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April 30th,  2014 was an unseasonably hot day in San Francisco, the kind of day where the warm sea air fills you nose and sticks to your skin as soon as you cross over the bridge. The city was brimming with the wild, restless energy of impending change that was all too palpable on every street corner and back alley. We arrived at Henry Goldfield’s Tattoo Studio at 404 Broadway in the late afternoon, and already the street corner and small North Beach shop was packed wall to wall with friends, patrons, and well-wishers. People from all walks of life, from seasoned veterans and legends of the tattoo scene to curious onlookers had gathered upon this place to pay it one last visit and give their best to San Francisco’s oldest continuously running tattoo shop. Change was indeed in the air; after 35 years Goldfield’s was closing it’s doors for the last time.

Another year, another show, another rust bubble in my rocker panel. It was great to be back up in Sacramento for the Autorama this year. It’s been a while since I’ve been out to a big show like Sacorama, and I was impressed by the quality of unique customs that are still being built despite it all.

Ten years. It’s been ten years since my first Billetproof. Ten years ago I was just a kid, eager to be able to hop out of the booth long enough to take enough shots with my old Pentax to fill my proof sheet. Now I walk through the show between customers to try and take a few pics on my iPhone to have something to put on the blog. Time, what a strange thing.

Here’s some pics from the Stranger’s show last weekend in San Jose. I had a great time. It’s strange for me to be in a place where I can feel somewhat comfortable entering my car in a car show, and I’m still figuring out what that whole world is like.

This summer is going to be a good one. I’ve been working on the car like a madman. I’ve been fighting through a handful of mechanical issues, and it’s been a struggle to keep it on the road while working long days and finishing up my last year of school. This past week was particularly intense, I’m in summer courses now, and in order to get the Buick in good shape I’ve been burning the candle from both ends. I think it’s paid off.

I started the week pretty upset that my car wasn’t going to be ready for the show. I had been working like crazy to make it, stressing every little detail, and trying to get every last thing dialed in but ultimately I didn’t make it. This was going to be my first big show as a Boulevardo, and I was going without a car.

The Sacramento Autorama is one of Northern California’s last big indoor car shows, and what a show it was. This year was back with a vengeance, the Club Room was open again and packed with tons of great cars and killer robots (that’s right, courtesy of the Sacramento Poor Boys Car Club and this year’s “futurama” theme). The suede room, where I spent most of my weekend was so full of awesomeness that it overflowed into the Expo Center parking lot.

I was really excited to make it to this cruise, after I ended up catching a cold right before the last one and missed it. I met up with the group down at the E’ville marina to stage for our short cruise across the Bay Bridge. Since the few days before the cruise were rainy and dreary, I wasn’t sure if anyone would make it, but we got lucky. The sun came out and the weather held out long enough for a good day in SF.

Mark your calendars, set a reminder on your phone, tie a string to your finger, do what you gotta do to make it to this one. This one is going to be awesome….

LBCC Nor-Cal Guerrilla Cruise- East Bay to San Francisco 11/12/11 What an incredible end to an insane year. The weather broke late on Friday and cleared the way for a perfect day in San Francisco. I rolled out to the Emeryville Marina, our impromptu meeting spot early to hold it down, and enjoyed being the nicest car in the parking lot (by default, I was also the only car in the lot) for a little while: It didn’t last too long, as our friends from as far as Vallejo, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fremont quickly showed me up and rolled into the East Ocean parking lot at about 9 o’clock. We waited it out for more people, and eventually hit the road trying to out run to gloomy gray sky over the East Bay. I led the pack as we rolled slowly onto I-80 and across the Bay Bridge. Seeing cars in a parking lot or on the grass at a car show is great, but there’s just nothing like seeing chrome and flake in action on the highway. It makes you appreciate a car on a whole new level, not as a collection of cool parts, shapes, and colors, but as an incredible machine, moving and bumping down the road as if it’s alive and breathing. We must have turned a lot of heads rolling across the bridge, it’s a shame I couldn’t capture the action. We pulled off…

Be there! Should be a lot of fun, check the link for details:

Swanx Fall Fiasco 2011, Fairfield, Ca 10/8/11 I had a great time at the Swanx show this year. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer way to close show season, for me at least, than hanging out with friends and cool cars in a Sheet Metal shop. It seems like bigger car shows this season have been a little down, and while I’m not sure why that is, I’ve got to say it’s made the smaller shows more enjoyable. The Swanx show is one of the great examples of that; you don’t need a huge venue or fancy pipe & drape to have a great show. I imagine this is what car culture felt like back in the mid-nineties, it’s been a return to smaller more intimate shows where everyone seems to building things in different styles and we can all meet in the middle and hang out for a weekend and compare notes. I love it, it doesn’t feel like a scene, it feels like a community. For me, this was my second car show ever in my Buick, and my first time vending out of it. The car took it well, that huge trunk is perfect for holding a ton of merch. The car ran pretty well, it handled the load great. I made it with no problems, and had a great time at the show. I do not get sick of looking at this car. It’s so……

