South Gate

It was that time of the year again. We're talking about the 21st Annual Azalea Custom Car Show, presented by the city of South Gate, California, in South Gate Park. It seems that every year this show is blessed with a super-clear day, great for barbecuing and catching some of the sun's UV rays (as well as some of the finest custom lowriders in Southern California).

This year's show was almost a surprise, being a "spur of the moment" affair due to city politics. But thanks to Armando M. Avila, Conrad Garcia and other lowrider supporters who attended the city council meetings, the council changed their minds and allowed the show to go on. South Gate is a unique show. Most lowrider car show spectators are used to seeing hops, sound-offs and bikini contests, but there are none of those things at the Azalea show. The people who organize the South Gate show want to maintain a peaceful family event, and so it's always very mellow with none of the aforementioned distractions.

The show drew in plenty of heavy hitters (like every year), including the Lowrider Bike Club of the Year, the Legions, with their arsenal of bikes, like Randy Beard's Lowrider Trike of the Year, "Knight's Quest II," Carlos Chimal's "Wizard's Rage," Pepe's "Satan's Side Show," Danny Castrellon's "Possessed" and Iran Mestas' "Woody" bike. Legions wasn't the only bike club in the house as Night Crowd also brought out most of their best bikes. Ray Silva looked like he lead the cavalry with Steven Roberts right behind with his "Purple Haze" pedal-scraper, and Rayann Silva, Morgan Bustos, Julio Ramos, Frank Lopez and Russell Silva rounding out the troops.

We couldn't forget others like Eddie and his clean trike from Kings of Kings, as well as his buddy Marelino Ruiz and his hot two-wheeler. The Techniques also came out, bringing a number of OG bikes, Bobby Soto brought out his clean Pixie, and so did Russell Loya. Techniques had a number of 12-inch Tigers with Oscar Loya, Marissa and Vanessa Garcia bringing their three tamed Tigers for all to see. We also had the solo guys like Freddy Urias who brought out two great-looking bikes, and Christian Urrea, who had one clean flaked-out two-wheeler. David Nick Diaz from Duke's C.C. revealed his "X-Men" bike, George Juarez showed his wild Tiger, Anthony Santana from Integrity C.C. brought out his clean three-wheeler with air technology, and Mike Acosta from Elite C.C. made the scene with "Tequila Sunrise."

The Azalea Custom Car Show is probably one of the most talked-about shows of the year, since everyone knows that it's a cool laid-back event. This family oriented show in the park brings people from miles around to check out all of the hot cars, trucks and bikes. We're already looking forward to next year when we'll cover the 22nd annual Azalea show.