The Cruise at the Beach Car Show Returns to Redondo Beach
After a year break due to COVID-19, the show returns for its 20th Anniversary
The Cruise at the Beach car show hosted at Ruby’s Diner in the heart of Redondo Beach has become a legacy event for hundreds. The show is a free community hosted event welcoming any and all classic car owners, enthusiasts and locals to enjoy a spectacle of over 250 classic cars each week.
It all started in May 2000 when Darryl Boyd, a Redondo native, approached Ruby’s Diner with the idea of a classic car show.
Boyd grew up in Redondo Beach and remembers back in the 80s when hundreds of hot rods, classic cars and muscle cars would parade up and down Redondo’s Harbor Dr. The new show would be an ode to that earlier age of Redondo Beach.
“I wanted to bring some of the nostalgia back to the community and area,” said Boyd.
Classic car love runs deep through the Boyd family blood.
Darryl’s grandfather, Glen Boyd Sr., who drove hot rods in the 1920s and 30s, and his father, Glen Boyd Jr., who built his own hot rods in the 1950s were major inspirations for the show.
On July 28, 2000 the first Cruise at the Beach show filled Ruby’s parking lot with over 200 cars.
For 20 years since, the show has been a great success bringing anywhere from 200 to 500 cars each Friday to Ruby’s. The event supports cars from every decade and every kind, from 1920’s hot rods to 1980’s restorations, Ruby’s has it all.
The show grew to be an inspiration for many wishing to build their own classic cars. Luke Pond, a 20-year-old Redondo resident, grew up learning to work on classic cars with his dad and attended the show every year inspiring him to build his own car in 2018.
“I think the most rewarding part of building my own car was knowing that once it was done I would get to show my car off at the local ‘Cruise at the Beach’ car event,” said Pond.
COVID-19 changed this all.
Upon the pandemic hitting and stay at home mandates being enforced the show came to a halt in 2020, leaving the classic car community devastated.
John Hernandez, a 24-year-old Redondo resident and mechanic, like many, dreamed of taking his own car to the show. After learning to build cars with his father and going to the show for 10 years, it was his destiny.
In 2019 he began building his own 1970 Volkswagen Bug, inherited from his grandfather, but was left disappointed when the show closed.
“There wasn’t a lot to hold on to during quarantine and losing my end goal left me wandering,” said Hernandez.
The time at home proved to be perfect for him and many others to finish his build in hopes of the show reopening the following year.
Sure enough, the show returned June 18, 2021 to celebrate its 20th anniversary just a year later. With so many people supporting the event Boyd predicts it to continue on for decades to come.
Boyd shared how much the community means to him and how he wanted to do all he could to save the show and family that had been created.
If you may be interested in attending the event:
What: Cruise at the Beach Car Show
Where: 245 N Harbor Dr, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
When: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Friday from June 18 to August 27th
Cost: Free