I decided to make the trip down to Salinas to support our friends from Deadend Magazine and checkout this art show at this neat Art Gallery in Downtown Salinas, Ca. I’ve never really spent much time in Salinas, and I really had no idea what to expect. I’m also not much for art shows, I never really know what to do, so it was all going to be a surprise. I picked up my friends Stoney and Brooke on the way down, and we headed out through some of the most ridiculous traffic I’ve ever dealt with on the way there. When we pulled on to Main St, we instantly knew that we were in the right place, the street was packed with hot rods, customs, and lowriders with a turnout and quality that should make any event planner proud. I’m not sure if all of the cars there were from Salinas (in fact I know they weren’t, John Parker and Art Rivas made the drive all the way up from around Ventura!), but I do know that people from Salinas build a car with a ton of heart and passion, and it shows. It was a really impressive thing to see, and that was just outside the Somos Gallery! Inside the gallery was a clean and glowing art gallery packed with incredible photography, great paintings, and cool sculpture. The gallery itself was pretty rad, it had a ton of…

Before, when I said “it’s hard to put to words for how this makes me feel”, that was a total cop out. I’ll try. Doing so will inevitably out me as a total nerd, but if you can see the value in an electronic web-based platform for sharing pictures and thoughts across the world in an instant, I’d ask you to consider yourself one as well. It’s ok, you’re in good company. I never met Jobs personally. I’ve been a Mac user all my life, I learned to type on an Apple II at my elementary school, my family bought the Performa when it became apparent that we needed a computer in the house. My Dad, who was never really a “gadget” guy once brought home a Newton, which was a device way ahead of it’s time, and the obvious inspiration for the iPhone I’m writing this on right now (although I’m glad to not be writing in pseudohieroglyphics using a stylus). I learned how to edit photos and film on the eMac, and in fact, most of my schools had all Apple computer labs. I realize this “credibility statement” probably isn’t that important, as my Blogger Stats show about 50% of you reading this right now are using an Apple product too, and probably do so for similar reasons. My Dad and I have, for some reason or another, never been too close, we never did the typical father-son…

Billetproof, the “World’s Least Important Car Show”, is now in it’s fifteenth year, and it just keeps getting better and better. Back to a one day show this year, Billetproof in Antioch packed the Antioch Fairgrounds with an impressive array of the world’s best hot rods, customs, and traditional lowriders for an amazing Saturday.I was really excited to finally enter my car in this show, I’ve been going to Billetproof since 2002 and it seems that every year, in some way or another, the universe has kept me from participating. Well, this year was different, and I was able to make it in my Buick, scoring my first ever car show window sticker and Billetproof timing plate. I don’t really know why there are whisperings around the fringe of our Car Culture community about the relevance and legitimacy of this show; it makes no sense to me. Alan and his wife have been doing an incredible job keeping such a big show a down-to-earth and fun time, and there couldn’t be a better set of people at the helm of this show. I’d also like to extend a huge thank you to the host car club, The Dragoons, for keeping this show as fun and laid back as possible, you guys are doing great. Everyone should be excited to have a great bunch of younger hot-rodders getting active and making this incredible show a success. Thank you. My weekend started…

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since the last Ventura Nationals. This show is always incredible, it’s the perfect mix of great cars and great people, and this year was no different. This year I headed down to Ventura with my Mother-in-law to vend for the weekend, leaving home, school, and the girl of my dreams in the rear view for a few days. Being away from my wife is always really tough; the entire drive there I was dreading the impending loneliness of being without her. We pulled into our motel without incident at about midnight, Ventura was tightly wrapped in a blanket of beach fog, but you could still feel the errant energy in the air, as if the entire town was electric with anticipation. I slept little, restless alone and without any idea what the morning would hold. It’s ironic I suppose, I hate gambling, and would never throw down any amount of cash at a card table, but in Vending we take a pretty big risk every weekend. We headed out early to the fairgrounds to wait in line. When I saw Coby’s van waiting in the car line, I started to get a good feeling about this show. Surfers were piling out of cars at the beach in total darkness as we finally rolled into the fairgrounds. We set up quick, and I waited for things to settle down before I…

Well, another month down, another great night in Downtown Oakland for the Royal Jokers Cruise Night. I didn’t stick around too long, but the time I had there was great. I can’t believe summer is almost over, it seems to go by quicker and quicker each year. Here’s the few pics I got before the sun went down, enjoy: First, I love the Buick wheels on this Impala, for some reason. Apparently they’re just temporary while they get ready to take the car to the next level, which I’m pretty excited to see: Bomba City- This car far and away the winner for me. I have no idea who’s car it was, but the quality of finish was incredible. This was happening. Another great night. Thanks again to the Royal Jokers for hosting, hopefully I’ll have the car ready for next time. Thanks for reading.

