Lowriding is more than just cars. It's about family and culture for Mexican Americans

CHICAGO (AP) — For Luis Martinez, competing in lowriding bike and car competitions is about more than glory and bragging rights. The lowrider clubs in the Chicago area have become like one big family and a source of mutual support.

“It just starts with the metal,” said Martinez, who got his introduction to lowrider culture when his mother took him to a flea market. He had his first bike when he was 12.

“To me, it’s about expressing my art and what I can do with my own hands,” Martinez told The Associated Press as he polished a shiny red bike at his home in Mishawaka, Indiana.

A movement of expression with origins in Mexican American and Chicano communities, lowriding is an aspect of Latino history in the U.S. in which people show their pride, honor family and uplift culture. But misrepresentation of the culture in entertainment and media has often associated the lowriding’s “low and slow” motto with gang culture.

Still, decades since its emergence, and as the Hispanic U.S. population increases, lowriding has experienced a boom, as evidenced by an increase in car shows and conventions nationwide.

Lowriding involves the customization of a vehicle — from the tires to the sound system — with vivid designs and colors. Unlike hot rods or muscle cars, which are often modified to have big tires and move at high speeds, the lowrider community modified the cars and bikes to go “low and slow,” said Alberto Pulido, the chair of the Ethnic Studies department at the University of San Diego.

“It was a way to speak to an identity, a presence and it was done with few resources,” said Pulido, who also directed the award-winning documentary, “Lowriding: Everything Comes From the Streets.”

“Our community didn’t have a lot of money,” he said. “They might have had a little bit expendable income to buy a car but then they were kind of on their own to create their vehicles. We call that Chicano ingenuity.”

According to Pulido, lowriding originated in the Southwest, although there are disputes about where exactly it first appeared. Pulido said lowriders in Los Angeles would like to make the claim they were the first, while those in San Diego want their undeniable influence in the culture acknowledged.

The culture can be traced to post-World War II, when veterans were coming home with an expendable income. And with the growth of highways and freeways in California, people wanted to modify their vehicles, Pulido said.

Today, conventions attract enthusiasts from all over the U.S. Last month, what was once a small showcase with only 40 lowriders at Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, grew to over 300 lowriders from clubs across the U.S.

Hector Gonzalez, of the Lincoln Park Conservation Committee, said the car clubs help members travel to all the showcases in the nation. In the ’70s and ’80s, lowrider clubs became a representation of the community and offered mutual aid such as ride-sharing and food donations when the local government could not or would not, Gonzalez said.

“It is something that gets passed on from generation to generation,” said Gonzalez, who, like most lowriders, was introduced to the community with a bike at the young age of 13. He has passed on his love for lowriding to his own children, nephews and cousins

“Kids grow up seeing the cars, they pick it up and they carry on the tradition,” Gonzalez said.

Lauren Pacheco, co-founder and co-curator of the Slow and Low Chicago Low Rider Festival, described lowriding as a global, multibillion-dollar phenomenon of self-expression and innovation.

“It’s a marvel of mechanical innovation,” Pacheco said. “It is the beautiful artistry in the creative practice of muralism, storytelling and upholstery.”

Within the last decade, lowrider conventions have grown so much that they’ve made their way to Japan. In Nagoya, Japanese lowriders have modified their cars, created clubs and even come to events at Chicano Park in San Diego.

Appreciation for lowriding has increased in recent years, enthusiasts say. But that was not always the case.

In the beginning, lowriding was associated with harmful stereotypes about Latinos as gangsters, Pulido said. Because the culture involved predominantly Latino participants, lowriding became racialized and that overshadowed the artistic and community service aspects of the movement.

The 1979 thriller-drama “Boulevard Nights” also helped to perpetuate the lowriders as gangsters trope. The film’s main character, Raymond Avila, played by Richard Yñiguez tried to avoid getting lured into the violent street gangs of East Los Angeles. Lowriding vehicles and the lowrider “cholo” aesthetic was featured throughout the film.

While the perception of lowriding has since gotten better, Pulido said he has been to lowriding car shows where police immediately show up.

Martinez, the Indiana lowrider, said lowriding misconceptions grew in the Chicago area because the community members were tattooed in ways often associated with gang affiliation. Pacheco said the Chicago festival works to dispel those misconceptions.

“We really try not to create a space that glamorizes or romanticizes gang culture,” she said. “It’s really a celebration of creativity and innovation and family.”

Gonzalez, the Texas lowriding showcase organizer, said the culture’s focus on wheels, hydraulic systems and accessories, has helped lowriding become a booming industry.

In El Paso, people have opened small businesses orientated to the lowriding community. In the last couple of years, at least 25 new businesses opened, including body shops, upholstery shops and apparel shops, Gonzalez said.

“It has become a mainstream business,” he said. “Back in the 70s and 80s, it was more of a local thing. Everybody helping each other do things on their own. Now there’s just all kinds of opportunities to purchase things and have things done to your vehicle.”

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Martinez said he would buy the parts he needed from a man in his neighborhood, who would buy in bulk from Lowrider magazine. He said the unfortunate thing about lowriding becoming so big is parts are now mass produced from China instead of being Mexican made.

But lowriding is not just about the often pricey task of modifying cars, Pulido said. It is about building a community that is always there for each other, throughout generations, he said.

“We have grandparents that are lowriders and then their kids and their grandkids are in tune already,” Pulido said.

