If you get a chance to attend a car cruise in, definitely go. The Japanese Car Cruise-In at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles broke all previous records for the renowned facility, with more than 1,000 cars participating. The event was presented by SuperStreet Magazine and the Beverly Hills Car Club on April 30, 2017.
The Petersen Automotive Museum was founded by Robert and Margie Petersen of the Petersen Publishing Company in 1994 on the site of a former department store. In 2015 the museum was renovated to the tune of $90 million. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. Each of the three floors has an automotive theme, including history, industry, and art.
The museum has a multitude of public and member events including cruise-ins. Perhaps partly due to widely publicized street construction and road closings in the area surrounding the museum, cars started lining up very early on the morning of April 30. According to observers, the cars just kept coming all day long. The last cars that were allowed inside the museum complex late in the afternoon had to wait until earlier arrivals left.
Cars were parked inside and out at the museum as attendees sought their favorites.
Some came to see mods, others wanted to look at historic vehicles, while still others were there to see the racers.
The Honda S2000 driven by the character Suki in the film 2 Fast 2 Furious was also on hand.
Eagle eye attendees may have spotted a single outlier among the cars at the cruise-in. Who knew that Maranello is actually Japanese territory?
The Petersen Automotive Museum has special events most weekends. In addition to cruise-ins, there are after-hours vault tours, movie nights, presentations by automotive artists, lectures, and automotive anniversary celebrations. For example, in May there’s a movie night featuring the racing film The Speed Merchants and a Breakfast Club Cruise-In.
Selected events in June and July include a Ferrari Curator Talk (perhaps that was his car at the Japanese Car Cruise-In), a presentation on The High Art of Riding Low, and a Deuce Day 85th Anniversary celebration of the Deuce Coupe.
If you’re even slightly enamored of the automotive world and either live in or have plans to travel to the Los Angeles area, visiting this museum should be on your short list.
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