HAWAII X DESTROY: retail

Showing posts with label retail. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

TRI Co Hollywood, CA.

TRI Co
4657 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
(818) 572-5121

Tri Co is a partnership of three companies, Dice, The Great Frog London, and Dixie. I got to meet Dean Micetich who is the owner of Dice Magazine and also has a band called The Black Tibetans. His band played at Russ Popes event at Dixie Long Beach a couple nights earlier. Jon Tubbs is the owner of Dixie Long Beach and is also a sales rep I believe for Red Wing Boots. I met Tubbs years ago when he worked for Vans as their Florida sales rep. The Great Frog London specializes in custom hand carved jewelry that they make in their basement in London. They've been doing this since the early 70's. I can really appreciate what I see going on here at Tri Co. They've built a community, support their friends brands and have done a great job their shop!

Dice recently did a collab project with Neighborhood Japan which is a highly sought after apparel brand. That make high end vintage styles motorcycle and custom hotrod inspired apparel with a technical twist. A couple of the pieces like the vintage throwback baseball jersey and varsity jacket you see on display on the right.

Really dig the Tri Co neon light and vintage wood paneling on the back wall.

50's inspired striped longsleeves that outlaw bikers wore back then.

Brick and wood seemed to be the motif throughout all these vintage inspired shops.

Lots of good reads here. Magazines and books from Japan that you can't get anywhere in the U.S. except for here at Tri Co.

Jason Jessee's Black Tibetan pan on display along with his Hard Luck brand deck and his Santa Cruz Guadalupe reissue deck. This is the bike that inspired where the custom chopper scene is today. Jason was way ahead of his time and is still inspiring skateboarding and chopper enthusiast today without even trying.

Glory Sales and Service Hollywood, CA.

Glory Sales and Service

4659 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Neighborhood: Los Feliz

(323) 644-5679

glorysales.com

The Glory sign out front has the old vintage service station sign feel to it which is what they were going for.

Not sure who's bike this is but it looks like one of the Hide Moto or Bratstyle bikes from Japan.

I really like the way this shop looks at first glance. You don't see shops like this in Hawaii. The closest thing you'll see like this is old service station in Kalihi or in Waipahu minus the clothing.

Their cash wrap felt like you were actually at an old service station with a bunch of collectibles on display in the showcase in the background. Lots to see and keep one interested.

Brixton bag display was cool.

Master of Disaster wall.

Interesting way to display beanies. Most of the hanging wears was from Brixton. We carry Brixton at Blue Hawaii Surf but the look and feel is totally different due to the way we display it. Glory does an excellent job of making all the brands they carry have that vintage work wear feel.

Levi's apparel never looked better especially the way Glory displays it.

Denim work aprons

The Hundreds Los Angeles, CA.

Friday morning the Blue Hawaii crew set out to meet up with Scotty Litle and Mike Franklin over at the new The Hundreds headquarters somewhere up in Los Angeles. I had been to their old headquarters a couple times which was pretty amazing. However this one was probably twice the size and had way more interesting things to see compared to the old place and the old place wasn't shabby at all. The Hundreds takes the approach of employing the people who help to make up the community that they are catering too which would be the skateboarders, artist, dj's, musicians and so and an so fourth. With this being said when you see their facility it becomes apparent that Ben and Bobby really take care of their employees and try to make the daily work experience a good one. They've got a mini ramp for starters so you can skate during your lunch break or after work so that's rad. The employees working the warehouse get around via skateboards and bicycles so they get their daily allowance of excercise while working. They've also got a bunch of cool art to look at from world renowned graffiti artist and artist in general. It's a pretty inspiring place to work I imagine. Following their history from back when they were do everything out of the original Rosewood shop to where they are today is amazing in itself. I'm interested to see what the future has in store for The Hundreds with the ever changing landscape of the street wear scene. With Bobby, Ben, and Scotty at the helm I'm confident that TH is in good hands and will be around for a long time to come!

Bill Hundreds by Madsteez

So sick! Wish I had my board and Kyle Yanagimoto with me! He would've destroyed this thing!

Would you look at the size and amount of screens they've got in here!

Rad!

Possibilities are endless with the selection of inks they have here!

Look... it's just like the SXA Studio except it's 100 times bigger with more state of the art machines. No matter what it's good to see The Hundreds printing their own tees in house. That's cool!

It's amazing how many tees they pumped out just in the time we were here!

I need me one of these flash dryers. My work light just ain't cuttin' it!

I need me one of these dryers too but it's the size of my entire living space so I guess it's back to the work light for drying my SXA tees!

Good braddah right here! Scotty Ill has been with The Hundreds since he was 17 which is roughly around 10 years I think. I like that Scotty is still a skateboarder and doesn't give a f*ck about what a sales manager is supposed to look like. Scotty's just Scotty and that's rad. We need more Scotty's in the world! Mahalo for the tour Braddah Scotty and for the skate deck! Stoked!

I've actually got me one of these Don Pendleton prints from when "Baby D" Dave Miyataki was our rep. Miss you Braddah Dave!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Us Versus Them San Diego, CA.

