As a cornerstone of Chicano/Chicana culture, lowriding reflects the duality of Mexican Americans’ identity. America’s love affair with the automobile is as much a part of its heritage as baseball and apple pie. As such, cars became a symbol of the American dream for Chicanos and Chicanas. At the same time, as Mexican Americans experienced discrimination and exclusion, they redesigned these cars as a form of art and resistance to express their own identities. For them, lowriding became a means of surviving and thriving, a passion that created beauty and a sense of belonging; it was a way to express cultural heritage through art. From Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles, to Barrio Logan in San Diego, to San Jose, California, to Espanola, New Mexico, and beyond, lowriding lies at the heart of many communities. Through car clubs, car shows, magazines, and other media, lowriding has even spread across the globe to places like Japan and Europe. Ask anyone in the lowrider community what lowriding means to them, and you’ll hear answers along the same themes—family, pride, honor, respect, community; (la raza), passion, and riding from the heart. These are values deeply shared by the Hispanic and Latino cultures in general. Many other cultures can relate to these values as well, which probably explains how lowriding has become as widespread as it is firmly rooted. Written by: Erica Aguilar
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