Street Takeover

Submission 1,593

Overview

A Street Takeover or Street Car Takeover is an informal event where large numbers of people block off a street in order to perform stunts with their cars, such as doughnuts and ghost riding. The activity's origins date back to the 1980s in Oakland, California and became increasingly popular throughout the 2010s and 2020s as people began coordinating street takeovers online and documenting them for social media, also inspiring memes about street takeovers. Calls to crack down on street takeovers increased in the 2020s due to injuries, the illegality of the takeovers and reports of looting.

Online History

Footage of street takeovers became increasingly popular on social media throughout the 2010s. For example, on December 18th, 2017, YouTuber^[1] HoodVlogs posted a video of a street takeover being busted by police, garnering over 6,600 views in six years (shown below).

Throughout the 2020s, numerous videos of street takeovers were posted to TikTok. On August 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[2] @leonofdavinci posted a birds-eye-view video of a street takeover, garnering over 166,000 views in a year (shown below, left). On December 22nd, TikToker^[3] @themegaphonekidd posted a video of police blocking several cars at an alleged street takeover, garnering over 1.5 million views in eight months (shown below, right).

Danger and Incidents

Street takeovers are known to sometimes result in injury and death due to being unregulated and dangerous. In August 2022, 40 people were arrested as part of a crackdown on street takeovers in Los Angeles.^[4] In December 2022, a woman was killed when she was hit by a car at a street takeover.^[5] In February 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched a statewide street takeover task force.^[6]

On April 17th, 2023, the New York Post^[7] reported on looting after a street takeover in Compton, with the @abc7la TikTok^[8] page posting footage that day (shown below, left). On August 21st, TMZ^[9] reported on a street takeover in LA that resulted in someone being hit by a truck while the driver was fleeing the cops. A video of the event was posted by TikToker^[10] @elprimo911 on August 22nd, garnering over 33,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

Online Presence

Memes

Numerous memes about street takeovers have been posted online throughout the 2010s and 2020s, often referencing the danger of the events. On May 6th, 2021, a Redditor posted a street takeover meme to /r/carshitposting^[11] that gained over 250 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On February 22nd, 2022, Facebook^[12] page Car memes posted a meme that gained over 2,800 reactions and 700 shares in a year (shown below, right).