Low & Slow: Lowrider Culture On The Border

Low & Slow: Lowrider Culture On The Border

In El Paso, Texas or Chuco, Tejas, the Lowrider is more than a weekend hobby. Lowriding is a way of life. It is not subculture to the Mexican American experience but part of a complex form of lived history and visual culture. It is a unique iteration of a deeply rooted tradition in auto-mobility. In El Paso, the lowrider could trace its earliest roots to the 1940s, most notably after the Second World War. Arguably, the trend originated in California and made its way to Texas. With the resurgence of full-scale car production after the war, affordable vehicles allowed the working class to access their own ranflas. By the 1970’s, lowriding was a well-known past time representative of a unique brand of “Americanness.” Lowriders were also part of a larger expression that included pachucos/pachucas with their zoot suit styling and cruising. This included an affinity for listening to “oldies.’’ The lowrider lifestyle with all its panache and florid expression is also a form of self-determination in the American visual landscape: a belief that Mexican-Americans resist mainstream aesthetics in favor of their own canon. In other words, to ride on one’s own terms, low & slow with ‘stilo. Low and Slow: Lowrider Culture on the Border has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Miss El Paso and Miss El Paso Teen

Miss El Paso 2014 and Miss Teen El Paso 2014. Miss El Paso ...

Miss El Paso and Miss Teen El Paso

Miss El Paso and Miss El Paso Teen for 2014. Miss El Paso ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair with friend after winning the Miss El Paso ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair receiving the title from Miss El Paso 2013.

Victoria Sinclair

Miss El Paso 2014 - Victoria Sinclair. Location was El Paso, ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair at the Miss El Paso contest. Location was El ...

Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014.

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair winning the Miss El Paso 2014 contest.

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair - Miss City Magazine 2014. She went on to ...

Victoria Sinclair - Miss City Magazine

Victoria Sinclair - Miss City Magazine 2014.

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair as Miss City Magazine. She went on to become ...

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014. Location was El Paso, ...

Victoria Sinclair

Miss El Paso 2014 contest in downtown El Paso, Texas.

Victoria Sinclair

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014.

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair - Miss El Paso 2014.

Victoria Sinclair

Miss El Paso 2014 contest in downtown El Paso, Texas.

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014 with Miss El Paso 2013.

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014 with mother, Liz Sinclair ...

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014 with Duv Kupver who did the ...

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014 with mother, Liz Sinclair ...

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso 2014.

Miss El Paso and Miss Teen El Paso

Victoria Sinclair, Miss El Paso 2014, Tulasi Gopalan, Miss Teen ...

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso finals 2014.=

Victoria Sinclair Miss El Paso finals 2014, first walk as Miss ...

home.search_collection