100-vehicle sideshow closes section of Bay Bridge

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Bay Area//Crime
100-vehicle sideshow closes section of Bay Bridge

By Jessica Flores,
Reporter
Updated Sep 8, 2024 8:36 p.m.

A sideshow involving approximately 100 vehicles temporarily closed the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge early Sunday, highway officials said. ... California Highway Patrol units responded to a report of a sideshow just east of Treasure Island at 3:24 a.m, said agency spokesperson Mark Andrews.

All westbound lanes were blocked for about 20 minutes before vehicles began to disperse, he said. ... CHP officers unsuccessfully tried to initiate several enforcement stops and decided not to pursue vehicles involved in the sideshow “for public safety reasons,” Andrews said.

No arrests were made, and no injuries were reported to the CHP, Andrews said. ... Sideshows, which attract large crowds of spectators as drivers do doughnuts and other illegal maneuvers, are a persistent problem around the Bay Area, especially on weekends.

Reach Jessica Flores: [e-mail]; Twitter: @jesssmflores

[LauraInLA]

1. I'm hoping they captured license plates and will arrest the drivers later?!

[quaint]

2. In the olden days, mid 1960s, "the boys" took over empty industrial streets overnight.

They were mostly dangers to themselves. Jerks, not evil assholes like these.

[displacedvermoter]

3. Again, we are a Nation of stupid, irresponsible

and, very stupid people.

That the media grants this nonsense some sort of an air of normalcy, calling it a "sideshow" like it is real cultural phenomenon and not just another trashy waste of human activity, is maddening to me.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. That's the term in the San Francisco area.

Sideshow (automobile exhibition)

A sideshow (so-called in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a street takeover in the Los Angeles area) is an informal and often illegal demonstration of automotive stunts now often held in vacant lots, and public intersections, originally seen in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, United States. Sideshows first appeared in Oakland, California in the 1980s as informal social gatherings of Bay Area youth.

In the present day, sideshows, in addition to being inherently illegal, often involve crime and or shootings.

History

Sideshows first emerged on the streets of Oakland, California during the mid 1980s. The first sideshows were originally ad hoc carshows where people would congregate in the Eastmont Mall or Foothill Square parking lot. The original intent of the sideshows at this time was for people to show off their cars, typically 1960s- and 1970s-made muscle cars. Sideshows became the alternative hot spot for those too young to gain entrance into 21-and-over nightclubs, and had outgrown the parking lots of Eastmont Mall and Foothill Square. They were made even more popular throughout the 1990s with such songs as Bay Area rapper Richie Rich's "Sideshow" anthem: "Down Bancroft / To the light / Let me warm it up, I hit a donut tight / Chevy on my side / Windows straight tinted / He got hype when he saw me spinnin’ / I’m up outta there, sideways to the next light"

In the 21st century, sideshows have become increasingly popular in other cities, such as Los Angeles, Kansas City, Detroit and in multiple cities in Texas, despite the danger that they pose to the public.

{snip}

Notable incidents

Early Sunday, June 23rd 2024, at 1:56 AM, the eastbound lanes of the Bay Bridge was blocked up with at least 6 vehicles and hundreds of spectators until 2:22 AM with the cars doing doughnuts and fireworks going off.

On July 6th, 2024, at approximately 4:30 AM, dozens of people broke into and ransacked a 76 gas station in Oakland, after having attended a nearby sideshow. Oakland police responded nine hours later, only after being shown video of the aftermath.

{snip}

[IcyPeas]

5. News report from local tv: there were 2 street takeovers the same night

They happen in Los Angeles too and the mobs will sometimes rampage local stores afterwards.

[CoopersDad]

6. Here's a short clip of the SF Bay Bridge sideshow mentioned in the OP.

One of half a dozen over the weekend.

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/sideshow-spectator-hit-by-truck-in-bay-bridge-sideshow/