Graffiti Summer in Modesto takes its name from American Graffiti, George Lucas's coming-of-age film rooted in the city's cruising culture, where cars and people's relationship with them are central. As a teenager in Modesto, Lucas cruised 10th Street, then known as Draggin' 10th, before the route shifted in the late 1960s to McHenry Avenue. The film captured the first big weekend of cruising after school ended, a tradition long known as Graffiti Night, when people and their cars came to Modesto throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s. After the gathering grew so large in 1993 that cruising was banned in Modesto, supporters of local car culture and the city's place in American Graffiti organized events to honor and continue the tradition, producing Graffiti Summer, a month-long June celebration of cars, cruising, music, film, theater, parades, and car shows that draws participants from across the region and around the world.