Last weekend was like a blast from the past. Sunset Avenue not only had Cruisin’ Asheboro but the date happened to coincide with the reunion of the Asheboro High School class of 1958.

I was there taking pictures of old cars, old buddies and old former students.

Forgive me for overuse of the term “old,” but I think I’ve earned the right by virtue of many years of growing, well, old.

Some of the cars and trucks I saw on Sunset were even older than their drivers, much less yours truly. But the downtown area they cruised outdates any of them.

Did you know Sunset once went by Depot Street? That’s a fact I learned from a photograph brought into the office by Archie Burkhead of The Record Shop. It’s part of a collection of photos from which our 2011 Reflections On The Past calendar, scheduled to come out in November, will be picked.

The photo from Archie’s scrapbook is a 1914 shot of Sunset/Depot looking east toward what’s now Mac Whatley’s law office, then the Bank of Randolph. Since the Wachovia building wasn’t there, you can see what looks to be a dwelling behind the bank.

One undated picture shows the corner of Sunset and Fayetteville Street looking south. The street, being traversed by a horse-drawn wagon, is dirt and there are no sidewalks or light poles. It definitely predates cruising.

The Sunset Theatre is young by comparison. It opened in 1930, in plenty of time for the 1958 grads to watch “Rebel Without a Cause” while spooning in the balcony.

Except for one problem – all the women I’ve talked to from that class declare they weren’t allowed to sit in the balcony.

The classmates spent part of their reunion at the Sunset viewing a promotional video put out by the campaign to raise money to restore the venerable theatre. Titled “Asheboro’s Next Act,” the video has interesting scenes taken of the downtown area with a movie camera.

I’d like to know the name of the police officer smoking the pipe.

Anyway, I enjoyed the video with them, then they lined up in front of the stage for a group photo. Anyone who’d like a copy can find the picture at www.randolphguide.com.

Not to downplay the AHS reunion, but the really fun part of the day for me was watching the old classics pull onto Sunset and park diagonally next to the curb. I was checking out the jalopies when a familiar face caught my eye.

Jerry Trotter lived just up the road from me when we were both boys on what’s now called Andrew Hunter Road, just off U.S. 64 on the road that goes to Franklinville. Jerry was a couple of years older and spent more time with my brother who was his age. But he would still allow me, back in the day, to cruise with him in his bright red 1962 Chevy Impala.

As he recalled last weekend, we’d cruise Sunset, drive north on Fayetteville Street to Tommy’s or out Albemarle Road to Sherwood Drive-In before returning to Sunset. It was a form of adolescent strutting in front of the opposite sex. We cruised to see and to be seen.

As Jerry noted, Sunset Avenue “was the town. “We’d cruise, then sit out on our cars. We’d stop and go into the drugstore (for a fountain drink) and hang out on the street. It kept us out of trouble.”

It was fun seeing Sunset being cruised once again by many of the same guys and gals who used to ride their Chevys and Fords (and Opel Cadets) up and down the strip.

Why would anybody want to go to the mall?



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, needs to wash and wax the old hotrod for Saturday night ridin’. He can be reached at (336) 625-5576 or by e-mail at lpenkava@randolphguide.com