Genaro Hernandez / Cadillac Man: Interview & Gallery
Gina Georgette : Model (view Full interview with GG)

Images: Jaymz Eberly / Ian Young
Special thanks to JMVfoto (lighting tech) & Sergio G

Words: Ian Young

            Remember the time you saw movie Super Fly for the first time? Remember the beginning scene, with that sweet old ’71 Cadillac pulling off? Man, right when the movie’s theme music kicks in and that bad-boy slides over the horizon so clean you’d think it just flew away.  Remember how happy it made you feel? Seeing that and then right along with that classic background music, there was that dream (that natural, self-centered dream) that always comes over you when your like; man that could be me. The feeling like, … I can see myself … right there in that movie driving all cool right along with the bridge of Curtis Mayfield’s classic scene setting.  You remember that image? That’s the feeling that kicked in today when I turned around and saw the cleanest Cadillac I’ve ever had the honor of being in the presence of stop right in front of me.  Genaro Hernandez, along with his classic pearl white ‘71 Cadillac Eldorado and pitch black ‘66 Cadillac Coupe De Ville; agreed to meet here with us today to show off his stunning rides and to share some words of wisdom.

            Cadillac people just are just exceptional people. You just have to accept it. They’re the smoothest of the smooth, the coolest of the cool … they’re the trendsetters. They’re the dudes that were out there cruising so hard that it made you want to build a lowrider. They’re the girls that styled the best and made your girl jealous because you couldn’t look away. They’re what all the excitement’s about … and the reason we’re out here today. Life is good right now. Come let us take you on a little trip. It’s Cadillac season ladies and gentlemen. Finally. And the lovely Gina Georgette is here to help us celebrate in style.

Lowrider Pimps: Rise and shine everybody out there in lowrider land. Its your comrad Ian Young here from Lowrider Pimps back again. Today were here with Genaro Hernandez, the owner of two of the baddest Cadillacs I think I’ve ever seen in my whole life. I appreciate you meeting with us today man, and taking time out ... showing love. 

Genaro: Thank you.

Lowrider Pimps: How have you been doing?

Genaro: Pretty good man … pretty good.

Lowrider Pimps: So, where are you from?

Genaro: I’m from south L.A.

Lowrider Pimps: Ok, ok. So, tell me a little about yourself. How did you get started in lowriding?

Genaro: Well, back in the days … I was raised in south L.A. and y-know … you would see alot of the older folks just riding around in vintage cars and trying to fix them themselves. So I just kinda got myself into it (seeing them do it).  My first car was a 1977 Cadillac which I learn how to drive in. A 1977 DeVille.

LP: That’s a good start (laughing).

G: Yeah, and from that day on man, I mean, I just started getting into the vintage cars.

LP: Mostly Cadillacs or what?

G: Mostly Cadillacs, yes.

LP: Yes sir. Good man … good man. So, what is lowriding to you, what do you get out of it?

G: Well, for me it’s mostly a hobby. You know, I do have my business. But, I do it to relax and to relieve stress.  I like to work on the cars on the weekends. It more like a family entertainment thing. Me and my two boys, we’ll clean ‘em, fix ‘em, ride ‘em around …  you name it. We work on the cars ourselves mostly. We do have our own garage, it’s a small garage but that’s where we do most of the work.

LP: Its awesome man, you did a great job on these. How long have you been cruising?

G: Since I started driving (laughing).

LP: (laughing) Oh yeah?

G: Yeah, when you live in south L.A., I mean, you start doing things early. I started driving (Cadillacs) when I was like twelve, thirteen.

LP: Beautiful.

G: Y-know, even though I was underage … but…

LP: …gotta do what you gotta do.

G: Exactly.

LP: Yes sir.  So how many different cars do you have?

G: Right now we have four cars. A 1939 Pontiac (bomb style), and then I have a 1947 Pontiac that I’m getting restored and then we have these two Cadillacs. One is a white 1971 Cadillac convertible Eldorado and the black, which is my daughter’s, a 1966 Cadillac Coupe De Ville.

