{"id":476626,"date":"2026-10-25T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476626\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T23:24:09","slug":"born-into-the-tradition-san-antonio-lowrider-community-defends-culture-amid-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476626\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Born into the tradition\u2019: San Antonio lowrider community defends culture amid safety concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio\u2019s lowrider community is speaking out after drivers along Southwest Military Drive caused safety concerns for nearby neighbors<\/a> and business owners. <\/p>\n

A group of lowriders and cruisers who gather weekly along Southwest Military Drive near PicaPica Plaza say they don\u2019t want to be defined by reported disturbances in the area. Instead, they want the public to see the tradition and culture behind the cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of money into these cars, time, blood, sweat and tears. That\u2019s what goes into this,\u201d said Eric Santillan, owner of Clean and Sweet Automotive.<\/p>\n

Generational tradition<\/p>\n

Santillan is building on a tradition that began long before he ever got behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

Every Sunday, he and a group of fellow lowriders meet at PicaPica Plaza, showing off custom-painted classic cars and cruising Southwest Military Drive. For Santillan, it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, I mean, I was born into the tradition, so my father always had lowriders growing up. I have lowriders,\u201d Santillan said.<\/p>\n

The bond between the cruisers goes beyond the cars themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these guys that are here today, they\u2019re like family. We all know each other,\u201d Santillan said.<\/p>\n

While Santillan grew up surrounded by car club culture, he says the appreciation sometimes gets lost in negative perceptions.<\/p>\n

Safety concerns for community<\/p>\n

Records show<\/a> San Antonio police responded to calls of shots fired and traffic disturbances along Southwest Military Drive on Sunday nights. Santillan said the people he cruises with are too invested in their vehicles to put them or the community at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at them, they\u2019re all clean, (we) put a lot of money into them. So we\u2019re not gonna be out there on Sundays messing them up, destroying our cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The group said they share a love of lowriders but don\u2019t want to be confused with those behind the reported disturbances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to do something that\u2019s positive, whether it\u2019s community-based, charity events, anything that helps the community,\u201d said Tyrone Tenney, a prospect with the group.<\/p>\n

DJ Eddie Hernandez, known locally as DJ Eddie SA, says the lowrider scene is being unfairly painted with a broad brush.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South Side community is portraying the lowrider scene as bad people, but in all honesty, they\u2019re not,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cYou have blue collar guys, like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the diversity within the community often surprises outsiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s other guys too that have their own businesses as well. There are some that are bankers, there are some that are even lawyers,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cYou\u2019d be amazed at the guys that you meet in this lowrider community.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hernandez, one moment captures exactly what the lowrider tradition means to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that I did accomplish was my youngest daughter asking to take her for a cruise for her Sweet 16,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For these lowrider enthusiasts, that kind of moment is what the culture is all about. They say they want the next generation and the rest of the community to look past the chrome and see the culture underneath.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio\u2019s lowrider community is speaking out after drivers along Southwest Military Drive caused safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2183,161213,13360,82,84,83,632,4937,51314],"class_list":["post-476626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-cars","tag-lowriders","tag-picapica-plaza","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-sapd","tag-south-side","tag-we-follow-through"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476626","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=476626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}