El Cajon Boulevard was once part of Historic Highway 80, which extended from San Diego to Savannah, Georgia before Interstates 8 and 10 replaced much of the route.

Car culture thrived on the Boulevard where, on August 20, 1960, a mass of 3,000 teens and young adults rallied at Cherokee Street to protest the closure of Hourglass Field in Miramar to unauthorized drag races.

El Cajon Boulevard was closed off for three blocks and impromptu races roared in the streets while rioters fended off police with rocks and bottles in what became known as the El Cajon Boulevard or “Drag Strip” Riot, one of the first major youth riots of the 1960s.

On Wednesday, August 17, El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association celebrates classic car with the Cruise the Boulevard Mixer. The event meets at 6 p.m. at the JA Cooley Automotive Museum on Park and El Cajon.

“At 7:30, we'll gather up all the cars and go for a Cruise down El Cajon Boulevard just like the good old days,” organizer Beryl Forman writes in a Facebook event, “all the way east to Euclid. Pull up to the Til-Two Club for some oldies but goodies, kick back and reminisce about all the fun times you had growing up in San Diego, pulling up for burgers at Oscar's Drive-in and memories of Cruising down the Boulevard.”

Park across the street from the museum at the San Diego Unified School District parking lot off of Normal Street and on Euclid Ave in back of the Til-Two Club.

El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association Phone (619) 283-3608

Wednesday, August 17

6:00pm - 9:00pm

JA Cooley Automotive Museum & The Til-Two Club

4223 Park Boulevard, 4746 El Cajon Boulevard