Cochran car show returns to BG for third year
BELL GARDENS, CA — The Eddie Cochran Memorial Car Show returns to Bell Gardens for its third year Saturday, Oct. 3—on what would have been Cochran’s 88th birthday—bringing pre-1964 classic cars, live rockabilly music, a pin-up contest, vendors, and a beer garden to Ford Park.
The free, all-ages show runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is presented by the City of Bell Gardens, SELA Kiwanis, and the Basin Bombers Social Club.
Organizers are sticking with much of what worked the first two years, but this year brings new bands and what could be the show’s largest collection of cars yet.
“We really like the way we laid out the show last year, so we’re going to be replicating that,” organizer Enrique Vega said. Cars ringed the grassy area in front of the stage, leaving an open space for dancing and watching the bands—a setup Vega described as “almost like a drive-in movie.”
Pre-registration is already ahead of the past two years, Vega said. Organizers hope to draw 150 to 200 cars.
This year’s lineup includes longtime rockabilly performer Rip Carson and headliners The Rhythm Shakers, who Vega said have built a strong following. Los Pakalolos will bring a surf-guitar sound to what is forecast to be a bright and sunny start to the show.
The show memorializes Eddie Cochran, the rock ’n’ roll pioneer who spent part of his youth in Bell Gardens and became known for hits including “Summertime Blues” and “C’mon Everybody.” Cochran died in 1960 at just 21, but his guitar-driven sound went on to influence everyone from The Beatles to the Sex Pistols.
For Vega, keeping Cochran’s Bell Gardens roots alive sends a message to local kids.
“He’s a legend,” Vega said. “He passed away very young, many, many years ago, and people still list him as an influence for their music.”
“You can be from Bell Gardens, and you can do something with your life,” he added. “If you have a dream and you work at it, it can happen for you.”
The show also raises money for BG youth. Proceeds from car registrations, vendor booths, and other revenue support SELA Kiwanis scholarships and high school Key Clubs. Vega said the city covers major costs such as the park and stage, allowing more of the money raised to go toward local students.
For newcomers, Vega said the show feels less like a traditional parking-lot car show and more like a day at the park.
“The cars are good to look at, the music is nice to listen to, and it’s in a park setting, which I think is a big advantage to a lot of car shows that happen in a parking lot somewhere on asphalt,” Vega said. “You bring your lawn chairs out, your canopies, your picnic blankets or whatever, and you hang out on the grass and you check out the cars.”
The 3rd Annual Eddie Cochran Memorial Car Show runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at Ford Park in Bell Gardens. Admission is free and all ages are welcome.
Who was Eddie Cochran?
Back in Bell Gardens’ “Billy Goat Acres” era—when the city was dotted with affordable homesteads, still freshly subdivided from former farmland, occupied by Midwestern and Dust Bowl migrants, with unpaved streets and even goats in yards—Eddie Cochran moved with his family from Minnesota in 1953. By the mid-1950s, he had dropped out of Bell Gardens High School and was performing locally, including gigs at American Legion Post 465 still located on Eastern Avenue.
In 1958, Cochran’s biggest hit “Summertime Blues” cracked the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to sell more than a million copies. Cochran’s life was cut short at just 21 in a car crash while touring the United Kingdom, but his influence grew and would help shape the British Invasion a few years later. When Paul McCartney auditioned for John Lennon’s skiffle group The Quarrymen in 1957—a band that would later evolve into The Beatles—he played Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.”
Today, Cochran is remembered as Bell Gardens’ homegrown rock ’n’ roll pioneer—“James Dean with a guitar,” as he was often described.
