![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Monroy-family-photo-e1790044264345-400x600.jpg\")
Oscar Monroy and his family posing in front of his 1964 Chevy Impala on Sept. 19, 2026. (Sofia I. Reyes \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\nDazzling vintage cars cruised Mission Street last Saturday to celebrate the San Francisco Lowrider Council\u2019s 45th anniversary, featuring the King of the Streets Hop and Lowrider Parade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Founded in 1981 by Roberto Y. Hern\u00e1ndez, the San Francisco Lowrider Council was created in response to racial profiling of Latino youth and a ban on cruising along Mission Street.
The Council\u2019s 45th anniversary celebration brought together lowrider owners, families, and spectators for a day centered on the history and culture of lowriding. With several of the cars heading out of Capp Street at 1 p.m., each stunning vehicle began to blast classics out of their radios while leaning on their hydraulics, showing the underbellies of their vehicles. Flags of several countries and clubs flew out of their windows, with people cheering as the cars began to jump up\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the parade finished around 3 p.m. , vehicles stationed themselves on Mission Street for ongoers to admire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For lowrider enthusiasts like Oscar Monroy, the parade is the pinnacle of the lowrider community experience. Monroy described the immense effort of working on his red 1964 Chevrolet Impala as a push to enjoy community events like the parade.<\/p>\n
Oscar Monroy and his family posing in front of his 1964 Chevy Impala on Sept. 19, 2026. (Sofia I. Reyes \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding from ground zero. It\u2019s been a headache. But, you know, once you\u2019re in the car, life changes,\u201d Monroy said. \u201cYou forget about everything else; you\u2019re enjoying the car, you\u2019re enjoying the moment. So it\u2019s awesome to be in the car.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monroy\u2019s 1964 Chevrolet Impala is one of three classic cars that he owns. In the future, he hopes that his love for cars and lowriders extends to his kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lowriding has a history of being criminalized by the government, with California enacting Vehicle Code Section 24008 in 1958. Only recently, in 2024, Assembly Bill 436 was signed into law by Governor Newsom, and the code was repealed to legalize cruising.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monica Pantoja, the owner of a green 1966 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible, sees lowrider events as a way to engage with family and community. Having grown up in San Francisco, lowrider culture has always been a part of her life. Pantoja has owned the vehicle since she was 17, and feels a responsibility to keep her roots alive through lowriding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Pantoja works to keep lowrider culture alive, she takes pride in having her children continue the tradition of lowriding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing because it was passed down to me and as I said to my kids, it\u2019s something good to make sure my kids aren\u2019t in the streets,\u201d Pantoja said. \u201cIt teaches all the kids that lowriding isn\u2019t a crime\u2026 It\u2019s from our community. This is our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Barganier, an associate professor of criminal justice at San Francisco State University, sees lowriding\u2019s integration into many families as a way to continue the culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barganier\u2019s yellow 1961 Chevrolet Impala ties him to his family\u2019s long-standing passion for lowriders. For Barganier, the familial ties to lowriding ensure its cultural preservation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll ever die because there are so many family bonds,\u201d Barganier said. \u201cThere are families that are\u00a0 four or five generations of lowriders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
John Ulloa,\u00a0 dean of language arts and social sciences at West Valley College and SFSU alumnus, formerly taught a lowrider history class in 2018.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4503-600x400.jpg\")
John Ulloa\u2019s Low Ride Tattoo on his fists, Sept. 19th 2026 (Sofia I. Reyes \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\n
For Ulloa and his 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix, learning lowrider history opens the door for larger conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe curriculum really served as a gateway for us to talk about other issues affecting our community\u2026Institutionalized racism, racial profiling, the political landscape, race, gender equality, and inequality,\u201d Ulloa said. \u201cLowriding was just the filter for us to talk about all of these other things: racializing of aesthetics, institutionalized racism, the targeting of young people of color.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Ulloa opens the conversation about the institutional issues integrated in lowrider culture, he recognizes the uphill battle for many who want to be part of the lowrider lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat started out as a very blue-collar, working-class phenomenon has now become very white-collar because of how expensive it is to get in the game,\u201d Ulloa said. \u201cA car like that right now in that same condition is a $35,000 car. Prices have just gone through the roof because people are willing to pay that money. As long as people are willing to pay, the prices will stay up.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the cost of cars continues to rise, becoming part of the lowrider community has become more difficult for those who do not already have the resources to support the hobby. What was once a working-class form of car culture now requires a significant financial investment, making it harder for younger generations to build a car of their own.<\/p>\n
Even for those who\u2019ve been born into the hobby, such as Raul Ramirez, a second-generation lowrider owner, the restoration process can still be incredibly taxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Rameriez-in-his-car-600x400.jpg\")
Raul Ramirez sitting inside his 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille after cruising in the parade on Sept. 19, 2026. (Sofia I. Reyes \/ Golden Gate Xpress)<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought it stock as can be. I basically built it into what it is now; it took time, took a lot of money and patience,\u201d Ramirez said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s nice to finally see my vision come to life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ramirez and his 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille are part of Low Creations, one of San Francisco\u2019s longtime lowrider car clubs. The club\u2019s cars carry the history of the city\u2019s lowrider community, with detailed nameplates and customized designs reflecting the time and work owners have invested in their vehicles.<\/p>\n
For families who continue the tradition, the rising cost of lowriding does not erase its importance. Ramirez, for example, is including his son in his garage activities, exposing him early on to the lowriding lifestyle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s [Ramirez\u2019s son] in the garage with me all the time now, whether it\u2019s cleaning my rims or helping me fix something on the car,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cLetting him use tools and stuff like that. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dazzling vintage cars cruised Mission Street last Saturday to celebrate the San Francisco Lowrider Council\u2019s 45th anniversary, featuring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-471703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}