Crenshaw Motors Ford. Majestic Pontiac. O’Connor Lincoln-Mercury. In the 1950s and ’60s, car dealerships lined Crenshaw Boulevard, ready to serve the neighborhood’s rising Black middle class. Cars and Crenshaw have gone together ever since. To this day, enthusiasts drive their custom lowriders to “the Shaw” most weekends, looking to show off sleek chrome details and roaring engines, and to take part in this long-standing social ritual. But can Crenshaw Boulevard remain one of the most robust cruising scenes in the nation—stuck between repeated attempts by law enforcement to shut down lowrider parades and a new California law seeking to protect car culture in Crenshaw and beyond? And in what ways have Black Angelenos used car culture to advance the idea of “Sankofa,” the African concept of retrieving valuable knowledge from the past to build the future? 

Artist and sculptor Charles Dickson and Destination Crenshaw founding lead historian Larry Earl visit Zócalo to discuss Dickson’s sculpture, “Car Culture,” which will be on permanent display in Sankofa Park, and how monumental public art projects and cruising scenes throughout Southern California can bring people together across zip codes.

Zócalo invites our in-person audience to continue the conversation with our speakers and each other at a post-event reception with complimentary small bites and beverages.

This program is made possible by a generous contribution from Akieva and Martin Jacobs.

What Connects Us? A new transit stop and open air museum in South Los Angeles invites a neighborhood, city, and world to consider Black history, Black art, and Black success—and the ways they tie communities together. Zócalo Public Square and Destination Crenshaw partner on a new program series.