FRIDAY REPORT : Cruise Control : From Whittier Boulevard to the Valley, the see-and-be-seen ritual of youths and their cars is being curbed by police. The cruisers grumble, but residents like the changes.

It was nearly sunset on a Sunday night and Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park was jammed with ground-hugging low riders with phat chrome rims and custom imports with booming sound systems.

Young cruisers in modified mini-trucks patrolled the street, hoping to make a connection with the pretty Latinas tooling around in their daddies’ cars. The ultimate goal was to impress the opposite sex by rolling in the sweetest set of wheels and the loudest stereo.

Hip-hop, rap and ranchera tunes filled the crisp night air.

The weekly parade of freshly polished machinery was in full effect. That is, until two Huntington Park police cadets pulled onto the boulevard--as they do every Sunday night about 7 p.m.--to block off traffic with cones and flares and put an end to the night of cruising.

By 7:20 p.m., the boulevard was silent and nearly empty. Most of the cruisers had called it a night. But some die-hards rolled on in search of another stretch of road to cruise, free of police interference.

That has become harder to find. From the San Fernando Valley to Pico Rivera to Santa Ana, police have launched new anti-cruising efforts in recent years to put the brakes on this car-loving tradition of driving just to see and be seen.

Police and cruisers agree that Southern California’s once-famous cruising scene, glamorized in movies and the rap lyrics of Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, has been severely curbed.

Gangs Changed Cruising Climate

Police say the crackdowns come in response to an influx of gang violence at cruising hot spots and citizen complaints about traffic congestion. But cruisers say they are innocent car buffs unfairly being punished for the sins of gang members and others.

“I don’t know of any gang member who will put his pride and love into a car,” said Armando Avila, an avid low rider and editor of Low Rider Arte magazine.

The police restrictions have prompted some street veterans to give up their favorite pastime.

“We don’t cruise no more. It’s not worth it,” said Andy Khandjian, 28, of Pico Rivera, as he stood with his buddies, Hank Gonzalez, 24, and Anthony Salas, 22, near the once-popular cruising strip on Whittier Boulevard in Pico Rivera.

He used to cruise proudly in his sleek 1996 silver Impala with 20-inch chrome rims and tinted windows, but police hassled him too much. He said police once stopped him and accused him of cruising when he was driving home from his job at a Whittier auto shop.

“We are just innocent guys trying to show off our cars,” he lamented.

Now, Khandjian just parks and “kicks it” with his friends in well-lit parking lots or at car shows.

Younger cruisers are not giving up so easily.

“If they stop it here, we will just go to another place,” said Tino Contreras, 19, as he cruised Pacific Boulevard in the back seat of a friend’s black Ford Bronco. “There are enough places to go.”

“We are just out here to see girls, like her right there,” Contreras said pointing to a smiling brunet in the back seat of a red Honda heading in the opposite direction.

Cruising is not just for guys.

Among the young women cruising Pacific Boulevard on a recent Sunday was Martha Olmedo, 20, of Long Beach, and her sister, Lydia, 18. Patty Enriquez, 18, and her sister, Maria, 17, were crammed into the back seat of Olmedo’s tiny import with their friend Susi Cruz, 19.

“We are not doing anything bad,” Olmedo said, glancing out her car window to the street scene. “We are just looking at the cars, at the wallets,” she added with a smile.

Although police say cruising has been dramatically reduced, some law enforcement officials say cruising’s popularity is cyclical and will never completely die.

“Cruising is not over and done with anywhere in Southern California,” said Santa Ana Police Lt. Mike Foote, a district commander. “Nor do I think it will ever be.”

When going after cruisers, police usually rely on one of three tactics: They barricade known cruising areas to all traffic; they enforce an anti-cruising ordinance; or they saturate the street with officers who cite cruisers for everything from loud music to expired registration tags.

The tactics appear to be working.

Only a few weeks ago, Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena attracted about 800 cars an hour on Friday and Saturday nights. The cars included mostly customized imports, known as “Euros,” and gleaming Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which signaled their presence with a deafening roar.

But the river of cars on Colorado has turned to a trickle since the city adopted an anti-cruising ordinance in August and police began advertising enforcement of the law on signs along the boulevard. The law imposes a $271 fine for any driver caught passing a designated spot more than three times in a four-hour period. To keep track, Pasadena police type the license plate numbers into hand-held computers.

Officials in Huntington Park are considering adopting a similar law so Pacific Boulevard remains open to shoppers and movie-goers.

Whittier Boulevard in Pico Rivera once drew upward of 5,000 cars a night, especially after car shows. The scene included highly customized low riders, such as the classic 1964 Chevy Impala, and pre-1954 Fords, Chevys and Plymouths, also known as “bombs” for their round bullet-like shape.

