Cruising Makes a Comeback

Six years after a successful crackdown on cruising, the Sunday night tradition has burst back onto the streets of Santa Ana, clogging roads, upsetting neighbors and raising fears that violence once linked to the gatherings will also make a comeback.

The last two Sundays have brought thousands of lowriders and sport-utility vehicles crawling and bouncing along Bristol Street as youths trade glances and phone numbers.

The dramatic increase in vehicles has alarmed police officials, who worry that a resurgence in cruising could reverse the drop in crime they attribute to cruising’s decline during the mid-90s.

Recent cruisers have been good-natured, if sometimes boisterous. But on Sunday, a handful pelted police cars with rocks and bottles.

Now police say they are beefing up patrols and sending out hundreds of warning letters in an effort to put the brakes on cruising before more violence erupts.

“We’re planning on not letting it get out of control like it did in the early 1990s,” said Police Sgt. Raul Luna. “This group of kids, which is a new generation of cruisers, is a lot more loud, boisterous and defiant.”

No one is sure what sparked the return of cruisers to Santa Ana. But since Memorial Day weekend, when 2,000 drivers unexpectedly showed up, youngsters from as far as San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties have gathered on Bristol Street.

On Sunday, as many as 1,000 cars crammed the pockmarked four-lane thoroughfare between McFadden Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.

Souped-up hot rods inched forward as passengers hung out of windows calling to passersby. Trucks sporting custom hydraulics lurched up and down. Cameras clicked and hand-held videos lit up the inside of cars as boys filmed girls lifting up their shirts to flash the crowd.

As traffic came to a halt, boys jumped from their cars and begged girls in nearby vehicles for their phone numbers.

“We stay out late, go to parties and meet girls,” said Jesse Torres, 19, as he sat in a friend’s SUV clutching a wad of hard-won phone numbers. “We try not to give anybody trouble because we’re just out here to have fun.”

But neighbors don’t see the fun. Each night of cruising brings a flood of complaints to police and City Hall. Residents object to the yelling and screaming they say goes on well into the night. Others complain about the gridlock, screeching tires and the races along residential roads.

“It’s a real public nuisance,” said Councilwoman Alberta D. Christy, who said she has received dozens of neighbors’ complaints.

Christy said she and others fear the cruising will attract the rival gang members it did in the early 1990s. Those problems reached crisis level when ads touting the Bristol Street scene popped up in cruising magazines. Christy said this attracted gang members from throughout Southern California and sparked shootings and other crimes.

In response to the complaints, police have stepped up the number of officers monitoring the Bristol Street activity. In the last two weeks, three dozen officers have impounded 11 cars and issued nearly 300 tickets for vehicle code violations.

Officers have also mailed out more than 500 letters to the registered owners of vehicles seen cruising. The letters outline the law on cruising and curfews in the hope that parents--who own the cars--will stop their children from cruising.

If those tactics don’t work, police vow that they will resort to the massive sweeps they conducted in 1995. Then, more than 100 officers swarmed Bristol Street for months every Sunday evening after police linked 17 deaths and more than 100 assaults to cruising.

“We’re going to get this under control before the hot weather gets here, which we know brings the kids out even more,” Luna said.

“There are just too many people from all over Southern California who are showing up on Bristol Street.”