From the kiddos bravely taking Valencia’s center lanes on trikes, to the Aztec dancers performing by the 24th street BART, to the hipster dance party pouring out of the well-loved Victorian across the street, yesterday’s Sunday Streets in the Mission felt more like a living Mona Caron mural than anything I’ve seen in this berg in some time. Hell, it even brought out some pinko rhetoric from the mayor.
But – heresy alert — the dopest part was the cars.The Inspirations Car Club and friends, to be exact – a group that styled out the premiere of La Mision last year and can be counted on to lend pachuco flash to Bay Area car shows and community events — launched a lowrider parade from Alabama and 24th, after dealing with some brief mechanical difficulties (you try making you car drive on two wheels and then talk to me about engine maintenance). The procession made its neon green, hydraulic jumping way north en route to drop some more jaws. Or in the case of the well-meaning liberal gringo daddy to my right, raise some fists and elicit some awkward white person hoots. Today the club’s Facebook page exults over the “drooling gringos,” as well it should.
Sure, in a Mona Caron mural all those Buick Regals and Chevy Impalas would be revving on electricity or potato peels or some such thing, but dayum – every once in a while you’ve got to give it up for a fly gas guzzler. Tell you what, Hummers have never looked this good, and we support any sign that the old school Mission homies are hanging onto their neighborhood — in style.
