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Sideshows
"I’d be lying if I told you that every sideshow is all that chill."
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By Krystle Martin
As a 17-year-old girl living in Oakland, I know there is a shortage of things for young people to do around here. Maybe that’s why sideshows are so popular. My friend Hyter Runnels says sideshows are a good way to show off your car and to be seen by people from all around the Bay Area…
HYTER (on tape)
…and mostly, you do donuts, figure-eights different things with your car. And you could even do other things with your car or you could show off your car if you got a nice paint job or whatever.
KRYSTLE
Cars aren’t the only things that look good at sideshows. My friend Mike Manuel has been to a few sideshows himself, and says the guys and girls all come fitted in the newest hip hop styles.
MIKE (on tape)
Like you know baggy pants, jeans you know sagging, headbands, wave caps, do-rags, beanies, big jackets, big jerseys you know sports jerseys and all that.
KRYSTLE
Most sideshows happen after midnight on Friday or Saturday nights, and go on into the next morning. Picture this: a big party’s breaking up and there’s a bunch of young people who aren’t ready to call it a night. They all drive to one of the spots where sideshows usually take place, so they can show off their cars and party some more.
People drive up and down the street, with their music turned all the way up, bass booming, while others watch from the sidewalk.
Though what I just described may sound really fun and exciting, it can sometimes get out of control, and sideshows ARE illegal. But according to my friend Mike, the kids at sideshows aren’t there to start any trouble.
MIKE (on tape)
Like you know there not trying to rob anybody, their not trying to shoot up anybody, there just there to chill/relax see some cars do some tricks and you know be with their friends in a chill atmosphere.
KRYSTLE
For Oakland kids, there aren’t that many places to have fun. The usual forms of entertainment for young people, like the mall or the movies, are in cities that are far away, or they cost too much. But I’d be lying if I told you that every sideshow is all that chill.
DESLEY (on tape)
Last year we had at least four young people who were killed in activity stemming from the sideshow and one young person lost their leg. I don’t believe that we can afford another young persons life lost or another young person losing a limb.
KRYSTLE
Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks wants to create a thriving sideshow industry - minus the reckless part. That’s why she’s part of the movement to legalize the events.
It’s not a new idea. Just look at monster truck races you see on TV. My sister and I always wonder why can’t we do the same thing in Oakland with sideshows.
And Councilwoman Brooks says the way she would organize it, sideshows could actually make a lot of money.
DESLEY (on tape)
You might have vendors there who are selling all kinds of stuff to soup your car up, you would have a place…so that people could show off their cars. And then you would have an area where people could just drive around so that they to could be seen, because a part of being at the sideshow is being seen, and seeing other folks.
KRYSTLE
Everyone here says sideshows started in Oakland, so I think if they’re legalized, they should stay in the city. Instead of spending all that money and time trying to stop them, the sideshows could be a way for money to go back into the community, because Oakland needs a lot of work.
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