LP: Yeah, I heard a little about that. Like, your going to leave you cars to your kids. Like, the boys get the Cadillacs or …

G: No no no, basically … myself I’m more into Cadillacs, I mean that’s my everyday car (1998 Cadillac DeVille).  Ok so basically, I have two boys. And so I have a 1939 Pontiac that I’ve had since I was a teenager and that I’m keeping that for myself until I hand it down to my oldest son Danny. He’s getting the ’39. There’s so way were getting rid of that.  For some reason it’s our baby…

LP: Like a member of the family huh?

G: Exactly, and then we have the 1947 which is getting restored and my youngest son is getting that. And then I have two convertibles for my daughters …  one gets the black Cadillac and my littlest one; she gets the white Cadillac.

LP: That’s amazing … quite a legacy to leave behind.

G: In my time, I wish someone would have done something like that for me.  I mean, it’s not like I’m forcing them to get them to get into it or anything...

LP: They enjoy it themselves.

G: Exactly.

LP: So did you build them yourself or have someone else build them?

G: Someone else. I mean, I have my business here so I don’t have a lot of my time to put into it. It’s more of like an entertainment thing for us. Its like a lifestyle if you’d like to call it that. Most of the body work … we don’t exactly do it ourselves but we send it out to body shops and obviously we try to manage that, and how we want things.

LP: Definitely. Gotta get it right man…

G: Exactly, got to get it right.  Knowing that were gonna have to put it together y-know, I would say that we go fifty-fifty. See what I mean, we’ll send it out and they’ll paint it, we’ll bring it to our house and start to put it together in our garage.

LP: Ok. So, do you have any stories that you wanted to tell about the cars? Any amazing before and after stuff you’d like to share.

G: Well, I have a good one actually about my black Cadillac. Well, I have two actually, the first ones about my ’47. So, I was driving down the freeway and I saw a tow truck that had the bomb, the 1947 Pontiac flatbed and so Im chasing it down the 5; and he jumps on the 60 freeway which is on the way to my house.  So Im going after him, and I’m yelling at him to pull over – pull over. At first, I thought it was a Chevrolet. But it was a Pontiac. And it was something that I had been looking for since I was like fifteen years old. Because of the shape and the lines … just something about it, I had to have it. So finally I get him to pull over and I just tell him I had to have it. I gave him the money and I find out he was gonna trash it.

LP: Oh no … lucky save right there.

G: Yeah … this guy from San Fernando. So I gave him fifteen hundred dollars and had him drop it off at my house. So then, with my black ’66 Cadillac, it was trashed when I picked it up. I mean, man, its just too bad I didn’t take no pictures. My wife, (when she first saw it) she was like just, “No. Not no way”.

LP: (laughing) Well it’s a diamond now though man. You pulled it off though. That’s something to be proud of.

G: Yeah … Exactly.

LP: So I gotta ask you as a Cadillac man to another. What do think it is about Cadillacs that makes them so cool?

G: I think more than anything its just American pride. It’s an American machine. It just gives me chills when I talk about it. Seriously. I mean, I could be talking about it all day.

LP: I totally understand what you mean.

G: I mean, I’m a Cadillac man. I’ve always loved them. I learned to drive in a Cadillac. I bought myself a Cadillac when I was younger and I always wanted to … my whole life.  In my life I’ve had like … ten Cadillacs.

LP: There’s just something about it that’s says “cool” y-know?

G: When you drive it, its nice and smooth.  Like a couch, like your sitting in the living room of your house. Just the lines of the car, y-know … everything about it.  It’s just cool. 

LP: I think Cadillac people are just different, just more laid back folks.

G: Cadillac is just a car that is just smooth.  You feel it. You gotta love it. You’ll know your in Cadillac.  It’s just the classic car. When I saw the car (The black ’66 Coupe De Ville) I just had to have it.  When you see an old car you gotta look at it … you gotta picture it once it’s finished.  If you just see it as junk just sitting there it’s not gonna happen.

LP: Have you ever had the cars in any videos or magazines or anything?

G: No.

