Fast Cars, Cool Rides: The Accelerating World of Youth and Their Cars

268 Pages·2005·2.3 MB·English

by  Amy Best

Fast Cars, Cool Rides

Fast Cars,
Cool Rides
The Accelerating World of
Youth and Their Cars
Amy L. Best
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
new york university press
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2006 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Best, Amy L., 1970–
Fast cars, cool rides : the accelerating world of youth and their cars /
Amy L. Best.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8147-9930-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8147-9930-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8147-9931-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8147-9931-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Youth—California—San Jose. 2. Automobiles—Social aspects—
California—San Jose. 3. Subculture—California—San Jose.
I. Title.
HQ796.B432 2005
305.235'09794'09045—dc22 2005019161
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my daughter Ella and her father Christopher

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Fasten Your Seatbelts 1
I Cool Rides
1 Cruising Slow and Low: Young Chicanos/as
Ride the Streets 27
2 Sex-in’ the Car: Girls and Car Cruising 56
3 Race-ing Men: Boys, Risk, and the Politics of Race 80
II Fast Times
4 Car Privileges: Family Rules and Permission to Drive 109
5 The Road to Nowhere: Consumer Culture and the
Price of Freedom 135
Conclusion: The Ride of Your Life 159
Appendix 173
Notes 191
References 231
Index 247
About the Author 257
vii

Acknowledgments
As ever, I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to my parents,
Natalie Best and Gary Best, who taught me not only how to drive (a
painful process for us all!) but how to live a full life. My sister Chris-
tine’s strength and goodness, have always anchored me. A great many
people helped with this book, among them family and friends. Thank
you to Helene Holland, Allan Kushen, Ira Margulies, Kevin McCauley,
Terry McCauley, Barbara Pettus, Linda Pincus, Jeff Rodgers, Jonathan
and Sarah Rodgers, and Vivian Taylor for support shown in ways both
big and small.
This book was completed because of the support I received from
George Mason University, especially the Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, and from San Jose State University. Without a number of
grants awarded by San Jose State University, collecting data for this pro-
ject would have been more difficult than it was. Carol Ray willingly
read each of the chapters I wrote, providing extensive comments that
meaningfully shaped its outcome. Susan Murray, A. G. Rud, Judith
Barker, and Julian Keenan also provided welcomed comment. Other
colleagues, including Peter Chua, Diane Myers-Lipton, Scott Myers-
Lipton, Bob Gliner, Rona Halualani, and Elena Klaw, also provided a
meaningful intellectual space for me to develop many of the ideas that
appear in the pages that follow. I’d like to thank all the members of the
Department of Sociology at San Jose State University for their genuine
collegiality during my time there. I am beholden to my students from
San Jose State University, who played a significant role in this project.
The classroom served as an exhilarating intellectual space for me to
share ideas as I moved through this project. A number of my students,
most from Silicon Valley, provided valuable information, contacts, and
suggestions for additional research directions as this project developed.
I am especially grateful for the excellent work of Maria Flores, Carmen
Garcia, Danette Garcia, Robert Trade, Jason Yates, Felicia Dolores,
ix