Lorenzo Otero has been spending his weekends with the lowriding community in Albuquerque since the ’80s. Back then lowriders would cruise near Tingley Beach and on the Westside, he says.
“I grew up in the Barelas neighborhood and lowriders were what we grew up with,” he says.
In the past 10 years, that movement has migrated to Downtown.
“Downtown is the heartbeat of Albuquerque,” says Otero about why cruising on Central Ave. is so important. “Think of Albuquerque as a human body. The blood starts flowing from Downtown, and without it, the city dies.”
Otero says lowriders were cruising Central Ave. every Sunday before the pandemic. They were a loud and proud family. “Tourists would look at the works of art we built,” he says. “They could feel the sense of love we had for each other and our cars.”
In 2005, the city made lowrider cruising illegal due to reports of street racing, fights and clogged streets. Otero says he went to City Councilor Klarissa Peña and asked for help. Peña owns a 1959 light pink Cadillac in which she is known to throw a cruise down Central Avenue.
“She understood the culture, what it was about and why it was so important to us. She did everything she could to help us get back to the streets,” says Otero.
In 2017, the city created a task force to make recommendations to promote responsible lowriding.
Then, on Nov. 2018, the city repealed the anti-lowrider ordinance and created a new ordinance promoting special interest vehicle recognition.
“I’ve raised my kids in this culture. We are familia,” Otero says.
City Desk ABQ photographer Roberto Rosales hung out Downtown on a Sunday to capture the scene as the warm weather arrives and the lowrider cruising community shows off their creations and custom rides along Central Avenue and in the Barelas neighborhood.
