Monday, January 30, 2012

Aloha from New York First and Final Day

After spending the first night in NY wondering the streets in the night I was stoked to actually see it in the daylight. I woke up from my 5 hour nap and drew the curtains back to check out the scenerey. The skyline was amazing that morining after all the rain from the night before had passed. Judging from the cloudless sky and bright sun it looked like I might be able to get away with wearing just a flannel out for the day. Little did I know when I stepped outside it was way colder out than it was the night before. Must've been around 38-40 degrees. Regardless it was sunny and nice. I only had one day to take in as much as I could before I had to turn around and head back to Hawaii on Wednesday morning. Russ and I had breakfast at Sugars outside our hotel and then made our way to the Agenda show. Met with Christine who was responsible for getting me out to New York in the first place and expressed my gratitude for allowing me the opportunity. The show was pretty chill considering it was day 2 and everybody probably raged the night before. I took a quick browse, met with the guys at Vans, talked story and was itching to get out and see more of New York. After about an hour Russ and I made a quick exit and jumped into a cab and headed to the Vans showroom. He took me on a tour of the Vans deal and it was pretty amazing. I've always liked the way that Vans was able to tell their story blending the imagery of the history and tying it into the products you see today. After a tour of Vans we headed out again but this time with Liam accompanying us on our mission to see NY in a record breaking 8 hours. We went through Soho / Noho, Alphabet City, drank beer at Mc Sorley's, ate Pizza at Gruppos, checked out a few shops, took a few cabs, ate at the Meatball Shop, drank beer at the La Quinta Inn below the Empire State Building, and closed the night out at one of the many pubs surrounding our hotel in the LES. The day went by like a blur and enjoyed every single second of it. I'm stoked to have been able to see New York with my friends Russ and Liam and look forwards to going back one day and seeing more of it. A big mahalos to Jim Watson (Vans), Christine Warren (Agenda), The Thompson Hotel LES, Chris Gentile (Pilgrim Surf) and Russ Pope for making this trip possible. The aloha spirit is alive and well in the city of New York!