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ShareOnce a week, a 10-block section of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is transformed into a clogged artery, bursting with cars crawling at speeds of 15 to 20 mph.
Anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 people move through the area in a 3- to 4-hour period, police estimate. Rap music fills the air. Friends hang out and talk, shake hands, slap each other on the back.
Just about as full as the street itself are the parking lots lining the roadway.
Curious onlookers, adults and children alike, sit outside in lawn chairs, sipping drinks, taking in the parade.
The Houston Police Department caused some outrage in this neighborhood last weekend when a few officers tried to discourage cruising by opening fire hydrants to cover the road with water.
The officers were responding to residents' and business owners' complaints about the crowds, but the move prompted protest from black activists and an apology from Police Chief C.O. Bradford.
On Sunday, the fire hydrants were closed and the crowds were back. So were the police - 32 officers who showed up with barricades and cones to control the traffic.
It worked reasonably well, taking only five minutes to travel the 10-block area with restricted lane use.
But the heavy police presence and traffic restrictions angered some members of the black community, who still feel they are being treated differently than the crowds flooding the Richmond strip on Friday and Saturday nights.
"Because it's young black youth, they look at it in a negative way," said Jarrell Todd, 25, a record promoter who has lived in the Southpark neighborhood all his life. "This gives younger kids a place to go. You get a sense of community."
Not all business owners along the well-cruised strip of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard agree that the Sunday night cruisers are a problem. Some say the crowds are a welcome sight.
"Business is better. People are just enjoying themselves. I enjoy watching it," said Joyce Knockum, owner of the VNH convenience store.
Others aren't so eager to see the visitors.
"It's really causing us nothing but problems," said James Randle, manager of the Sheffield Grocery, who said he has seen various antics among the crowds, such as a woman disrobing and even some dog fights. "I don't see any good in it for the community. Eighty percent of the people cruising aren't even from here."
Across the street at the Payless Super Market, manager Ashley Qureshi said the crowds cause her similar headaches.
"They are not even buying anything," she said. "Every summer it gets really bad. My regular customers always complain."
Assistant Police Chief Chuck McClelland appealed for calm from the crowd, which became irate Sunday when officers began covering the area, setting up traffic cones and barricades in the road.
"You have to understand we're not here to make it difficult, we're not here to harass anyone . . . I'm actually here to clear up some miscommunication," he told them.
But McClelland took some blistering criticism when a few people asked why the same traffic control methods aren't used on the Richmond strip, where a predominantly white crowd hangs out.
"You treat them like you treat us," demanded Dyna Wilson, 33, who gathered with a crowd at a car wash. "Why are you trying to make an example out of us? I want to see those traffic cones on Richmond tonight."
Police countered that the Richmond strip operation has different problems and requires a different approach - it is an area that invites business, packed with restaurants and late-night clubs. Almost no residences are to be found, unlike the area along Martin Luther King.
In fact, police make far more arrests on the Richmond strip - and most of those arrested are white, said Lt. S.K. Boyce.
New Black Panther Party Minister Quanell X praised the police for using more restrained crowd-control tactics Sunday but called for the black community to return to MacGregor Park on Sunday nights beginning April 29. A benefit concert by Scarface and Hot Boyz will mark the event.
The park was a popular gathering spot for African-Americans in the late '80s and early '90s until police shut it down, he said.
"We told the police chief, we told the mayor, we told all of them - they can have MLK. We are going to take back MacGregor Park," Quanell X said, prompting cheers from a crowd of at least 100 people gathered at the car wash.
"We say our brothers and sisters have a divine right to congregate in their own neighborhoods without intimidation, without harassment and without Gestapo tactics. We will organize our people. We've already told them to keep cameras on hand, keep camcorders on hand, keep paper and pen on hand to document everything."