Continued from: The Epic Tale of my 1963 Econoline, AKA: The Van Story- Part 1 &   The Van Story- Part 2, Past the Edge of Oblivion We pulled into the U-Haul on the edge of Las Vegas and spat out our thinly rehearsed lie to the kid at the counter, and at first it seemed to stick. He ran the info through his computer, but eventually we hit the same dead end. Unsafe, they couldn’t get a truck, they couldn’t rent a trailer, we were fucked. Again. Outside the sun was slowly falling and the darkness began to come creep over the desert. I could feel the world pulling us in, trying as best as it could to hold us in this god-forsaken Valley of Fire. The kid behind the counter had a devilish smirk on his face, and you could tell that he was the type of guy that gets off on the tiny sliver of authority they grant him there. Josie and I stepped away from the counter, defeated and tired. Josie, unable and unwilling to succumb to defeat, suddenly saw something that made her jump. ”What about that? That could work!” she yelled. I turned my exhausted and sun burnt face to see the object of her attention: a bumper-mounted tow bar. When I saw the tow-bar she was pointing at, our eyes met, we both nodded at each other, and we made a silent pact there on…

The Dragoons- Nite of The Hot Rods, 7/16/11 Antioch, CA If I were older, I’d probably be sitting here rattling on about how nice it is that the younger generation is carrying on the tradition, blah blah blah, but I’ll leave that to someone else. As someone in the same relative age bracket as most of the Dragoons, I’m really happy to see my contemporaries doing cool shit and making this great show happen in Antioch, of all places. This show is always impressively packed with killer cars that always makes you take pause by the end of the night and wonder how, exactly, these punk kids (and punk-kid-minded adults) manage to drag such top quality cars out to a parking lot next to a public fishing pier by the railroad tracks. The secret? Honestly, if you met these guys you’d do anything you could to make what they’ve got going on out here a success. I was booth-bound for most of the show, but thankfully MLV held down the fort for a few minutes while I ran frantically to take a few pictures of the beautiful show. Custom cars, punk rock, and great people, if that’s not enough to get you out to a show I don’t know what is. Enjoy: Mrs. Gambino’s new Cadillac: Check out this cool in-progress custom: Thanks for reading! The Dragoons Nite of The Hot Rods- 7/16/11 Antioch, CA was last modified: October 30th,…

Part II- Past the Edge of Oblivion Continued from: The Epic Tale of my 1963 Econoline, AKA: The Van Story- Part 1 When we got out of the truck, a old man wearing aviator shades was walking out to greet us. He introduced himself as Walt, and we got to talking. The more Walt, Josie and I talked, the clearer my understanding of this place became; this wasn’t a place that people came to by choice, but rather a place of last resort for people who had expended all of their other options. Walt had been married once before in Utah; his wrinkled forearm still bared her name on a tattered banner over a shaky rose. He was living here, not sure for how long, seeing how things went with a much younger girlfriend out here in the trailer park. Everyone here, it seemed, had some story about how they were just passing through. Nothing about this town had any sense permanence about it; it was as if the whole goddamn place could just pack up and leave in the middle of the night without a trace. Walt told me he had a couple of vans back in his heydays, and how he had picked this one up as a project a few years back to relive some of those wild times. The 300 six-cylinder in it that his daughter had insisted over the phone was rebuilt and running seemed to…

It’s not my intention for this blog to become a deeply personal account of my travels, but this weekend my personal life and my show-going life are inseparable and indistinguishable. My wife has been having a really tough time getting around lately. She’s had a hard time walking, and hasn’t been able to stand for long periods of time on her own for a while now. We recently started seeing a neurologist about it, and she’s been going through pretty intense treatment for what we learned was an inflammation of her spinal cord because of lesions on her brain. Its scary stuff, and not something to be taken lightly. She’s been knocked down for a few weeks, and really hasn’t left the house, aside from coming to the shop, for about a month. I stepped up and with the help of a few friends we’ve been running the shop in her absence. The past week was particularly tough, because not only did she have to deal with the side effects of some pretty harsh medicine, but also because we’ve been waiting for a blood test to reveal what life-long condition we’ll be up against. Well, Friday’s doctor appointment revealed that she has MS, a yet uncureable auto-immune disorder that’s going to require long term treatment, but the fact that we now know what we’re dealing with has been surprisingly comforting. Also, the harsh medicine seems to have worked, because after…

