No Cruising Zone?!

"yitznewton" (yitznewton) 07/25/2016 at 09:01 • Filed to: None

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Freedommmm! I just saw these for the first time, in downtown Atlanta. Glad they don’t have these where I like to drive.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:08

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They’re using the old gay term cruising. They aren’t very progressive in Georgia.

Birddog > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:13

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I haven’t seen signs like that since the early 90s!

TheRealBicycleBuck > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:20

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The authorities didn’t bother to post “No Cruising” signs when I was a kid. They just made it illegal to turn left from 8 pm to 6 am. The businesses that catered to the kids weren’t happy with that decision. Everyone else was happy to see us go.

atrombs > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:28

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So this is to stop people from just driving around? I’m not sure I totally understand it.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 07/25/2016 at 09:28

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Cruising in this case is by no means the uniquely gay use. You’ve never seen American Graffiti? Also, Atlanta - where this is =/= “Georgia” in general. ATL is a city with multiple gay areas, most particularly immediate north downtown (Piedmont Park, etc.) and elsewhere. This sign looks like it might be along Ponce, which is on the way toward the very gay-friendly Decatur. No, the Atlanta areas that put up these signs are typically Progressive with a capital P, but paranoid about gang-related cruising (you know, with an automobile) and traffic. Also, with a bent toward heavy authority.

But no, let’s use this opportunity to slam ig’nant sutherners.

450X_FTW > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:31

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This may be one of the dumbest signs I’ve ever seen. How dare people spend their money by driving past this point at a rate of more than once an hour!?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > atrombs 07/25/2016 at 09:35

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Cruising in the automotive sense is something there was a worry about back in the day, in the sense of groups of youth driving up and down, and up and down, and up and down, at all hours of the night (see the early elements of this in American Graffiti), and more recently the idea that gang-bangers like to patrol their turf. The THOSE DARN KIDS aspect of cruising has faded away since its peak, but the signs still go up.

wiffleballtony > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:36

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I’d like to know how that’s even enforceable.

TheRealBicycleBuck > atrombs 07/25/2016 at 09:38

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It’s to stop kids from cruising up and down the street on Friday and Saturday nights. In a small town, it’s not a big deal. When you get a regional cruise going, it can take an hour or more just to drive a mile. This effectively shuts down the area for through traffic. Not a big deal if there are alternate routes, but in some places it’s a huge problem. Add in the noise, the fights, and the litter they leave behind, and some cities would just rather shut it down.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 09:39

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ATLiens

McMike > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:41

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This is ghost rider, requesting drive by.

Damn, that’s twice.

kanadanmajava1 > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 07/25/2016 at 09:44

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In Finland we still use the term and we aren’t even bothering to translate it. But the form has transformed into a big gathering instead of of driving across the city. It’s more like a cars and coffee but most spectators choose beer instead.

In our law it reads that “unnecessary or disturbing driving is prohibited in urban areas”. Certain cities have been enforcing this law by fining cars that seem to driving across city centers for long time. As it is mentioned in the law they don’t have to mention that in this area they will fine you. In most cities police doesn’t care about this if you aren’t hooning or making too much noise.

But this isn’t “cruising”. Cruising is only a scheduled gathering and this pointless driving with friends and usually beer is “pilluralli” (pillu translate to a certain part of female anatomy).

Tekamul > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 09:45

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So I assume parking is real easy to find in Atlanta?

Because on a Friday or Saturday night, in my very small city, people drive round and round trying to find a spot. They are not cruising.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Tekamul 07/25/2016 at 10:05

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Parking is easy to find in Atlanta if you don’t mind paying out the nose for it and being nowhere near your destination. Downtown, anyway. Lots with $5/hour type charges on up, depending on how close you are to something important. Of course, plenty of businesses have sufficient parking, but some don’t. It’s best in these cases to have a native guide.

The place you’re most likely to see a no cruising sign is on a main boulevard like North Avenue, Tenth, or Ponce de Leon, which, if you expect to find street parking on any time other than late weekdays or Sunday is not going to happen. Very often the best option (depending where you are) is just to drive until you hit a MARTA station with parking deck and use that, even if you aren’t riding a train or bus anywhere.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Tekamul 07/25/2016 at 10:10

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Good point, I would find it hilarious to see someone get ticketed for this while looking for parking. This sign is a blatant violation of MURICA FREEDOM!