“It basically shut down our city,” said Sgt. Kevin Loyd of the Pico Rivera sheriff’s station.

City officials got fed up and in June increased the penalty for cruising from six months in jail and a $500 fine to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Proof Is in the Numbers

Between June 20 and Sept. 12, sheriff’s deputies made 329 arrests, issued 499 traffic citations and impounded 100 vehicles, according to a Pico Rivera city report.

“Now, it’s almost like a ghost town,” Floyd said. “It’s probably the best it’s been in 10 years.”

The Foothill Division of the Los Angeles Police Department formed a 10-officer task force in June in response to a spate of assaults, shoplifting, vandalism, collisions and several shootings that police attributed to cruisers and drag racers on Sepulveda and Laurel Canyon boulevards in Mission Hills.

On popular cruising nights--Friday, Saturday and Sunday--officers issued up to 60 citations for everything from equipment violations to expired car registrations.

Andrea Moore, an adjutant with the Foothill Division, said the detail has reduced crime and cut the number of cruisers on the streets by about a third.

The bustling cruising scene on Crenshaw Boulevard once drew about 1,000 cars a night and was featured in the movie “Boyz N the Hood.” At least three police cars now patrol the boulevard--known among locals as the ‘Shaw--on Saturday and Sunday nights, ticketing cruisers for loud stereos, illegally modified suspensions and tinted windows.

LAPD Sgt. Charles Johnson, who oversees the police detail on Crenshaw, said cruising has been reduced by more than 75%.

In Santa Ana, South Bristol Street used to attract up to 8,000 cars each Sunday night, blocking traffic and aggravating local residents. That has changed in the last three years.

“We had to take some very drastic measures,” said Santa Ana Sgt. Raul Luna. “The manpower we employed was unbelievable. We even put up steel poles at intersections and put chains across the side streets.”

Now, on Sunday nights, about 150 cars show up to cruise.

“Nobody really cruises anymore,” said Edward Eng, editor of Import Tuner, a Huntington Beach-based magazine for custom import aficionados. “The police are cracking down on cruising all over Southern California.”

Cruising on other popular strips such as Hollywood Boulevard and Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles also has been dramatically reduced by police efforts.

Nonetheless, car shows and other organized automotive events are still welcomed in cities throughout Southern California.

In Garden Grove, Main Street is closed off Friday afternoons for an organized cruising event that attracts about 180 older cars and 1,000 spectators. The event has helped to revitalize the city’s historic district.

Members of Los Angeles and Orange County Nomads, a club for owners of 1955 to 1957 Chevy Nomads, now meet at local restaurants, hang out in the parking lots and talk about their cars.

As a sign of tamer times, club members cruised two weeks ago within the closed off streets of the Orange County fairgrounds.

However, for younger cruisers, the excitement is in the noise and bustle of real city streets.

Last Sunday night, Jaime Ramos, 24, was on Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park. A construction worker, Ramos had spent nearly $4,000 on 17-inch gold rims and a six-speaker stereo system for his white-and-gold 1996 Dodge Ram truck.

The truck was parked. Ramos said he can’t afford to cruise anymore. Police cited him recently because his tires extended beyond the truck body, forcing him to spend several hundred dollars to make the tires legal.

“I just park now,” he said with a shrug. “Once they clamp down, it’s not worth it.”

As night began to fall and the boulevard emptied, Ramos climbed into his truck and headed home.

Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein and correspondent Susan McCormack contributed to this story.

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The Anti-Cruising Scene

The cruising scene in Southern California has been dramatically curbed over the past few years because of police crackdowns.

Mission Hills

* Boundaries: Laurel Canyon and Sepulveda boulevards (between Chatsworth and Rinaldi streets)

* Police

tactics: barricade streets, increase patrols

Pico Rivera

* Boundaries: Whittier and Beverly boulevards (the entire boulevard within the city borders); and Rosemead Boulevard (between Whittier and Beverly boulevards)

* Police tactic: anti cruising ordinance

Pasadena

* Boundaries: Colorado Boulevard between Pasadena Avenue and Arroyo Parkway

* Police tactic: anti cruising ordinance

South Los Angeles

* Boundaries: Crenshaw Boulevard (between Jefferson Boulevard and Florence Avenue)

* Police tactic: cite cruisers for everything from expired license plates to loud stereo

Huntington Park

* Boundaries: Pacific Boulevard (between Gage and Florence avenues)

* Police tactic: barricade street on Sunday nights at 7 p.m.

Santa Ana

* Boundaries: South Bristol Street (between W. Edinger Avenue and Central Avenue)

* Police tactic: anti-cruising ordinance

Source: Police agencies