1. An EXCELLENT article and great photos on Coby of Church Magazine’s amazing Econoline, Van Go. 2. Wonderful coverage of the Sacramento Autorama by BOMB CITY, AKA my wife and I! It’s a tremendous honor to have our work in such a huge publication. A huge thanks to Zombie and the crew at TRK. Check it out, it’s a damn good issue. Like it? Let them know! – Posted from the road

I decided I should post up the long and strange journey that is my van build-thread from the LBCC board. I’ll post it up in a few installments. Enjoy: Part I- In the beginning: Josie and I left for the desert at about seven o’clock at night. Still being at the height of summer, the sun hadn’t fully set, but it was steadily on it’s way there. I hadn’t even unpacked from Paso; my duffel bag sat in the back seat of my dad’s crew cab half full of yesterday’s dirty laundry as we climbed the Altamont. My heart pounded as I held the wheel of the truck, swerving around potholes with one hand, pounding an energy drink with the other while my brain went over all of the important details of our trip: We were heading for Nevada, and tomorrow I would be pulling home my Econoline. We left so quick I didn’t even bother to get directions; I knew we were staying the night in Vegas, a drive I’ve made a handful of times, and finding a room should be easy. We would call Walt in the morning to go see the van, thus far I had only spoken to his daughter who had posted the van to the Las Vegas craigslist for her computer-illiterate father. This whole ordeal started from that ad and a picture she emailed me before Paso: She had said that there was a…

The Last Originals Car Show in Pacifica; what is there to say? Every time I make it out to this show it’s special, I don’t know if it’s the lovely refurbished retro bowling alley or the crashing waves of the Pacifica shore across Highway 1, but something about this show has made it become so engrained in my subconscious that even thinking about not making it to this show would surely cause long-term psychological damage. I weathered the typical Pacifica fog and sea breeze alone this time, so I didn’t get too many pics of the great variety of cars at this show, but I hope the few that I did will properly convey the fantastic “anything goes” attitude of one of my favorite Bay Area car shows. I think that what makes this show so special is that there’s no year cut off, no restrictions on make, and no big attitudes. It’s the sort of show that’s not really a show at all, it’s more of a great excuse to hang out and catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and take in some great atypical Bay Area weather. I didn’t have a car in the show this year, I came alone, but as soon as I arrived I instantly felt at home and welcomed. I hope this show continues to be here in the future, it’s one I’d really miss a show season without. Enjoy: Usually I’ll…

It’s been a pretty heavy week. I’ve had a lot on my mind, so it was great to step out and clear my mind for a day and take in one of my new favorite shows in the Bay Area, “Kings by the Bay”, hosted by the Style Kings car club and held at Cal State East Bay up in the hills overlooking Hayward. The venue was terrific; looking at beautiful cars and seeing the Bay Area in the background made the show feel both incredibly grounding and surreal. I was working solo, so I didn’t get too much time to step out and see much of the show, but hopefully the few photos I took will help convince you to pencil this show in on your “must attend” list for next year. Enjoy: – Posted from the road

Today:

Sixteen years ago, I was a snot-nosed punk-ass ten year old on a skateboard without a thought about cars more than to avoid them when they roll out of driveways. Little did I know that over the hills in the South Bay there was an event taking shape that would grow to define exactly what every car club BBQ should aspire to be. This year was the sixteenth annual Road Zombies BBQ in Santa Clara, and it could not possibly have come on a more perfect day. I was here again as a vendor, so I was sure to make it out early to get my usual spot. Josie packed me a stunning tray of donuts for the morning, which took a great deal of restraint and composure to deliver intact. The car ran fine, and I made it there with plenty of time to set up and take in the scenery. The Elks Lodge in Santa Clara is really everything you’d want for a car show/BBQ location: green grass, a big area for sitting in the shade, and a surly bartender. Every time we do this show I appreciate the venue a little more. Another great thing about showing up early on the damp lawn is that your car has time to sink into the grass and look a little lower by the end of the show. I didn’t get a lot of time to walk around since I…

Another great night at the Royal Jokers Cruise in Downtown Oakland. The looming threat of rain kept a lot of people at home, but the weather held out and it ended up being a great night. My favorite car of the night was Goozgaz’s newly repainted Lincoln, with new tangerine metalflake panels and new hubcaps. It’s the sort of car that warms your heart just hanging around it. Bay Area, you NEED to attend this cruise in, it’s one of the best things going on in the car world right now. I only took a few pics because I was busy hanging out, thanks to everyone who came out. Enjoy: Batmobile! Another great night in Oakland. Thanks to everyone who made it happen! – Posted from the road

Here’s my shots from last night’s Royal Jokers Cruise in. Another great night in Downtown Oakland, this show keeps getting bigger and bigger. I love Oakland. I’m really glad that The Royal Jokers have their show out here, more people need to get out of the ‘burbs and check out Oakland, it’s an awesome city.

