Sacramento is renaming a street to Lowrider Lane, furthering its support of cruising culture
Sacramento is continuing a trend of recent support for lowrider cruising by renaming a scenic street in the Miller Regional Park to “Lowrider Lane.”
The Planning and Design Commission unanimously approved the name change of Marina View Drive, which runs through the park located south of Broadway. No homes or businesses will need to change their addresses.
“What the commission conveyed to us last night, we’ve been waiting years to hear,” said Francine Mata, president of Sacramento Lowrider Commission. “I’m really proud our city came together on this.”
Lowriding is a popular pastime in which participants showcase their customized classic cars by cruising on city streets. The culture originated among Latinos during the 1940s and 1950s and has been regarded as an outlet for individuality and innovation.
The Sacramento Lowrider Commission, a nonprofit organization supporting the lowrider community, led the effort to rename the street — submitting an application in May and raising about $10,400.
The application cost about $10,200, said Kelli Trapani, communications coordinator for the city’s community development department. The group will have to pay another $220 for the new sign and labor.
At Thursday’s meeting, Mata said the move acknowledges the decades-long contributions of the city’s lowriding community. These efforts, including hosting family events and volunteer clean-ups of local parks, stretch back to the 1980s, Mata added.
“The street name change will be a meaningful tribute to our lowriding family,” Mata said. “Lowrider antiques, muscle cars — a group that has significantly shaped our community.”
The commission was instrumental in ending the city’s 34-year-old anti-cruising ordinance in 2022. The change in law ended years of discrimination against a pastime sometimes viewed as having ties to gang life and crime.
In 2023, Newsom signed a law prohibiting cities from restricting street cruising of customized classic cars.
The street change approval can move forward after 30 days, but there is no timeline for when the name will be officially changed, Trapani said. If appealed, the street renaming will go before the Sacramento City Council.
This story was originally published September 13, 2024 at 11:07 AM.
