 | This article possibly contains original research .(November 2009) |
A Lowrider Club (C.C.) is an organized car club of lowriders who follow a series of traditional rules for participation, including a group of elected officers; a probationary period for new members and the wearing of a specific club patch or shirt. Also, there is a measure of privacy about their internal structure, bylaws, and membership; and some level of sworn allegiance to other members of the club.
The earliest car clubs were formed in the 1930s, [1] though the reputedly oldest lowrider club is the Dukes. The Dukes first got together in 1962. [2] The club went on for some four years, breaking up in 1969. The club started up again but between 1970 and 1977, the ghost of the club carried on. Socially the Dukes hire out to weddings and quinceaneras as chauffeurs. They also have club picnics and enter the better car shows.
Lowrider clubs are often perceived as criminal organizations or, at best, gangs of hoodlums or thugs. This perception has been fueled by movies, popular culture, and highly publicized isolated incidents. The organization of lowriders into clubs was done in part to eliminate the belief that they were criminal gangs. [1]
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior.
The Aryan Brotherhood, also known as the Brand or the AB, is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate which is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has characterized it as "the nation's oldest major white supremacist prison gang and a national crime syndicate" while the Anti-Defamation League calls it the "oldest and most notorious racist prison gang in the United States". According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Aryan Brotherhood makes up an extremely low percentage of the entire US prison population but it is responsible for a disproportionately large number of prison murders.
The 18th Street gang, also known as Calle 18, Barrio 18, Mara 18, or simply 18 in North America, is a multi-ethnic transnational criminal organization that started as a street gang in Los Angeles. It is one of the largest transnational criminal gangs in Los Angeles, with 30,000-50,000 members between the United States, Mexico, and Central America and is also allied with the Mexican Mafia, another US-based crime organization. A United States Department of Justice report featured the following statement regarding 18th Street and rival gang MS-13, "These two gangs have turned the Central American northern triangle into the area with the highest homicide rate in the world."
A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body that emerged among Mexican American youth in the 1940s. Lowrider also refers to the driver of the car and their participation in lowrider car clubs, which remain a part of Chicano culture and have since expanded internationally. These customized vehicles are also artworks, generally being painted with intricate, colorful designs, unique aesthetic features, and rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires.
Bōsōzoku is a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized motorcycles. The first appearance of these types of biker gangs was in the 1950s. Popularity climbed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, peaking at an estimated 42,510 members in 1982. Their numbers dropped dramatically in the 2000s, with fewer than 7,297 members in 2012. Later in 2020 a Bōsōzoku rally that used to attract thousands of members only had 53 members, with police stating that it was a long time since they had to round up that many people.
A car club or automotive enthusiast community is a group of people who share a common interest in motor vehicles. Car clubs are typically organized by enthusiasts around the type of vehicle, brand, or similar interest. Traditional car clubs were off-line organizations, but automotive on-line communities have flourished on the internet.
An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists and car enthusiasts. Most auto shows occur once or twice a year. They are important to car manufacturers and local dealers as a public relations exercise, as they advertise new products and promote auto brands. The five most prestigious auto shows, sometimes called the "Big Five", are generally considered to be held in Detroit, Frankfurt, Geneva, Paris and Tokyo. Car enthusiast communities along the historic U.S. Route 66 are credited with general popularization of car meets, including ethnic groups such as the Hispanos of New Mexico, Chicanos, and Mexican-Americans of the Southwestern United States; lowrider, high technology, electric vehicle, and other enthusiast show, are popular in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, San Francisco, and Chicago for this reason.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker gang or motorcycle gang, is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
Peckerwood is a term used in the Southern United States for a woodpecker which is also used as an offensive epithet toward racist white people, especially poor rural whites. Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been embraced by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs. The term was in use as an inversion of woodpecker by the 1830s, with the sense referring to white people documented from the 1850s. African-American folklore in the 1920s contrasted the white "peckerwood" bird with the African-American blackbird. The word became a common term in Jive.
A gang signal, also known as a gang sign, is a verbal or visual way gang members identify their affiliation. This can take many forms including slogans, hand signs, colored clothing and graffiti. The wearer usually favors, or is in, that particular gang. Many of these, especially slogans and hand signs, have become part of popular culture, especially in African American hip hop culture.
A lowrider bicycle is a highly customized bicycle with styling inspired by lowrider cars. These bikes often feature a long, curved banana seat with a sissy bar and very tall upward-swept ape hanger handlebars. A lot of chrome, velvet, and overspoked wheels are common accessories to these custom bicycles.
Kkangpae (Korean: 깡패) is a romanization of the Korean word that is commonly translated to 'gangster' or 'thug'. The term is commonly used to refer to members of unorganized street gangs. By contrast, members of organized crime gangs are called geondal (건달) or jopok.
A Cal looker is any air-cooled Volkswagen modified in fashion originating in Orange County, California in the late 1960s.
The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood is a 2000 American made-for-television action-adventure comedy film based on the 1979–1985 television series The Dukes of Hazzard which aired on CBS on May 19, 2000.
The Nazi Lowriders, also known as NLR or the Ride, are a Neo-Nazi, White supremacist organized crime syndicate, and prison and street gang in the United States. Based primarily in Southern California, the gang is allied with the larger Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia gangs, and fellow peckerwood gang Public Enemy No. 1. The Nazi Lowriders operate both in and outside of prison.
Brödraskapet, shortend BSK, is a Swedish prison gang that was founded on May 27, 1995 by inmates inside the maximum security prison in Kumla, Sweden. The police in Sweden consider The Brotherhood to be a criminal organization in regard to the EU criteria for organized crime.
The Manitoba Warriors (MW) are an indigenous street gang based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Predominantly based in the Central and North End neighbourhoods of the city, the gang is an exclusively indigenous Canadian organization that was established on the Lake Manitoba First Nation in 1993 to rival the Indian Posse gang.
Playboys 13 Gang, also known by the acronym PBS13, is a predominantly Mexican-American street gang founded in the Los Angeles County, California and extends to areas in South Central Los Angeles and Orange County, California. The gang also goes by the Spanish term "Conejo" which means "rabbit" or Rabbit gang to identify itself. They align themselves with the prison gang known as La EME or the Mexican Mafia, Because of their affiliation with La EME, while in prison, they set aside their rivalry with other Southern California gang members known as Sureño.
A Cal-Style VW is a lowrider influenced vintage Volkswagen, that for style and cruising was lowered to the extreme in the manner called "dumped" "slammed" or "laid out". The Cal-Style VW originated in the streets of Los Angeles in the late 1970s, when the first generation of teens from Latino neighborhoods veered away from the Low Riders that at the time were associated with gangs and criminal activity, and instead customized their economical VWs into lowriders for the cruising and teen subculture.
A cholo or chola is a member of a Chicano and Latino subculture or lifestyle associated with a particular set of dress, behavior, and worldview which originated in Los Angeles. A veterano or veterana is an older member of the same subculture. Other terms referring to male members of the subculture may include vato and vato loco. Cholo was first reclaimed by Chicano youth in the 1960s and emerged as a popular identification in the late 1970s. The subculture has historical roots in the Pachuco subculture, but today is largely equated with anti-social behavior, criminal behavior and gang activity.
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