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I was eleven years old when this movie came out. Further, I think my dad took my brother and me to the Golden Gate Theater in East L.A. to see it. My parents used it as an example of what not to be like when we grew up. I was born in East L.A. (Santa Marta Hospital) and grew up near East L.A. I saw in life what I saw on the screen with Boulevard Nights. On the street that I grew up on there were some vatos with low-riders and I remember the hopping competitions and the oldies music. One particular vato who was very nice to the local kids ended up getting stabbed (although I cannot recall if he died). They were most likely 18th Street gang bangers, which was the most notorious gang in L.A. back then. My dad moved us out of that area when I was 14 which may be a big part of why my brother and I didn't end up like our former neighbors.

I have to say that for me, Boulevard Nights was authentic. It was like the real thing. My dad never took me to Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. nor Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park nor Valley Boulevard in El Monte on cruising nights during this era, but I imagine that it was like in this movie. I've only seen the movie twice. Once when it was released in theaters and again when I was 16 or 17 on VHS. Colors could not compare, at least not on a personal level for me. Now at 42 years of age, I'm going to have to check it out again.

I saw this film for the first time on YouTube today. I'm not sure if it's true or if I was getting my leg pulled, but when I was a kid, a friend told me that his older teenage cousin was ordered by a judge to see films like this, and, to tour a morgue that had car accident victims after he accumulated a bunch of speeding tickets. This was in Los Angeles, California, in about 1977 or 78. In my Driver's Ed classes in the 1980's, I never was shown films like this. They sure would have made an impact on me, and on others for sure. I wonder if schools would get sued today for even attempting to show a film like this say in High School or Junior High?