(garage door opens)
- [Voiceover] I've always thought, similar to somebody
like Ben Franklin, why not be multi-dimensional?
I don't think you have to be confined to one box
or one kind of reality.
(upbeat rock music)
(car humming)
We first started getting interested in the lowriding scene,
because it looked fun
and I started seeing some cars cruising
around our high school.
And we were going to parties and, eventually,
we started going to Whittier Boulevard
and you'd start seeing cars with plaques and we thought,
"Man, that looks fun."
(rock music)
My first car I had was a '66 Pontiac Tempest.
That was originally our family car.
So, when I was in high school, I learned how to drive in it.
I started trying to think about how I could make my car
into a lowrider, so all I could think about
was to put something heavy in the trunk.
So, we went over to Rio Hondo River
and we got some rocks and put them in the trunk
and just lowered it that way.
They started rolling around and almost denting the car.
So, anyway, we were just learning as we go.
So, it was kind of goofy.
We started seeing car clubs cruising around,
like at lunch time.
Clubs from different kinds of areas, cruising by
with a plaque flying and we thought, "Man, that looks cool."
One time, when I was in Alhambra, cruising on Main Street,
I saw this '52 Chevy Bon, with a Groupe plaque on it.
And I thought, "Man, that's cool."
He was scraping his front end.
He had some hydraulics on it and so,
my friend and I decided that we wanted to get
in Groupe Car Club.
He has a brother, whose name is Tiny, and he was originally
in a club from the 60s, called The Illusions.
And then, there was also another club that was around
in the 60s that we know about nowadays, called The Clique
and they had broken up for a little while,
and so some of the guys from The Clique and The Illusions,
eventually, came together
and started a car club called Groupe.
We ended up learning about where their meetings were
and we got in when I was still in high school.
In 1978, the magazine was only about a year old at the time.
In those days, people in the lowrider culture weren't
in magazines much and this magazine was cool, because
it was a way for, like, average people to be in a magazine.
(funky upbeat music)
We knew that they were doing an article about the club.
They asked us to meet at the San Gabriel Mission one morning
and they were doing some photos.
They took a picture of my car,
in front of the San Gabriel Mission and,
at the end of it all, we thought, "Oh, great.
Maybe we'll be in the magazine, if we're lucky."
A month or two later, one of the guys calls me and says,
"Hey man, your car's on the cover of Lowrider Magazine!"
When you think about lowriding,
you kind of think about Impalas and, so,
I've always kind of dreamed of having one of these.
This is a 1958 Chevrolet Impala.
It's the first year they made Impala.
It's a time when General Motors was, I think,
at its wildest with the styling.
You could tell, at this time, we were thinking a lot
about going into space and so,
there's a lot of a feeling of, like,
speed and jets and things.
These are good, old American metal and,
when you're cruising around in a vehicle like this,
with some good music on, that's a good feeling.
Lowriding is a interesting world.
It's a way you can have a lot of friendship,
a lot of camaraderie, a lot of joy in cruising.
Something about it is it impresses on your heart,
when you have these really good times,
it's just something you can't forget.
(slow, piano music)
I worked at a cardboard factory.
I worked at a glass factory in Los Angeles.
I worked at two different gas stations
and taking a full load of classes at East LA College.
I've just always had a love of learning.
While I was going to East LA College, I was still in Groupe.
It was interesting, because some of the people
at the college thought I was strange I was in a car club,
in a lowrider when I pulled up with that car.
And some of the guys in the club thought it was weird
I was going to college.
Some of my family members even said,
"Why don't you get rid of that lowrider?
You know, you're not a lowrider anymore.
You're going to be a professional."
I had so many good times with my friends,
cruising in that car.
It became, essentially, part of my DNA, part of who I am.
I always kind of thought why can't I do both, you know?
At that time, I was kind of doing a lot of soul searching.
And I realized eventually I'm going to get older.
I was thinking hard, "What do I want to do with my life?"
I realized that what would make my life meaningful is
if I tried to do something to help improve this world.
It might sound strange, but because I like working on cars
and working on things mechanically, I realized I wanted to
do some kind of surgery.
But, I didn't want to be a pure surgeon and,
it turns out, when you take obstetrics and gynecology,
it's a mixture of family practice and surgery.
So, I realized that this is the specialty that I want to do.
I am an obstetrician-gynecologist, essentially a physician
and a surgeon.
I've delivered about 9000 babies.
It's hard work.
A lot of times, I'm up at three or four in the morning,
doing difficult things that are dangerous
and challenging,
when everybody else is all comfy, cozy asleep.
It's hard.
A lot of times, I'm tired.
Sometimes, we work 100 hours a week and, so, it's difficult,
but there are a lot of rewards.
I've helped save a few babies that only weigh, like,
one pound or two pounds and I still get thanks
from moms, years later, for things like that.
And, so, it feels good.
Just because somebody says you're not able to do something
or you probably can't do that, you shouldn't take that,
as part of who you are.
You might think your life is only this way,
but, a lot of times, if you open your mind
to other possibilities,
it makes your life a lot more interesting.
I think the important things for success are
to have a work ethic and to do something to try
to help other people.
I'm Steve Alvarez-Mott.
I am a physician-surgeon and I'm a lowrider role model.
(calm string music)