The University Museum will be celebrating the opening of the exhibit “Low and Slow: Lowrider Culture on the Border” Friday, September 8, 2023, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The exhibition at the University Museum will feature car clubs from Las Cruces, photography, artwork, Pachuca Zoot Suits, and more.

Lowriding is more than a weekend hobby. Lowriding is a way of life. It is part of the lived history and visual culture of many Mexican Americans. In the US/Mexico border region the lowrider culture can be traced back to the 1940s, after the Second World War. Arguably, the trend originated in California and made its way to the Juárez, El Paso and Las Cruces. With the resurgence of full-scale car production after the war, affordable vehicles allowed the working class to access their own ranflas (Spanish name for a lowrider or old car). By the 1970’s, lowriding was a well-known past time representative of a unique brand of “Americanness.” Lowriders were also part of a larger expression that included pachuco’s and Pachuca's with their zoot suit styling, cruising, and affinity for listening to “oldies’’ music.

Come join us as we celebrate lowriding as an aspect of the border culture way of life. The exhibition is borrowed from the El Paso Museum of History who debuted the exhibition from November 20, 2020, until July 25, 2021 and has been supported by the Southwest and Border Cultures Institute grant.