Am I dreaming, or have the teenaged Patton Avenue cruisers finally parked their cars?
The past couple of weekends, I’ve had occasion to drive Patton Avenue around 10 p.m. or so, and I was shocked — there were no revving motors, no long lines of kids lined up at every red light to cruise the strip. What’s going on? Even during the gas crisis of last fall, I saw kids in cars, cruising.
But the ritual — which required police officers to swamp Patton Avenue each night at midnight to break up the fun — appears to have ended. And what a ritual it was. Teens have been parading up and down Patton for decades. I’m not sure when the tradition started, but it’s been going strong since I can remember.
Has anybody else noticed? Is this the end of an era?
8 Comments
Hey my name is Brent, I recently got everyone back to cruising patton in faith to get everyone to stop sitting at home doped up on drugs and doing nothing every weekend but sitting at home. Last weekend it was a success so I hope to have more people out this coming weekend. I have made a group for Patton on facebook here is the email if anyone is interested in joining.
pattonlife@groups.facebook.com
Nachtwulf — Very insightful.
As the mom of a cruising-age teen, I would say the disappearance of cruisers on Patton is due to:
1. Technology: They’d rather sit in their comfy rooms on the damned computer than actually socialize with people who are not on their damned computers.
2. Laziness: Ttey’d rather sit in their comfy rooms on the damner computer than move across the room, much less move around the house or Buncome County.
3. No money: Since they can’t buy cars and gas to cruise — they’d rather sit in their comfy rooms on the damned computer than move across the room, much less around the house or the county, or Heaven FORBID — get a job — so they’re broke.
Sorry for the vent, but I’m pissed about the price of prom attire.
Damned kids.
perhaps everyone is at home on their facebook?
That is a huge story! We used to avoid Patton Avenue on Friday nights. For it to just disappear is a giant cultural shift. Maybe the kids have a cruisin’ video game.
Nope… you’re not crazy.
Short Answer: "Yes, the era is pretty much ending."
Long Answer: There’s been a marked "change" in the "climate" on Patton Av, that’s contributing to decreases in cruising every year for the last few. IMHO, there’s a few things that contributed to it:
1) A lot of the cruisers that used to populate have hit their thirties and forties now. As they moved out, a new, younger set seemed to move in.
2) Many of the shop owners on Patton began to crack down a bit as the younger set began to get a bit more… err… "disrespectful" of the properties there. In result, a lot of the side areas were put off limits and/or patrolled more heavily.
3) The newer set also seemed to be a bit more disrespectful of each other as well. Take that as you like, but it did cause an increased set of problems for APD to have to sort out. (It moved from loud music and the occasion race, to fist-fights, drunk-and-disorderly, and the occasional casualty)
4) Other elements began to become more evident and/or vocal:
a) Church groups began to show up with their"missions" to "save" the youth. While well within their right, they tend to take up a lot of the available hang-out space left to the cruisers, and tend to be pretty loud in their own right… not too mention creating some conflicts that wouldn’t normally have manifested.
b) Fly-by-night businesses opening and closing and drawing all sorts of new issues.
c) The more-than-rare appearance of the "fringe nut cases" determined to make their opinions known or have their fun and everyone else be damned. (Case in point: Nothing shuts down the good times more than a loud, obnoxious beater of a truck with large pictures of aborted fetuses on it NOT being stopped and hauled away by APD. Same for the ludicrously jacked-up trucks of young "Sons of the South" with the proud rebel banners… not an issue in it self, but adding to that the racial and cultural remakes being yelled from the beds)
d) The inevitable culture clashes, as Patton become more racially diverse.
5) Personally… Checkers burning down didn’t help. Old Fashioned Drive-Ins tend to bring in nostalgia groups like the car collectors… take em away and those guys tend to go with them. Say what you will, but it’s groups like those that legitimize "Cruising" as more than just "a bunch-of-kids-with-nothing-better-to-do."
6) The Gas Gouging didn’t help much either.
Unfortunately, all this leads to cruising becoming less apparent on Patton (and around the country, were the scope to expand.)
I’ve always thought it more of a warm-weather initiative–no?
Judgeyall, i don’t know! I’m going to have to investigate, though. It’s a huge change.
THANK YOU! We thought we were crazy. We freaked on Friday when there were no cruisers, or people hanging at the various eateries on Patton at 9pm.
It was also empty at the new cinema down south andI dont hear the motorcycles like I used to back in my Erwin area. Whats going on Ash?!