Another great night in Downtown Oakland! This cruise-in is a lot of fun, I’d highly recommend it to anyone within a reasonable distance. Good times, good cars, and good people, what’s not to like? I’d also like to extend a HUGE thank you to the Royal Jokers Car Club for putting on and organizing this event, it’s great to have something like this in the city. For those of you who haven’t yet been, it’s at 22nd St. and Telegraph at an old Burger joint. The event coincides with Oakland’s Art Murmur on the first Friday of the month, so it’s an interesting crowd. Check out the Royal Jokers blog at:http://royaljokers.blogspot.com/ Sorry about the dark and grainy pictures, it IS at night; I’m doing my best. Here’s my pics, Enjoy! Thank these guys for making it happen: Hope to see more people out there next time!

It’s really hard to put to words how much this past weekend meant to me. I joined the Los Boulevardos Message Board in 2007 as a total stranger. I knew only one or two people from the board in real life, and I really had no idea what I was in for. For me, this club/forum was a collection of my favorite cars from the HAMB; these cars were the coolest of the cool, yet so abstract, far away, and hopelessly intangible. I was amazed when I registered for the board at how friendly everyone was, I felt honored to be so welcomed into the community that I had such respect for even though I brought so little to the table. As time went on, I got to know a lot more of the local LBCC crew, and made it down to a few shows down south. What I found there, behind all the witty banter and phenomenal build threads on the LBCC board, was a group of the most solid, stand-up, and downright “cool” people I’ve ever met. Where I once felt alone in my oddball obsession, I now felt surrounded by people who thought like I did, who built cars like I did, and finished cars to a level that I could only dream of. I was honored to be asked to prospect for the club last September, and I hope that I can represent the LBCC up…

Just two weeks after GNRS Pomona comes the Sacramento Autorama, or as I like to call it, “Sac-O-Rama”. This show is usually one of the classier Northern California shows, and with the falling of the San Francisco Rod & Custom Show, it’s the biggest indoor Hot Rod and Custom show in Northern California, at least that I’ve attended. For us, normally this show is a good excuse to get a nice hotel room and stay up in Sacramento, a city that, aside from shows, I’ve never really gotten to know very well. Sacramento is like Northern California’s LA, except for without the industry and money. In years past we’ve stayed in a hotel right down the street, and there’s nothing quite like waking up, strolling down to the lobby, and grabbing a cup of coffee while George Barris is eating oatmeal in a track suit at the table next to you. This year, however, with the tight economy, and the added stress of having two shops open, we didn’t get the hotel room, and I was stuck doing the show by myself. Vending solo is not just tough work, but emotionally exhausting. I’m lucky enough to work with people that I love, specifically my wife and Mother-in-law, and without them along, vending is just work. I’m still fortunate that it’s work with a beautiful backdrop, but it’s work nonetheless. I headed out on Thursday after class in San Francisco, and…

Pomona is always a great way to start off the show season. Everyone has had a few months to prep their car and square away all of the little details that they’ve been neglecting, and the fact that Pomona is a primarily an indoor show makes people step up their game just a little bit more. For my wife and I, however, GNRS is a show that pushes us to our limits. We vend at car shows and run a shop for a living, so while everyone else has been taking time off and vacationing, we are just a few days off of our busiest time of year when it’s time to take on Pomona. Wiped out of merch from Christmas, and with me in my first week classes, our trip to Pomona is always challenging, to say the least. This year was no different. With two stores open now, we spent the few days before Pomona arranging someone to be at each shop, and stretched the little inventory that we had to fill each location. I’ll spare you the intricacies of our loading, because I’m sure that it’s as boring to read as it is to write. I will add, however, that because I had class during the day and we had to pack between two shops that are about an hour apart, we weren’t loaded up until 10:00 at night. We left the Bay in a hurry to…

Check out the flipped axle on the “Rolling Lab”. I was lucky enough to meet Gene at the Autorama, he’s a super nice guy.