{"id":654036,"date":"2026-03-14T02:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T02:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/654036\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T02:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T02:17:13","slug":"the-usps-unveiled-a-lowrider-stamp-in-logan-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/654036\/","title":{"rendered":"The USPS unveiled a lowrider stamp in Logan Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>A pair wearing \u201cBrown Image\u201d car club shirts hold a commemorative lowrider stamp set on March 13, 2026 (Photo by Adrian Childress\/ Special to Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Andy Montes and his wife Aracely have shared a dream since they married more than 40 years ago. It wasn\u2019t about having children\u2014they already have three. Nor was it about buying a home\u2014they own one in National City. <\/p>\n

Their dream was to buy a 1964 Impala and turn it into a true lowrider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream that wasn\u2019t easy to achieve,\u201d said Aracely Montes, 62, who was born in El Paso.<\/p>\n

When they met in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Andy Montes \u2014 now 65 \u2014 was a novice mechanic, and Aracely worked as a waitress, babysitter, and house cleaner.<\/p>\n

They are among the thousands of Latinos who see lowrider as a form of cultural expression that goes beyond cars, said Denise Sandoval, a professor of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge. A leading expert on the movement, Sandoval has worked extensively to dismantle stereotypes linking lowriding to gangs or criminal activity. <\/p>\n

\u201cLowriding has three pillars rooted in Latino culture: family, pride, and respect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After decades of struggles and bans \u2014 including a three-decade ban in National City that officials finally ended in 2023 <\/a>\u2014 lowriding is finally receiving major recognition, and San Diego took a central role in the honor. <\/p>\n

The U.S. Postal Service on Friday unveiled its new \u201cLowriders\u201d stamp series during a ceremony at the Logan Heights Library.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lowrider is a masterpiece of engineering and artistry \u2014 a rolling canvas,\u201d said Gary Barksdale the Postal Service\u2019s chief inspector and the official who dedicated the stamps. \u201cThey\u2019re often painted with murals that tell stories of family, faith, and history.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lowrider is a modified car equipped with smaller-than-factory wheels \u2014 or \u201crims,\u201d preferably wire-spoke \u2014 that lower its height. Many feature elaborate paint jobs, velvet upholstery, and steering wheels made from welded chains. Most also include a hydraulic system that lets the driver, at the push of a button, raise or lower the chassis or perform tricks such as driving on three wheels or hopping.<\/p>\n

Lowriding surged in popularity in the 1970s, but its roots trace back to East Los Angeles and the Southwest borderlands in the 1940s. Facing discrimination, some young Chicanos rebelled by embracing and flaunting their cultural identity.<\/p>\n

Inspired by African American jazz-era hipsters, they wore zoot suits, two-tone shoes, and wide-brimmed hats, calling themselves \u201cPachucos.\u201d When some lowered their car chassis, they became the first lowriders.<\/p>\n

During the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, lowrider culture became a highly visible expression of pride in an ongoing fight for dignity and self-respect.<\/p>\n

Through the cars, their owners sent a message: I\u2019m here, and I matter. Car clubs flourished\u2014initially, most were for men only. But by the late 1970s, women began forming their own clubs. Today, lowriding is a family tradition.<\/p>\n

The new stamps unveiled in San Diego Friday feature photographs by Philip Gordon of \u201cLet the Good Times Roll\/Soy Como Soy,\u201d a blue 1946 Chevrolet Fleetline, and \u201cPocket Change,\u201d a green 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme; and photographs by Humberto \u201cBeto\u201d Mendoza of \u201cEight Figures,\u201d a blue 1958 Chevrolet Impala; \u201cThe Golden Rose,\u201d an orange 1964 Impala; and \u201cEl Rey,\u201d a red 1963 Impala.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think of the Postal Service\u2019s tribute to Latino and Chicano culture?\u201d I asked Andy. <\/p>\n

Presented with the federal government\u2019s unveiling of a tribute to Latino and Chicano culture in San Diego, Andy Montes could hardly believe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust ten years ago, we had to hide from the police when we were cruising,\u201d he said, while smiling. \u201cToday we even have a stamp. Times have really changed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair wearing \u201cBrown Image\u201d car club shirts hold a commemorative lowrider stamp set on March 13, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":654037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,27382,39254,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-654036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-latinos","tag-logan-heights","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116225130239232243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}