LP: This is the first one huh? Well we are honored. Believe me.

G: Thank you.

LP: To sort of switch gears, why do you think people are so focused on the negative aspect of lowriding as opposed to looking the positives, y-know, like the camaraderie and the pride of it?

G: Well, I think it’s like every other thing. They stereotype lowriding and its like every other race, you got good and you got bad. So I think in lowriding it’s the same thing, you got good and you got bad.  Myself, I’m a family man. As far a people stereotyping lowriding, I mean, it is what it is. One bad apple…

LP: Right, theres a whacko in every bunch.

G: Exactly.

LP: Have you ever gotten caught up in any politics of lowriding?

G: No. I avoided that. In the past I’ve gotten offers to be a part of a car club or something like that, but I don’t feel like I need to be a part of a club to enjoy lowriding. I get along with everyone. It’s all-good. I just do my thing.

LP: I’ve talked to a lot of different people and everyone seems to have a different opinion of the future of lowriding and where its going so, you yourself, where do see lowriding going in the future?

G: Well, I see it’s changing a little bit. You’ll see all the youngsters getting all these Japanese cars and stuff like that.

LP: Yeah, it’s HUGE over there.

G: Exactly. It (lowriding) getting bigger and more excepted is ok. If you remember ten years ago it wasn’t as accepted as it is now. It was looked at as more of a gang-related thing. You’d have a lowrider (back then) and you’d get pulled over. I mean, I can show you a whole stack of tickets I got almost every night. Over on Crenshaw we would get pulled over left and right.

LP: Was it worth it though?

G: Oh definitely. (laughing) Now days its a lot different, I can give you an example. I was driving my ’39 one night, it was like eleven-thirty at night and this cop was right on my tail. I even got off the freeway … I was right by my house and this guy was like right on my tail, the whole time, for a couple miles. I just knew he was gonna pull me over. So finally, I get by my house and I pull into my driveway, he puts the spotlight on me, and I just know he’s gonna give me a ticket and he goes “ c’mere”. And I’m like “what?” And he goes “ can I see your car?” (laughing)

LP: (laughing) That’s awesome, he just wanted to give you compliment huh?

G: Yeah exactly, he was like “Man, that’s a baaaad car, can I take a look at it?”  And man, I thought I was gonna get a nice ticket. (laughing) So like I said, that was like two years ago but like ten-fifteen years ago, we would get pulled over left and right.

LP: Now they’re fans just like everybody else. That’s great.

G: I mean I ride my cars almost every weekend. Everytime I get a chance, all around the blocks, well take the kids. Y-know we have the black and white cars so; I’ll take the black one with the two boys and my wife will drive the white one with the two girls and we’ll just cruise around. We don’t get pulled over, we just get compliments.

LP: That’s cool man … your gonna see a lowrider cop car one day (laughing).

G: Oh definitely. So yeah, I think its getting more accepted. Much more. I mean, I know a lot of businessmen that do have lowriders.

LP: Ok, so is there anyone out there that you wanted to say hello to or give a shout-out too?

G: Oh yeah, one of my best friends that I admire a lot. He’s a real good friend of mine. His name is Antonio. I mean he’s been my guide. He’s my right hand man. I mean this guy, I owe him like … you have no idea. 

LP: Awesome. Well man I really appreciate you time and you meeting here with us today and you keep up the great work. Much success. Well see you at the top.

G: Oh and thank you guys too.

The Herdandez family along with their beautiful two Cadillacs slid away just like a lowrider convoy is supoposed to. Slow and low. With Genaro and his two boys in the midnight black ’66 following behind his wife and daughters in the white ’71. You couldn’t image a more perfect family photo. Just as he told us they would they collected compliments and looks of sheer awe as they rode off into the distance. You can see why the Cadillacs of the late sixties and early seventies had so much fanfair, because when they pass you by; they leave you wishing they’d rode passed a bit slower or would have stopped so you could stare even longer. It’s not everyday you get a chance to gaze at such gorgeous automobiles but when you do, your glad you did.  This is Ian Young signing off… see you all on the boulevard. . .