'Best in Low' (lowriders), Los Angeles

Slow down! We're cruising, not drifting.

Over by the La Brea Tar Pits on Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles has a giant museum (temple) dedicated to the admiration (worship) of the automobile. Detroit may have built them, but they were built to be driven in LA, usually with the top down bathing in the sun, driving down Sunset Blvd. to the Santa Monica Bay. It's not very far, and if Sunset is too full of cruisers cruising American Graffiti style, it's east to jump on the Interstate 10 Freeway all the way down to the Pacific. The boulevard is called Sunset because this is where the sun sets, just as it rises on the Big Apple, a reference to forbidden carnal knowledge in the Garden of Eden. On the eve of Independence Day for Mexico, many Chicanos are having their cars on exhibit with a parade or caravan of vehicles to show off their slick rides near Little Ethiopia (Fairfax).

Cruise? It's time to peel out and get out!

(Petersen Automotive Museum) If you're lucky, you live in a town with a regular lowrider cruise, so you're familiar with the unexpected pleasure of seeing something glittering and striped in the next lane suddenly lift up like a stinkbug and drop low enough to drag sparks across the intersection.

Lowriding is a community activity like no other automotive subculture. The cars aren't built to be lightweight or quick in the canyons. They aren't for early morning drives or secret late-night meetups; they're designed to turn heads on the main street in town during prime time.

The goal is never to cross the line first, but to do it with the most style. At their most basic, lowriders are conversation starters; at their highest level, they are showstoppers.

All of this makes lowrider culture perfect for a museum exhibit, where those familiar with the art form can appreciate the chance to look more closely at cars they've only seen in motion, and those new to the scene can marvel, slack-jawed, at the incredible imagination, artistry, and history that goes into making the perfect lowrider.

Let's eat street Mexican food (cenavegan.com)

The new exhibit, "Best in Low," at the Petersen Automotive Museum (petersen.org) in Los Angeles is not the museum's first look at lowriders, but it is its best.

Walking through the gallery is like visiting the gemstone section of a natural history museum. Everything is sparkling and glowing, and a person could spend a whole day on a single car and not see every magical detail. More: Best in Low exhibit

Who cares about lowrider cars and culture?

• Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles (petersen.org); WAR; Cypress Hill; Korn; Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly