CRUISIN' U.S.A.; TEENS: NOTHING ELSE TO DO

Friday was the perfect summer night for a cruise.

It was warm and breezy, and the stars shone brightly. People from all over Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois descended upon Broadway in Cape Girardeau, joining the endless line of traffic.

Most of them say they are there for the same reason -- to meet people. And most of them claim that there's "nothing to do" in Cape Girardeau, or in Oran, or in Anna, Ill., or wherever they came from.

The youngest cruisers out Friday were around 15; the oldest around 26. Age didn't seem to matter as the young teens mixed with their older counterparts.

"There's nothing else we can all do together," said 23-year-old Madeline Conrad of Cape Girardeau. "It's not like we can all run out to the bars."

Conrad was in Capaha Park with Elizabeth Spies, 25, of Scott City. Spies said age, social status, type of car and other factors don't divide cruisers; they tend to associate with each other no matter what the barriers.

But they do notice each other's cars. Mike Hellman, 19, of Cape Girardeau was sitting on the Pop's Pizza lot near his Chevrolet S-10 lowrider Friday. He said some people admire souped-up motors and big tires while others like sleek sports cars. Of real importance is the car stereo: The louder, the better.

Brandon Bridwell has it all. The 18-year-old Scott City High School senior drives a white pickup truck with a loud stereo, a blue neon light in the back window and turquoise lights underneath. He was on the Pizza Hut lot Friday with a group of about six friends.

"I have this to meet girls and show off," Bridwell said. Sure enough, a few girls slowed down every so often to honk and wave at the group.

Almost all the cruisers had a story about being stopped by police. Most were chased off private parking lots, some were suspected of having alcohol in the car and a few have spent nights at the Juvenile Detention Center for violating Cape Girardeau's midnight curfew on weekends.

Except for increased police involvement, not much has changed about cruising over the decades. Some adults who feel the cruisers are a nuisance were once out there themselves.

Among them were Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. and Capt. Steve Strong.

"This has been going on for at least 40 years," Boyd said. "It was done when I was in high school in the mid-50s. About all that has changed is the places they turn around."

In Boyd's day, it was a drive-in restaurant called Pfister's. These days, the cruisers turn on Cordelia Avenue, a public street connecting Broadway and Clark Street.

Cars were louder back then, too, said Strong. He was cruising in the 1960s, and everyone tried to make their cars rumble. Strong even knocked holes in the muffler to achieve the loudest vehicle.

A big difference was in the safety, the police officials said. Drugs and alcohol didn't play the role in cruising they do today.

WHERE THEY CRUISE

CAPE GIRARDEAU: Broadway, between Dino's Pizza and Cordelia Avenue.

SIKESTON: The Midtowner Village parking lot on East Malone Boulevard.

PERRYVILLE: St. Joseph Street, from end to end.

CHARLESTON: The "Big Block" of Marshall, Main, Commercial and Stark streets.

SCOTT CITY: Main Street between Larry's Store 24 and the self-serve car wash.

POTOSI: Main Street to the shopping center, looping around the old A&W drive-in.

CARBONDALE, Ill.: "The Strip," several blocks of South Illinois Avenue near Southern Illinois University.