What are sideshows? California cities crack down on ‘dangerous’ gatherings

Headlines about deaths, injuries, arrests and police crackdowns at sideshows are multiplying across California. But what are they?

Sideshows are “illegal gatherings in which groups of drivers take over intersections, city streets, stretches of busy freeways and/or parking lots to do tricks with their cars, including burnouts and doughnuts,” The Sacramento Bee reported.

Crowds of spectators can soar into the hundreds, often blocking even more traffic lanes. Some sideshows go on for hours, while others clear out in minutes to avoid police.

How did sideshows start?

The events got their start in East Oakland cruising culture of the early 1980s, KQED reported.

“No one did doughnuts or spun their cars,” Sean Kennedy, a multimedia producer, told the station. Instead, drivers showed off their vehicles as a form of self-expression.

“You would come out and you would really understand what is popular in Oakland,” Yakpusua Zazaboi, who created a documentary on sideshows, told KQED.

Why are sideshows dangerous?

In the decades since, sideshows spread across California — and began to get out of hand, fans of the original events say.

Authorities say modern sideshows are more about speed and stunts, like burnouts, doughnuts and figure-eights.

“It’s incredibly dangerous activity to be involved in,” California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Zerfas told The Sacramento Bee in 2019. “They’re putting themselves at risk, other people, passengers, spectators.”

Some sideshow spectators have been hit by vehicles that lost control. Others have been injured or killed in fights at the illegal events.

In Santa Rosa, police observing a September sideshow were pelted with rocks when they tried to break it up after reports someone had been shot, The Press Democrat reported. No one had been shot, but a man suffered head injuries and two teens had been stabbed.

Cracking down on sideshows

The city of Oakland began impounding and permanently confiscating cars involved in sideshows in 2005, KQED reported.

Now some cities are even cracking down on sideshow spectators.

The cities of Vallejo and Fairfield recently adopted ordinances allowing sideshow spectators to be fined up to $1,000, KTVU reported. In Fairfield, they also can face up six months in jail.

The ordinances were modeled on ones earlier adopted by San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego, according to the station.

But in Santa Rosa, council member Eddie Alvarez is leading an effort to create a city-sanctioned event where sideshow fans can safely express their pride in their vehicles, The Press Democrat reported.

“Why not make lemonade out of lemons?” Alvarez asked, according to the newspaper.

This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 2:24 PM with the headline "What are sideshows? California cities crack down on ‘dangerous’ gatherings."