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<\/p>\nHOUSTON \u2013 Gleaming chrome, vibrant paint and the rhythmic bounce of hydraulics are more than just eye-catching \u2014 they are a living expression of identity and pride for the members of Chicano Boulevard, a lowrider group rooted in Houston\u2019s East End neighborhood of Magnolia Park.<\/p>\n
Chicano Boulevard member Ben Galvan said the love of lowriders runs deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just learn from each other and it became a passion to, you know, visualize our cars and our art \u2014 and the way we express our cars to our personal lives,\u201d Galvan said. \u201cIt inspire me in so many ways when I was growing up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
A culture passed down through generations<\/p>\n
Chicano Boulevard\u2019s mission goes beyond turning heads on the street. The group is committed to preserving, celebrating and educating others about Chicano culture \u2014 and lowriders are one of the most powerful tools they use to do it.<\/p>\n
The tradition stretches back decades, with roots in the 1940s and 1950s, when Chicanos began transforming their vehicles into rolling works of art and cultural expression.<\/p>\n
For Galvan, that tradition is deeply personal. He now cruises the streets of Magnolia Park behind the wheel of a 1966 Chevy Impala, and he hopes to pass that same passion on to the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, exactly, like right now I have three sons and I\u2019m blessed \u2014 to follow the same passion that I love,\u201d Galvan said.<\/p>\n
What it means to be Chicano<\/p>\n
For the members of Chicano Boulevard, the lowrider is inseparable from identity. Co-founder Firme Funk describes what being Chicano means to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it means a sense of indigenous pride. For me, being Chicano really means stripping away the borders \u2014 no more than Mexican or more than American,\u201d Funk said.<\/p>\n
Co-founder Isaac Rodriguez shared a similar perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just an identity we choose to embrace. It represents us. We celebrate our culture,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Keeping the tradition rolling<\/p>\n
For those curious about joining the lowrider community, Galvan offers some straightforward advice \u2014 and a word of caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to be in the lowrider community, it takes lots of money \u2014 it takes patience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But for Galvan and his fellow members of Chicano Boulevard, no cost is too great to keep the culture alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want this lowrider culture to die out, and it never will as long as we keep showing our love and passion to these vehicles that we have,\u201d Galvan said.<\/p>\n
Start Here, Houston<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Gleaming chrome, vibrant paint and the rhythmic bounce of hydraulics are more than just eye-catching \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[127846,4945,56,58,57,10809,44723,129608],"class_list":["post-440895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chicano-boulevard","tag-hispanic-heritage","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houstons-east-end","tag-lowrider","tag-magnolia-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}