Make new memories at Golden Super Cruise

So, one beautiful summer afternoon, about 35 years ago, I was driving up the hill on Washington Avenue with the windows open and some cool tunes playing the radio. As I was just about to pass the Foothills Art Center, I heard this sort of whooshing sound and noticed some kind of light by my feet. I looked down and, holy cow, the oor of my car oround the pedals was on re! I kind of freaked out, turned on the next side street, slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. I couldn’t believe it, the whole oor in the front of the car was in ames.

Now, in those days, we didn’t have cell phones so I had to run across the street to a business with a phone and get them to call the re department. By the time I got back to the car, the entire thing was basically a bon re. It looked like a scene in a movie where someone torched a car to cover up a murder or something. e entire interior was ablaze, so was the engine and smoke was even billowing out of the cracks in the trunk.

Our terri c Golden Fire Department responded really quickly, but

Call first: 27972 Meadow Dr., #320

Evergreen, CO 80439, 303-566-4100

Mailing Address:

750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110

Phone: 303-566-4100

Web: GoldenTranscript.net

To subscribe call 303-566-4100

AVENUE FLASHES it does take a few minutes to drive up from the re house, and the re spread so quickly that by the time they could get there, the tires were starting to blow up from the heat and sounded like gunshots just as they were arriving. I remember one of them going boom as the rst reman got out of the retruck and him kind of smiling and saying “Yup, it’s on re alright.” ey blasted it with a hose and put the re right out, but by then the car was a total loss. Ended up being towed o to the junkyard. Turned out that my gas line had ruptured and the fuel ignited.

I think about that car and incident when the weather warms up around here. Usually on the rst Saturday of the month as I’m driving on South Golden Road. Why? Because that’s when our Golden Super Cruise is happening and that car…it was an all-original 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

CORINNE WESTEMAN Community Editor cwesteman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Supreme muscle car with a 350 cubic inch V-8 that sounded like a lion roaring. I still feel that pang in my stomach every time I see one, even 35 years later.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and I have a lot of other, more positive memories that went with that car too, so it wasn’t really a total loss. ose last forever.

But, it’s 2023 now and time to make some new memories, right? We can all do that, and some of us, who have a few years under our belt can revive some of our older memories and even a few dreams by checking out the Golden Super Cruise I mentioned.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, from now though October, Golden hosts that event on the rst Saturday of each month. It’s basically a classic car and hot rod show that actually cruises up and down the street, just like we used to “go cruising”, back in the day.

It all happens on South Golden Road. Some folks bring their cars and park them with the hoods up in the parking lots of most of the businesses

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN FRANKS Production Manager efranks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com along the street and even at Golden High School, so people can check them out up close and talk with the owners. Other people prefer to drive theirs up and down the street so you can see, and hear them all in action. Yes, there’s a lot of “vroom” going on. ere also are a few vendor and radio station booths too, but the focus is really on the cars. It’s all free to attend and lots of people bring along lawn chairs to set up on the sidewalks so they can watch the parade of cars going by. It’s a really fun family event with some of the most amazing cars you will ever see. is year’s rst one will be on May 6. It o cially begins at 5 p.m. and runs until 8:30 p.m., but cars and people start showing up all afternoon. Visit www.goldensupercruise. com to learn more.

John Akal is a well-known jazz artist/drummer and leader of the 20-piece Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra. He also is president of John Akal Imaging, professional commercial photography and multimedia production. He can be reached at jaimaging@aol.com.

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Transcript.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.