All-women club redefines stereotypes in lowrider

For Angel Romero, every detail of her car is a reflection of her history.

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The shining purple paint job accents sleek gleaming chrome that flashes bright in the light of golden hour. Pinstripes adorn the hood and the roof of the car — which hovers mere inches from the road, floating on whitewall tires — and the trunk is emblazoned with a photorealistic portrait of her mother, the first lowrider Romero ever knew. In the back window sits a metal engraving reading “Dueñas” in elegant script. Six years ago, Romero founded a women’s lowrider club. Tired of hearing others say “that’s your boyfriend's car” or “that's your daddy's car,” she named the club Dueñas - meaning “female owners” in Spanish.“You can't get any more straightforward than that,” she said. The club became one of the biggest women's lowrider clubs in the region, making its imprint in the Bay Area by defying stereotypes and inspiring other women to get in the driver's seat. The group builds on a long, rich history of lowriding, a multi-generational movement born out of Mexican-American counterculture in the '40s with deep roots in San Jose. Lowrider culture is most famous for cars that are modified to ride “low and slow” and often have extensive, intricate paint jobs, but Romero says the movement goes beyond the cars. “It's not just about lowriding. With Dueñas, its also about community and giving back,” she said.