It's a legacy that Sonia Gomez wants for her 8-year-old son, Daniel Marquez. His late father, Alberto Marquez, had been a member of a Chicago area lowrider club. Too young to drive the car left to him by his father, Daniel has a lowriding bike that is more of a memorial to his dad.

“The bike is what he’s doing to build it up,” Gomez said.

The family will do an ofrenda, a display often associated with Mexican Dia de los Muertos celebrations, when local lowriding festivals are held. As part of the ofrenda, Daniel takes an image he has with his father on a lowriding bike and places it next to his actual bike, which he named “Wishing on a Star.”

“We would either go on a (lowriding) cruise with my uncle, or we would go to actual car shows,” Daniel recently recalled, while sitting at the driver's seat of his dad's lowriding car parked in the driveway of their home in Frankfort, Illinois.

“My mom would be there,” he said pointing to the passenger seat. “And I'd be back there all squished.”

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A mural depicting a Mexican American woman is pictured at Lincoln Park during a lowrider exhibition for its 20th anniversary in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Kenneth Santillan, of San Antonio, Texas sits at the steering wheel of a 1993 Nissan Hardbody at a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A family visits a vintage car during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A family looks at vintage cars during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Santos Gonzalez sits between a 1939 and a 1949 Chevy vintage cars during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A gold lowrider car is on display at the Slow & Low Chicago Lowrider Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at Navy Pier in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A Day of the Dead altar is placed next to a lowrider car on display at the Slow & Low Chicago Lowrider Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at Navy Pier in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Daniel Marquez, 7. is reflected in the mirror of his chrome lowrider bike, built by himself and family friends in memory of his late father Alberto, a longtime member of lowrider car clubs, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A detail of 7-year-old Daniel Marquez's chrome lowrider bike, built by Daniel and family friends in memory of his late father Alberto, a longtime member of lowrider car clubs, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A sash paying tribute to the late Alberto Marquez adorns a Uso Car Club plaque attached to a custom chrome lowrider bike built by his 7-year-old son Daniel and family friends Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A photo of baby Daniel Marquez, now seven years old, sitting on his late father Alberto's lap inside their 1963 Chevy Impala lowrider car, is displayed with a custom chrome lowrider bike built by Daniel and family friends Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A detail of the lowrider bike custom-built by Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A detail of the lowrider bike custom-built by Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A detail of the lowrider bike custom-built by Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Daniel Marquez, 7, sits inside his late father Alberto's 1963 Chevy Impala lowrider car Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, cleans his custom-built lowrider bike Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

University of San Diego professor Alberto Lopez Pulido waves from his mobile classroom bus while attending a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Wearing Zoot suits of the Mexican American subculture known as Pachucos, Cisco and Güera Martinez pose for a photo while attending a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Hugo Cardenas, wearing a Zoot suit of the Mexican American subculture known as Pachucos, dances while attending a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A folklorico ballet dancer performs during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

University of San Diego professor Alberto Lopez Pulido smiles while speaking with attendees of a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Hugo Cardenas and Araceli Martinez, wearing Zoot suits of the Mexican American subculture known as Pachucos, dance while attending a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A detail of the lowrider bike custom-built by Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club who was born in Mexico, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Details of the lowrider bike custom-built by Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Luis Martinez, 29, a member of the Uso Chicago Car Club, sits on his custom-built lowrider bike Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Mishawaka, Ind. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A detail of 7-year-old Daniel Marquez's chrome lowrider bike, built by Daniel and family friends in memory of his late father Alberto, a longtime member of lowrider car clubs, can be seen Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Seven-year-old Daniel Marquez sits on his chrome lowrider bike, custom-built by himself and family friends in memory of his late father Alberto, a longtime member of lowrider car clubs, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at his home in Frankfort, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The decorated interior of a Monte Carlo vintage car is pictured during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Vintage cars are pictured during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

An orange lowrider car is on display at the Slow & Low Chicago Lowrider Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at Navy Pier in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A lowrider car is on display at the Slow & Low Chicago Lowrider Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at Navy Pier in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

American and Mexican flags decorate a vintage car during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

The decorated interior of a vintage car is pictured during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

A Chevrolet vintage car is pictured during a lowrider exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Wearing Zoot suits of the Mexican American subculture known as Pachucos, Paula, Jacob, center, and Junior Hernandez pose for a photo while attending a lowrider exhibition during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Attendees of a lowrider exhibition, wearing Zoot suits of the Mexican American subculture known as Pachucos, pose for a photo on a vintage car during the 20th anniversary of Lincoln Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day's outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”

The House approved Johnson's new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

President Joe Biden, who has played a less public role in the process throughout a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

“There will be no government shutdown," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.

Trump's last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.

The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels through March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.

But it's far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

House Democrats were cool to the latest effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.

“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.

Still, the House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill's passage. Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it.

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan.

In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said Musk's interference was “not democracy, that's oligarchy.”

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump's not fearful of shutdowns the way lawmakers are, having sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.

More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn't want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation's borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. "Without this, we should never make a deal."

Government workers had already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown that would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.

Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”

As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”

At one point, Johnson asked House Republicans at a lunchtime meeting for a show of hands as they tried to choose the path forward.

It wasn’t just the shutdown, but the speaker’s job on the line. The speaker’s election is the first vote of the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and some Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.

Johnson said he spoke to Musk ahead of the vote Friday and they talked about the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)