This is the ninth annual dream cruise and it sucks. I was here last year and it sucked then too.
For those of you who do not know, the Dream Cruise takes place on a 13 or 14 mile stretch of Woodward Ave, one of the main roads in suburban Detroit, Michigan. People come from all around to show off their old cars and cruise up and down the street. Now, that does not sound so bad, but when you throw in 30,000 people showing up, some with cars, some without, lots of punks cruising around and making noise and lighting up their tires at every stop light and the police closing off freeway exits and directing everything on to Woodward, you might be able to see why I hate it, especially as I live a block off Woodward.
Last year we went out for dinner and spent over an hour getting the 4 miles back to our house because the police decided we could not get off at our usual exit but instead had to travel 10 miles out of our way and join in with the tail end of the cruise :smack:
This year, because of the power outage, there was nothing to drink at any of the stands near where we live except for iced tea and fruit smoothies. When I inquired about getting some water the stall holders told me they were not allowed to sell water because the city was selling it. Unfortunately the city stand was nowhere to be found. Rather than let the vendors sell water, they would have everyone go without. Way to go.
I fucking hate the dream cruise. Next year we are going out of town.
I live 1/4 mile from Woodward, in the mighty burgh of Royal Oak. I understand that people like their old cars, and want to show them off. But why not ‘The Gratiot Dream Cruise’? Why the hell do Royal Oak and Birmingham have to suffer?
I can’t imagine it is too good for local businesses, since so many shutdown to accomadate gawker parking. No carryout Buddys for me tonight. No restocking the fridge at Papa Joes. No pleasant dinner at 220s, because Roscoe needs to ‘burn out’ his 76’ Diablo Stallion, along with ~1,000,000,000 others…
On a happy note, Ottowa had more cases of looting than Detroit during the blackout
Uh, guys, you do know why they picked Woodmont, don’t you? Back in the 60s, it was the car cruise place to go. The car makers would show up with their latest creations and drag race the kids in them. In car circles, the time and place of Woodmont in the 60s is legendary.
None of that, of course, means that it doesn’t suck to be stuck there. I’m sure it does. I suggest getting one of those cars with the really stereo systems and joining the cruise while blaring Lawrence Welk music at full volume (wear earplugs, of course). That should let them know what you’re going through!
Tuckerfan, Woodward may have been the place to take cars in the 60s, but I’m sure there was not as much traffic on the roads or as many people living here.
I wouldn’t mind so much if it was just old cars, but every man and his dog seems to come out in all sorts of cars. We saw a Ford Focus cruising the other day. No one can call that a classic car by any stretch of the imagination.
[hijack]Speaking of testing cars and stuff, twice in the last several months we have been behind a car all covered in a black canvas cover. It has happened to us while driving in to work down Woodward. And guess what, they were both SUVs.[/hijack]
And no one ever will, hopefully. That car has all the appeal of a colon gopher.
**
Carry a camera with you, next time you see one of those, take pictures, lots of 'em. Sell 'em to car mags for big bux, use that to pay for your vacation away from there next year.
They fucking closed Woodward (N. of 696) at ~22:00, I assume to clear traffic. To add insult to injury, they also closed off traffic on Hilton, 9 Mile (understandably; There was a ferris wheel in the road) part of Coolige…The humanity.
As the sign on the Magic Bag Theater said, ‘Cruisers hurt local business’.
Anyhoo, Gratiot Ave. was also a big cruising strip back in the day, and has the added bonus of not being near me.
That whole event looks like a fucking nightmare on wheels. Apparently more and more people have been participating even if they don’t have a classic car and aren’t a part of the classic car “culture.”
Sure it’s a free country and all, but it sounds like the volume of cars makes the thing unmanageable.
I went to the third, fifth, and seventh Woodward cruises. I will never go back. The cars have lost their appeal to me, and the place is too damn crowded. There’s too much other cool stuff on Woodward to waste it on the cruise. Hell, you can’t even get to BD’s or the place with the sweet patio (I was too drunk to remember the name) between 9 and 10 mile while the cruise is going on.
Cruising, in general, is bothering me now. There’s even an official cruise out by my parent’s house in Chester-freaking-field township. Yeah, because it was so cool to cruise the unpaved section of Gratiot between M59 and 23 Mile Road back in the '60’s. I think this may be the year the bubble bursts on the cruises. With a crap economy, some people won’t be able to afford all of the toys, and the Birmingham area can return to normal in future Augusts.
Sorry to kinda hijack you here, but I was going to come home this weekend until I found out that the cruise was happening. If I can’t go to any bars in Royal Oak or Ferndale, why bother?
Also, bonus points if you knew where Chesterfield Township is before this post.
Brutus, I think that is what caught us out last year. We usually get off 696 at the Cambell-Hilton exit but it was closed.
I can certainly understand how the cruise hurts some local businesses. There is one restaurant that I love to go to for breakfast/brunch and they said that they lost a ton of money last year because of the cruise.
Cranky, you hit the nail on thre head. It is a total nightmare on wheels.
Hopefully the worse of it should be over now but I’m sure there will still be some people cruising round for the rest of the week. The buildup actually started about a week or so ago so it might take a few days to die down.
Woo! I win bonus points, wmulax93. 'Course, you’ll have to take my word for it, but uh… oh well. (My aunt and uncle live in Chesterfield Twp).
There’s also a Harper Cruise between 9mi-12mi(I think) on August 27. Blech. I love cars, I adore them, honestly I do. But I live on a street right off of Harper, and I’m the second house down. :: bashes head ::. I’m serious when I say we had complete strangers just walk into our house to use our bathroom last year! What the fuck, people???
zweisamkei: :eek: . I don’t even know what I’d do if some random person walked into my house. I’d either a) call the cops or b) assault them. While (a) is more intelligent, I get rather protective of my home, and would probably do (b) out of instinct.
What a bunch of bullshit. That someone would even think of just coming in blows my mind. I’m disgusted by that.
