Omaha Exploration

Some of you may recall seeing the “No Cruising” signs while driving east or west along Dodge Street between 69th and 96th. I imagine many of you remember actually cruising Dodge in the days before personal computers and cell phones.

The practice of cruising along Omaha’s main strip started as far back as the 1950s. In those days, teenagers including Hollywood legend Nick Nolte would fraternize, drink, fight and hook up in an area that started near Tiner’s Drive-In at 44th and stretched westward to Todd’s Drive-In, the unofficial hangout for teenagers at 77th.

As people continued to move west, so did cruising which by that time mostly took place between 72nd and 90th. The practice diminished somewhat in the 1970s as a result of the gas crisis but saw a resurgence in 1979. In those days, to be seen on Dodge after 9 PM marked your arrival as one of the cool kids.

Cruising was seen by some as the best entertainment that Omaha had to offer at the time but as it attracted more and more people, the city sought to crack down on the practice. They successfully did just that in 1983. That is until someone attracted record breaking crowds by falsely advertised that the popular automobile magazine Car Craft was going to be in the area for an upcoming shoot.

By the late 1980s there were estimates of as many as 1,000 cars cruising up-and-down along the strip. The practice was largely seasonal with most people showing up during the summer months when school was out only to shrink once school started up again in September. Some of the more hardcore teens would continue to show-up in the empty parking lots after many of the businesses closed. Even fewer continued to show up once it got cold and snow started to fall.

Omaha World-Herald archives photos of young adults cruising Dodge Street in 1970s and 1980s.

The unruly behavior of some resulted in businesses including Burger King and Chi Chi’s hiring security guards. With more cars and young adults showing up, complaints of loud music, litter, squealing tires, vandalism and fights grew louder. Those issues combined with an increase in accidents which, at times, occurred more often after 9 PM than during rush hour and the city was pressured to come up with a solution.

Omaha World-Herald archives photos of young adults cruising Dodge Street in 1970s and 1980s.

In 1992 the city council passed an ordinance that put an end to the past time that saw teenagers cruise along the same street that their parents did a generation earlier. The new ordinance resulted in probation for up to four months along with a suspension of driving privileges for 30 days for those who passed one of four different checkpoints three times within two hours. That marked the end of an era in Omaha.

Content written by Omaha Exploration. Feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion. Until then, keep exploring!

Omaha Exploration is sponsored by

Click here to contact me if you’re interested in sponsoring OE.