Castro Valley News - Year 4 , Edition 3 (v.34)

CASTRO VALLEY NEWS

Community information and news Magazine - edition for July 2019

castrovalleynewsgroup.com

Let the Good Times Roll !

Castro Valley Cruise Night will return to Castro Valley Boulevard on August 24 from 6-10 PM !

Everyone is invited to bring your classic ride or make your way downtown to watch the “cruise” along the boulevard between Stanton and Norbridge Avenues.

The goal is to recapture the fun and social interaction of cruising and encourage folks to visit and shop our downtown businesses.

Cruise Night has support from the California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Both agencies will be on hand with extra patrol units and volunteers to make sure the event remains safe for everyone involved.

CV Cruise night is organized by CV residents and business owners including CVN editor Robert Souza, Arnie Gordon of AJ’s Attic, Bebe Duarte of Halo Branded Solutions, Mel Speed of The Music Company and Fura Bodyworks and the staff at Certified Tire.

Business owners are encouraged to stay open late or have special offers during the cruise event.

Contact CVN at castrovalleytelevision@gmail.com for more information on how to publicize your offer.

There will be no road closures anywhere in Castro Valley for Cruise Night.

memories of Cruising

Come along with CVN

on a verbal and photographic history of the gone but not forgotten cruising days of Castro Valley.

“Cruising around town was something we all liked to do and highlighted what it was like to be a teen in Castro Valley,” said Marc Crawford, who looked back to the days when hot rods like his 1969 Chevy Nova growled and prowled along Castro Valley Boulevard.

Dating as far back as the 1950s, many local folks would fuel up and rack up miles on an unofficial cruise route that included San Leandro, Hayward, Union City and Castro Valley.

Cruising in Castro Valley was basically shut down in the late 1980s when a plethora of “No U-Turn” signs popped up along Castro Valley Boulevard.

Back in the day, folks would gather at locations like the Castro Village, a gas station where Chipotle is now and the Hutch’s Car Wash at the corner of CV Boulevard and San Miguel Avenue.

There might be a few burn-outs and speed races, but back in the day, cruising was one of the most popular local social happenings!

- Story continues on page four

Cruise Night Organizer : Lt. Stephen Perea

Behind the badge of Lieutenant Stephen Perea, fitted with red and blue lights and a CHP disyou’ll find a lifelong cruising and car enthusiast. patch computer. That doesn’t mean his classic car passion has faded at all, his personal cruise Perea cut his teeth as a teenager cruising his car is an awesome restored 1963 VW Bug. hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico in a totally tricked out 1981 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. CVN is fortunate to have Lt. Perea involved in cruise night by dedicating additional Castro Val“The spot in town everyone gathered at was called ley CHP officers on duty to keep the event safe.

Los Altos Park and it was the place to be,” Perea told CVN. “For us, cruising was a social thing to “The first cruise night was an overall suclisten to music and hang out with your friends.” cess for two reasons. The first being the immense amount of people that were out there These days, Perea’s cruise car of choice is a bit enjoying the event and also because it was different than the Pontiac Trans Am, this one is safe and nobody got hurt,” Perea added.

Castro Valley CHP Lt. Stephen Perea and his work day cruise car - the 2017 Dodge Charger

memories of Cruising - Continued from page two

“It was very harmless and a lot of fun,” said Alameda County Sheriffs Sgt. JD Nelson, who was an Oakland resident in the late 1980s. Nelson owned a 1968 Ford Mustang convertible that he would cruise down Castro Valley Boulevard after a few loops along East 14th in San Leandro.

Nelson told CVN the “No U-Turn” signs came to Castro Valley in 1982 after numerous complaints came from business owners regarding “littering and loitering” by parked cruisers. Story by Robert Souza. Above photo of a ‘69 Nova “cruise car” (and wife Helen) near Sambo’s in

Not many know that most of the No U-Turn signs the Village is printed courtesy of Marc Crawford. were removed from Castro Valley Boulevard a few years ago. Since cruising had been long gone, there was no need to keep them posted.

