While growing up in North Long Beach, California in the mid to late fifties, I remember the social importance of belonging to one of these clubs. I consider them to be a unique phenomena to Southern California where the car culture took root.
The following memories tell my story. The names of most car clubs dated back somewhere in history and were associated with warriors. A few that I remember are the Huns, Barbarians, Knights and Mongols. I was a member of the Drifters. Almost all of us were friends from the same high school. Membership varied from about 25–45.
Each of us was given a 6 inch by 9 inch cast aluminum plaque with “Drifters” written in ornate old English and Long Beach at the bottom. This was displayed in the rear window tray or on the back bumper of our cars. Some of us had long coats with “Drifters” embroidered on the back.
Organizationally to begin with we would meet at the North Long Beach YMCA. When no longer allowed to use these facilities, we would meet at one of the members’ homes. All pretty informal, I don’t recollect anyone being elected, just a division of labor based on who wanted to do it. I remember a meeting in my mothers duplex. At the time she was working at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlour. She came home with what looked like a 5 gallon tub of Rocky Road. All wanted to have our meetings there every month.
Club activities consisted of parties, picnics and poker runs. A poker run was similar to a scavenger hunt in that you were given directions to a particular location. Once this was found, you would receive a single card from a deck and directions to the next location. After discovering five different sites, we would finally meet to find who had the best hand. This final location was often a rented hall such as the Long Beach National Guard Armoury, The Bellflower Portuguese Hall or a similar building. Prizes were given to the best hand.
These were so popular throughout Southern California that promoters specialized in contracting a number of local bands to perform at these events. This often meant 5 or 6 different bands would appear. I recollect many became popular later. Tony Allen and the Night Owls, Chuck Flores (Tequila), Rosie and the Originals to name a few. I could be mistaken, but I think that the Drifters also performed once.
These were true lowrider days. By age 16 I’d owned at least a half dozen old Chevys. I always preferred the Fleetline models. First thing would be to put 4” blocks in back (if this wasn’t enough, a few cement bags helped). Next would be to cut the front coils. I once cut out so many on my 1948 Fleetline that they rattled with no support top or bottom. I installed 2X4 wood pieces to stop the rattles. There were certain streets we used to cruise, some would produce a “tacoing” effect that made many of my friends sick just to ride with me. I was finally made to fix it after receiving a couple of dozen too low tickets.
