Page "Van Nuys, Los Angeles" Paragraph 18

" America's suburb " had its own cultural institution — Wednesday night " cruising " on Van Nuys Blvd.

If George Lucas and his movie American Graffiti were supposedly about Lucas's own Modesto teenage life, San Fernando Valley teenagers would disagree.

Thousands of teenagers and their rebuilt 1940s and 1950s cars would flood Van Nuys Blvd.

every Wednesday night, for years a " rite of passage " for any Valley teenager.

By the 1980s, times had changed, and the LAPD stopped the tradition.