'Auto Trends' Talks To Photographer Kristin Bedford About Her Book 'Cruise Night'

 

Throughout this radio season, Auto Trends with JeffCars.com has aired several shows focusing on the lowrider Mexican-American community. The subject matter has ranged from discriminatory cruising practices to a pioneering school system teaching a lowrider electric vehicle conversion course.

This weekend we wrap up the final leg of our lowrider discussion, talking to photographer Kristian Bedford. The author joins Auto Trends with JeffCars.com to discuss the second edition of her book Cruise Night. Bedford's photographic book documents the Los Angeles area lowrider community. 

'Auto Trends' Talks To One Of The First High Schools In The U.S. To Create An EV Conversion Class

 

Instructor Hartman and his class pose with the 1964 Chevy Impala convertible they are converting to a lowrider electric vehicle. (Photo Credit: GCC)

This week on Auto Trends with JeffCars.com we talk to California's Gateway Community Charters (GCC). As the country slowly shifts toward electric vehicles (EV), this Northern California school system has become one of the first in the country to create an EV curriculum. What makes this program so unique is that the school system has decided to focus on lowrider vehicles, which was birthed out of the Hispanic culture. 

Being that Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy (SAVA), a GCC charter school, where the course is being offered, caters to a student population with a high concentration of Latino and Black students, this makes perfect sense that the school has chosen to convert a lowrider gasoline car to an all-electric vehicle.

'Auto Trends' Explores The Lowrider Culture, Reversing California's Discriminatory Cruising Policies And EVs

Olivia Fonseca, who is a member of the Sacramento Lowrider Commission, is featured with her 1950s Chevrolet lowrider. (Photo Credit: OF)

This weekend on Auto Trends with JeffCars.com Olivia Fonseca and Joe Ayala, who are members of Sacramento Lowrider Commission, joins us to talk about the history and lifestyle of the lowrider culture. 

We'll also explore how the California-based advocacy organization is helping to infuse lowrider electric vehicle education in the school system. 

More importantly, we'll discuss the instrumental role this group played in reversing discriminatory cruising polices targeting Hispanic and Latino communities throughout the state of California. In fact, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Saturday, October 14 lifting the restriction on lowriding cruising that was enacted in the 1950s.