A sideshow (so-called in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

, and a street takeover in the Los Angeles area ) is an informal demonstration of automotive stunts now often held in vacant lots, and public intersections, originally seen in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

region of the San Francisco Bay Area,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Sideshows first appeared in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in the 1980s as informal social gatherings of Bay Area youth. Sideshows were made even more popular throughout the 1990s with such songs as Bay Area rapper Richie Rich's "Sideshow" anthem. "Down Bancroft / To the light / Let me warm it up, I hit a donut tight / Chevy on my side / Windows straight tinted / He got hype when he saw me spinnin’ / I’m up outta there, sideways to the next light"

History

Sideshows first emerged on the streets of Oakland, California during the mid 1980s. The first sideshows were originally ad hoc carshows where people would congregate in the

Eastmont Mall Eastmont Town Center is a shopping mall and social services hub located on bounded by Foothill Boulevard, Bancroft Avenue, 73rd Avenue, and Church Street, in the Frick neighborhood of East Oakland. The mall opened in phases between 1966 and 19 ...

or Foothill Square parking lot. The original intent of the sideshows at this time was for people to show off their cars, usually American muscle cars made by General Motors and Ford from the 1960s and 1970s. These cars were often highly customized with elaborate paint jobs, all leather interiors, tinted windows, wire rims and modified high performance engines. Around the early 1990s, sideshows grew so popular that they had outgrown the parking lots of Eastmont Mall and Foothill Square. By the mid '90s, the sideshow became the alternative hot spot for those too young to gain entrance into 21 and over nightclubs. In the 21st century, sideshows have become increasingly popular in other cities, such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Activities

Common activities at sideshows include doughnuts and

ghostriding , frequently used in the context of "ghost riding the whip" (a "whip" being a vehicle) or simply , is when a person exits their moving vehicle, and dances beside and around it. American rapper E-40's 2006 song "Tell Me When to Go" produced by ...

.{{cite book, last=Tilton, first=Jennifer, title=Dangerous Or Endangered?: Race and the Politics of Youth in Urban America, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2wTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156, access-date=November 16, 2015, date=October 3, 2010, publisher=NYU Press, isbn=9780814783122, pages=156– The latter involves driving a car, opening the door and climbing out, blasting off,{{Definition needed, date=March 2022 sometimes onto the hood, sometimes standing or dancing next to the car while the car continues to roll. Violent incidents, including fights and shootings, sometimes occur at the events.

Law enforcement

To crack down on the illegal sideshows, the

Oakland Police Department The Oakland Police Department (OPD) is a law enforcement agency responsible for policing the city of Oakland, California, United States. As of May 2021, the department employed 709 sworn officers and 371 civilian employees. The department is di ...

opened a police substation at Eastmont Mall and set up "No Cruising Zones" along International Boulevard. In efforts to keep the events from spreading west to Downtown Oakland, an additional no cruising law was established along Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue in 1996. The phenomenon is most strongly associated with the city of

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

(the birthplace of the sideshow), with the events there often being attended by those in the hip hop community. Such events are promoted in local rap by artists including

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, ...

.{{rp, 256 On June 8, 2005, the Oakland City Council narrowly defeated a measure (pushed by then-mayor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

) which would have subjected spectators at sideshows to criminal sanctions, such as fines and even jail terms. Drivers face various penalties, including having their cars impounded. On April 30, 2019, the San Jose City Council passed an ordinance making spectators punishable with a fine of up to $1,000 and 6 months in jail.{{cite news, title=Watching a sideshow in San Jose is now a crime, author=Alexa Mae Asperin, date=May 1, 2019, access-date=May 1, 2019, url=https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/watching-a-sideshow-in-san-jose-is-now-a-crime/1969817695

References

{{reflist Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area Automotive events Culture of Oakland, California

History

Activities

Law enforcement

See also

References