It's the end of an era. The days of cruising Metro are long gone and they ended up making it impossible with gates on the loop in the early 90's, but I spent many Friday and Saturday nights there as a teen doing the whole cruise thang.
Metro is closing it's doors forever. Word got out and in a handful of days, 15,000 members joined the facebook group for the last cruise. It was AWESOME!
I hate that I had to be a part of it from afar, but it looks like everyone who attended had a great time. The Phx police said on Saturday the 27th that between 12,000 and 15,000 were in attendance. They let the cruisers do their thing for many hours before closing it down in the wee hours of the morning.
I remember when these signs went up.
Some claim as it was nothing more than a huge car show, but that was part of cruising too.
Arial shots show that not only the typical outer loop was packed, but the inner loop as well and right around the footprint of the mall itself! Even all the streets leading into Metro Center. How crazy is that?!
There were a lot of people doing doughnuts which were scary to watch but even the police got involved with (safe) doughnuts.
Then on Tuesday the 30th, the very official last day of Metro, they did another cruise. Again it was packed.
Inside the mall on the last day they allowed people to roller skate the halls, have live music, dance, and say their farewells.
The last lap of the night was dedicated to the police who allowed just about anything to happen for these last 2 cruises.
Many are now planning this to be a yearly event if they can get away with it as long as the loop is still drive-able.
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was partly filmed here and I went to school with several people who were extras in the movie.
Here is some great drone video shot by Evan Short
and music by Motley Crew: Home Sweet Home
(watch up to the end for the full circle footage)
Good-bye Metro! Thanks for the memories!
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