SanTana Cruises into the Past

News this afternoon that the SanTana police department will shut down most of northbound Bristol Street until tomorrow morning to stem off car cruising is about as breaking as that the city is mostly Mexican. The city has unsuccessfully battled cruisers on Bristol for almost 20 years. In 1989, the city council officially banned cruising at the behest of Police Chief Paul Walters, but enforcing that ordinance failed so spectacularly that in 1993, 12 other police agencies helped SanTana black-and-whites to try and stop the pastime to the tune of $150,000. The city declared victoria in 1995, but the cruisers returned en force in 2001--and here we are again.

The funniest thing about this episode? Bristol is where SanTana Mayor Papi Pulido use to ride low and slow. This shocking revelation (the Papi is usually about as exciting as stucco) comes courtesy of Pulido himself. No, Papi didn't break his years-long embargo against the Weekly--at a 1995 City Council meeting, the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying, ""I used to cruise there, by the way," "there" referring to Bristol. Will we see the Papi flipping the hydraulics on a '65 Impala? Stay tuned...