Tekamul > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 10:21

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Lots with $5/hour

Good god.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Tekamul 07/25/2016 at 10:26

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^I ain’t lyin’. That’s the official Peachtree Center garage, rather than the street level lots in the general area, which are simplified to more like the $5/hr type setups - or in some case $25 a day or such like.

DipodomysDeserti > kanadanmajava1 07/25/2016 at 10:26

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Is that a giant, orange, lifted Blazer...in Finland!

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 10:29

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Umm, people still cruise all the time. As long as there’s still nothing to do on weekends, people will resort to cruising.

DipodomysDeserti > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 10:29

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Eazy E would not approve.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > wiffleballtony 07/25/2016 at 10:31

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I know that some cities have plate readers installed along the main cruise routes. So if they get a hit on your plate however many times in the specified time frame, you get a ticket in the mail.

kanadanmajava1 > DipodomysDeserti 07/25/2016 at 10:31

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Yes. It’s quite high. The owner is pretty nice guy and visits the gatherings nearly always. I probably have a better picture of it in my home computer. This is the best that I could find from the web.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 07/25/2016 at 10:31

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True, but it’s probably some time past its peak, isn’t so focused on a narrow drunk youth demographic (though that would depend on region), and is no longer the topic of hysteria as much as it once was.

Ferdinand Adlersflügel > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 10:33

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11/10 can confirm Decatur has the gay. good times

Tatanko > wiffleballtony 07/25/2016 at 10:34

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We had slightly vaguer local ordinances where I’m from, and when we used to cruise around downtown when I was in high school, we just used every possible loophole to avoid getting in trouble.

Ours was something along the lines of, “Cannot drive the same route through the borough more than twice in a row.” So we would do two laps of downtown, then an outside loop, then two more laps of town, etc. We’d also stop and hang out in parking lots or parallel parked on the street, and just talk about cars and stuff. It was people anywhere from 16 to 40+ years old, even some older guys in classics. Completely harmless, little to no street racing (I’m sure it occurred when I wasn’t looking, we are talking about the mid-2000's in a town with nothing to do).

Of course there was an old man in a shitty old pickup truck who had nothing better to do on a Friday/Saturday night than follow us around and report us to the police for any little thing at all. I think they just ignored him after a while because he was never able to provide any evidence of wrongdoing and the police knew he was just being a grumpy asshole.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Ferdinand Adlersflügel 07/25/2016 at 10:40

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To clarify, I am not myself possessed of the gay, but it would take a blind man not to note that Piedmont Park and Decatur and portions of Little Five Points can haz. Heck, even some areas out toward Howell Mill, I think.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Tekamul 07/25/2016 at 10:42

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Downtown Nashville in some places is $6 per hour.

Ferdinand Adlersflügel > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 10:45

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everyone has a little gay and that’s okay

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Ferdinand Adlersflügel 07/25/2016 at 10:47

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Now that you mention it, if we play to stereotype I *am* somewhat of a color snob...

HammerheadFistpunch > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 11:13

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THOSE BASTARDS! Cruising is all I do? Or is it cruisering?

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/25/2016 at 13:00

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So many Peachtrees in Atlanta...

yitznewton > Tekamul 07/25/2016 at 13:55

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All of us from NYC laugh at your $5/hr indignation

yitznewton > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 07/25/2016 at 13:56

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For real, I got lost yesterday.

wiffleballtony > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 07/25/2016 at 14:04

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Yeah but it’s not necessarily the same person driving the car each time.

Matt Nichelson > yitznewton 07/25/2016 at 14:13

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Kind of a random thought, but would somebody doing pizza delivery be excluded? I mean, there are probably other routes they could take, but still.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > yitznewton 07/29/2016 at 00:29

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These signs used to be everywhere in California back in the 90s. As a kid I always thought, “How the @#$% could a cop tell if my Cruise Control was on?”