Every time Carmen Vasquez takes out her 1955 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, her friend Kitty lays bricks right behind the car.
- The Black Widows are one of the few all-female vintage car clubs in Los Angeles
- Group closely associates with rockabilly culture of 1950s
- In 2020, the club will celebrate its 20th anniversary
That’s because her car is so low, it would scrape on the pavement without the bricks to prop it up as it rolls out of the driveway.
Once the car is ready to go, Ms. Kitty gets in her car and the two take off. Minutes later, they arrive at Legg Lake Park, a popular spot where people show off their custom cars. Vasquez and Kitty are founding members of the Black Widows Car Club, a club founded 19 years ago.
All the club members have cars dating from before1963.
“For us it’s more like the flat paint jobs, instead of adding chrome or original parts, we kind of change it up and add different parts and do different modifications to the car," says Vasquez.
Kitty says the idea came after the two started discussing car clubs and the how there were no all-female custom car clubs at that time in Los Angeles.
One of the Black Widows' newest members is Marie Estrada, a grandmother who’s had four custom cars since she was a teenager.
“I love it, there's nothing like a big heavy piece of metal when you’re around all these little cars," says Estrada.
She's always loved custom cars but she never thought of joining a club until last year when she became an empty nester.
“My kids love it, they were worried about me, they thought I would get depressed and not know what what to do with them gone. They’re like, 'She’s way cooler than us, she’s in a car club,'" says Estrada.
The Black Widows very much associate with Los Angeles' rockabilly culture, a style inspired by the music of the 1950’s.
In 2020, the club will celebrate its 20th anniversary and they're already preparing for the celebration.