After a visit with Alyasha we headed over to Us Versus Them a few blocks away. We carry UVT at Blue Hawaii Surf and I wanted to see their buildout in person to get a better understanding of the brand and what they were all about.Outside of having a shop like this it's really hard for a consumer to understand and get a feel for exactly what a brand is. When we arrived it appeared that they were closed but James Banuelos the owner kindly let us in and gave us the lowdown and history of Us Versus Them.

This was the view from the small alley that UVT is located. Kinda tricky finding it but if you know where Horton Plaza parking lot is on the G St. side you'll run into it. Already was digging the window display when walked up!

300 G St
(between Union St & State St)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: Gaslamp

usversusthem.com

VIP parking stall right in the shop!

I've seen this place online as well as Instagam but there's nothing like seeing a place in person. James Banuelos pictured here is the owner of UVT San Diego. He also owns City Fog his other company that makes surfboards as well as clothing. James is originally from Santa Cruz and grew in that 80's surf, skate, hot rod culture. He's a pretty passionate guy when it comes to what it is that UVT and City Fog is doing. I first noticed UVT a few year back because of a video that was online showing some lowbrow art, tattoo art, and custom lowriders on the UVT website. UVT came about in Temecula where one of the founding UVT partners just recently opened up the UVT Garage where they work on custom cars and have shows as well. This is definitely a place where someone who's into lowbrow art and custom culture should come to support. Unfortunately with all the big box mall shops packaging up image and feeding people the wrong message it's really hard to be heard and understood. It's shops like UVT were community is built and knowledge is shared with like minded people and people interested in this lifestyle should be supporting. Mahalo James for your time and for showing us some aloha!

Quiver of City Fog logs and old skool skate decks on display.

Custom striping and artwork on an old sewing machine, gas tank, and helmets.

More striping and artwork mixed in with some UVT gear and Social D video.

Custom lowbrow art on some surfboards. Would be cool to see these things out in the water. Wonder if the flaked out purple board would give the illusion of a lure. Maybe better on display!

Window display with a place to kick it and take in everything. Kinda bummed because I didn't take photos of the whole build out in the shop which was very well done.

Monday, January 13, 2014

5&A Dime San Diego, CA.

We finally made it down to San Diego around 3pm from Long Beach. We were here to meet up with Alyasha Owerka-Moore who I had briefly met a couple nights early in Long Beach. Aly was busy handling some things so we popped out heads in over at 5&A Dime. I've heard about and seen this shop online from maybe 5,6,7 years ago i think. I know it was here when ASR was around but I never got a chance to check them out. I used to check their site ocassionaly because they were one of the few shops carrying Brixton as well as some of the up and coming street wear brands at the time. On top of the they were carrying IN4MATION from Hawaii which struck my interest. I'm always stoked to hear of shops supporting local brands. This shop is very well laid out and draws a lot of influence from the architecture of the city of San Diego itself. Glad I finally got to see it in person.

Store front view from 8th and G Street

Address: 701 8th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101

Phone:(619) 236-0364

Hours:

Monday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Tuesday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Wednesday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Thursday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Friday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Saturday	12:00 – 8:00 pm
Sunday	12:00 – 7:00 pm

I thought we were gonna get gear checked and vibed out as is mostly the case in most street wear boutiques but the cat working was actually pretty cool. I apologize but I forgot the fellas name due to short term memory. He was new to the shop and was very welcoming. He broke down the history of the shop from what he knew as well as pointed in the direction of the Neighborhood eatery across the street. Mahalo for the hospitality and the recommendation on where to get some good food!

5& A Dime choice of cabinetry display is very tastefully done to match the outside architecture and overall feel of the city of San Diego. The inside of their shop feels like it could be any of the longstanding bars or restaurants in the area.

5& A Dime's house brand selection.

Vintage radio, glass door cabinet display, trunk, and artwork and photos to help tie together the look and feel of their shop.

Very cool cash wrap with bison head over a mantle and some vintage luggage in front used as a display.

Collections from Stussy, IN4MATION, Illest, and others each in their own individual display.

Captains Helm, Oceanside, CA.

Next stop on our tour of shops was the Captains Helm in Oceanside. This is Mitch Abshere from Captain Fin's other endeavor. Mitch combines used vintage clothing, vinyl, and accessories with new/vintage inspired apparel brands like Captain Fin, Brixton, Cycle Zombies, and other brands to make this a pretty fun shopping experience. The atmosphere feels more thrift than anything and there's quite a bit for your eyes and your senses to take in when you enter the shop. Kinda feels like being in a thrift shop somewhere in Mexico or out in the middle of the desert somewhere. Definitely a unique shopping experience. I'm sure people have spent hours scouring through their racks looking for that score that they've been looking for!

The Captains Helm store front view from S.Coast Hwy.

1832 S. Coast Hwy

Oceanside, CA 92054

(760)721-1004

10 Am - 6 PM everyday

captainshelm@gmail.com

Captain Fin gear on display original artwork by Russ Pope and Thomas Campbell on some of their fin selections. You know it's a rad shop when they carry Zig Zag winos. I've searched high and low for a pair of Zig Zag lace ups in black and this was one of the few shops I could actually find a pair at. Unfortunately they were all out of my size. Maybe next time!