During the heyday of cruising, you could see folks of all ages congregating in parking lots, talking and comparing cars, which was one of the many highlights of cruising.

On any given night you might see a 1930s hot rod pull up to a blown 1970s Plymouth Barracuda.

Nods of appreciation or acknowledgement would be exchanged at the intersection and the next thing you would hear is the roar of a powerful engine, skidding tires and laughter...all part of the fun of cruising.

Cruise Night Donation to Castro Valley Outreach Cruise Night organizers donated $600 to CV Outreach to help them help others in need.

CV Outreach is an organization made up of parents and educational professionals who help local families who have children attending CV schools who happen to be in crisis or suffering some kind of temporary hardship.

CV Outreach helps hundreds of local families during the year with free food, clothes and household items and holiday gifts.

CV Outreach will have an info booth at Cruise Night in the parking lot of Certified Tire near Safeway. There will also be booths for the CV CHP and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Tracie Romo (far left) of non-profit community organzation CV Outreach receives a $600 donation from CV Cruise Night organizers (left to right) Bebe Duarte of Halo Branded Solutions, ALCO Sheriff’s Sgt. JD Nelson and Arnie Gordon, owner of AJ’s Attic on San Carlos Ave.

Cruise Night Organizer : Arnie Gordon

Arnie Gordon is what you would call a “go to Gordon is one of the volunteer organizers who guy” for anything cool, vintage and collectible. started Castro Valley Cruise Night in 2018.

That goes for cars as well and his cruise car of choice is a boss1967 Oldsmobile he is in the process of restoring. His local cruise memories date back to the 1950s in Oakland, Hayward, San Leandro and Castro Valley.

He said be content if 300-400 cars showed up to participate during the first event and was blown away at the estimated 1,000 cars cruising Castro Valley last August.

“There were so many cars that came out of “Cruising was the thing to do. It would start on a the woodwork! There’s a lot of folks who Friday when folks would talk and make plans for don’t do the car shows anymore and bethat night,” Gordon said during a recent interview. cause cruise night is such a unique event, “The next thing you knew, everyone else heard it brought out people who are kind of about it and was out having a good time.” tired doing car shows,” Gordon added.

Arnie Gordon and his ‘67 Olds outside his antique shop “Aj’s Attic” on San Carlos Avenue

free showing of “American Graffiti”

Cruise Night is proud to partner with the new owners of the Chabot Theatre for a free showing of “American Graffiti” on August 24.

The classic cruising movie (rated PG) will be shown at Castro Valley’s landmark one screen theatre. On June 5, the theatre was purchased

by Smalltown Society in partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Hayward on Grove Way. CVN would like to thank theatre owner Paul

Keim and General Manager Joshua Caudle for helping make the free screening happen. Showing the movie and partnership with the Chabot accentuates the fact that Cruise Night is 100% for the people and merchants of Castro Valley.

The movie starts at 3PM and runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, giving you about 10 minutes prior to the cruise at 6PM. Please visit the concession stand at the Chabot and visit Castro Valley’s many restaurants and merchants!

Cruise Night Organizer : Sgt. JD Nelson

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office cruise car much more sporty. Nelson explained the ’49 is a unique and legitimate piece of local history. Nash was known for being a very heavy car that did not stop well, so the upgrades helped a lot.

“There was a local gentleman moving out of state and while downsizing to move, decided to donate Nelson said our first cruise night could this to us,” said ACSO Sgt. JD Nelson about their not have gone better. “There were no law classic black and white 1949 Nash police cruiser. enforcement problems and it was heartwarming to see the huge amount of famiThe previous owner was a law enforcement sup- lies of parents, kids and grandparents out porter who upgraded the Nash by installing a fuel to see all the cars cruising. It made cruise injected V-8 engine and disc brakes to make it night a really special family event,” he said.