Most car enthusiasts know what they want to do with their spare time. If their car isn’t running, working on it is always relaxing (sometimes) and gives them something to look forward to when it’s all together and ready to cruise. There are several web sites with the same intention: to give you something to look forward to when you’re ready to cruise.

The paint was so nice on this Goat, it looked like it was still wet.

One such website brought us to a little cruise spot with a fairly large parking lot that we were invited to last Friday was the Tuxies cruise in Riverside, California. It was our first visit to this little hole in the wall taco shop and fast food/hot dog joint.  With a walk up window and weekly specials, including dollar tacos on Thursday nights (damn, missed it by one day), and very reasonable prices. A can of soda was a buck, not the typical $2.50 that other places charge for an 8-ounce cup of syrup and water.

As with most other cruise nights, there was a DJ, a raffle, fun games and prizes, and awards that were handed out towards the end of the evening. The odd shaped parking lot had cars coming and going throughout the evening, and the foot traffic was nearly non-stop as we all made rounds to check out the cool classics and even the modern musclecars in attendance.

Though the show seemed to have nothing but cars from ‘Muricah, the car show and cruise in is open to everyone with a vehicle, whether they were driving an old Datsun or a new Corvette, the variety is what makes this show pretty cool. We were invited by our friends at Mopar360 and saw the dozens of modern Mopars roll in at various times of the evening – some came from local areas, others arrived from more than an hour away.

Tuxies car show happens monthly, and it truly does seem like a great little hangout when there’s not much to do on a Friday evening. Some cars started showing up as early as 2:00 PM, and with the several other businesses in the sharing the same parking lot it almost seems like the lot would fill up quickly. But there didn’t seem to be any issues and while some cars double-parked, spots opened up from time to time allowing new rides a place to park it and kick back.

It’s a great place to unwind after a long week, with great Mexican food served during the event at Tuxies, and Giuliano’s Trattoria, a great little Italian restaurant in the same complex for a late meal. The food there was incredible, and the staff was great to the 24-30 of us that all rolled in for dinner at the same time. After our meal, it was out to the lot, into our steeds, and on our way home with another cruise night added to our repertoire.

If you’re in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, and you find yourself bored with some of the regular cruise nights that attract about a dozen cars (and always the same dozen), take a little trip down to Magnolia Avenue in Riverside, and cruise in to Tuxies Car Show.

The cruise-in/car show happens on the second Friday of every month from about 4:00 PM to 8:00PM, with the next show coming up on August 8th, 2014. After you get there, walk around a bit and before you know it, it will be time to go and you’ll feel like a kid again, forced to come in because the street lights came on.

If you go, hang out for an hour, or stay for the evening, there’s plenty of room, plenty of cool cars, and plenty of new and old friends to hang out with. It was a pretty cool night, we’ll be sure to come back some time. You should too.  Check out the big gallery below to see some of the vehicles that show up.