Letter from Boston Local Car Show By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
地元の車ショー 久しぶりに週末をニュージャージーの実家で過ごした雅子さん。辺りを散歩している途中、道ばたにぴかぴかの車をずらりと並べた車のショーに遭遇しました。先週紹介したボストンのケンモア・スクエアと違い、この辺りは地元色が強く、昔ながらの雰囲気を残しています。この車ショーも町をあげたチャリティーイベントでした。

When I went to my hometown for a short weekend, I decided to go to the small downtown section to check out the local scene. It is rather tame, but downtown is a very short walk from my old house and a pleasant change from the residential area.

I walked slowly past the apartment where I spent my childhood, the dance studio next to it, the brownstones where some of my friends lived and the public school I attended until I transferred to an all-Japanese school.

I was contemplating this public school — especially the fact that it had no playground so the students literally had to play in the street during recess — when I heard the theme song from "American Bandstand" blaring over some kind of loudspeaker system. At first I thought it was some person's stereo turned on a bit too loud, but then I realized that something was going on in the downtown section, so I hurried down the block to see.

Something was definitely going on. Several blocks of the main street were blocked off, and dozens of shiny cars were lined up in the middle of the street. I saw a small podium area where tables and microphones were set up. There was a sign with "50/50" written on it, and I chuckled. Fundraisers like 50/50, and bingo, have been popular for eons.

For 50/50, people can buy tickets for about $1 (¥110). After the tickets are sold, a raffle is held. The person who wins the raffle gets 50 percent of the total pool. The remaining 50 percent goes to the sponsoring charity.

Yes, it was a car show and a fundraiser. This event was held to benefit a charity that helps children with autism and other developmental diseases. The world of antique cars can get awfully exclusive, but perhaps because of this philanthropic focus, the show had a much less competitive feel. The car owners had to pay a small fee to enter their cars in the contest. Presumably, this fee went to the charity as well.

Another reason this show seemed casual is because all of the cars were displayed in the middle of a large street. Appreciative locals walked along, admiring the beautiful, unusual cars, and I could tell that the owners were eager to impress these "amateur" car lovers by adding cute decorations to their cars.

However, since it was a contest, the owners seemed especially eager to impress the serious judges. One winner walked off with a large trophy. The funny thing is that although his car was undoubtedly restored to perfect condition, he wore an extremely scruffy looking T-shirt with a hole in the front. It seemed that one of his (also casually dressed) buddies also won a large trophy.

I noticed that many of the contest participants were members of car restoration clubs and I guessed that for many of them, restoring antique cars is a passion.

I could tell that a lot of local businesses were involved in this car show. Not only did many of the businesses put posters of this event in their storefronts, many also put out sidewalk tables to hawk their goods to passersby during the event. Many of the businesses probably donated money outright.

Two of the film developing shops took free pictures of passersby as they posed near the cars. Many of the familiar old businesses gave out their own trophies to the cars that they liked.

The main street of my hometown, Cliffside Park, definitely does not have a gentrified feel, and I recognized a great number of stores from when I lived there 20 years ago. It's true that new Korean immigrants have been occupying some of the evacuated storefronts, but even these businesses seem to fit into the small-town mold.

The event was sponsored by the town, and many of Cliffside Park's pols showed up and gave speeches. I could recognize the names of many of the city council members, since they have not changed since I was in elementary school.

Although this is perhaps not a dynamic, or perhaps even fair, political situation, it made me smile to hear these old locals banter and pontificate with their thick New Jersey twang.

Shukan ST: Sept. 24, 1999

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