writing down license numbers and busting young people whose only crime is riding up and down?”

But those supporting the anti-cruising ordinances at Tuesday night’s council meeting, which attracted a crowd of more than 500, said the activity is ruining their neighborhoods. Residents said cruisers keep them awake at night and vandalize property. And merchants contended business drops off on weekend nights. In addition to the gang activity and drug sales on McHenry, Police Chief Gerald McKinsey said that so many patrol cars are needed to control traffic on the street that it takes police enforcement away from other parts of the city.

But teen-agers and car club members countered that there will be drugs and gangs in Modesto whether or not there is cruising.