by bobbyhundreds
Monthly Archives: November 2008
DRAWING BLACK FRIDAY LINES.
#Black Friday, #events, #thla
Black Friday 2008, The Hundreds Los Angeles.
Most of the crew got to Rosewood Ave. at 4am, but by then, the line was already in the hundreds (pun intended). Correct me if I’m wrong, but it reached further than any other line in TH history.
The first lot of customers were lined up in the early afternoon, foregoing Thanksgiving dinner to secure a 50%-off spot. By nightfall, the line stretched down the street. By midnight, it was past the market, onwards towards Clinton.
Decisions, decisions.
We implemented a 10-minute rule this time around for any customers in the store. Some of the angry mob outside were outraged if people overstayed their time limit, but it’s funny how the tables turned once they themselves made it inside. Now, 10 minutes wasn’t long enough.
Hey, you missed one.
Gomez Warren IV braved the sleep-deprivation to keep the line entertained, with megaphone, baseball bat, and bags of candy in tow.
First contest. Who will burn their non-TH shirt for a free logo tee?
“PUT IT ON! PUT IT ON!”
The sun rises early. The natives are getting restless.
Gomez infuriates a Russian toughguy, who starts to reach into the glove compartment… don’t bother Russian, it’s still no match for Gomez + a megaphone.
Second Contest. Impromptu Dance-off.
The Jabbawockee-ish guy wins.
Wallace Hundreds was a faithful and stalwart comrade throughout today’s mission.
Responsible.
The line funneled down into a mob, which eventually dwindled down to an amorphous cluster by the end of the sale.
All good things must come to an end. Chopping up the remainders of the 10%-off hour.
1-hour intermission as the sale finishes up and THLA prepares to open for regular business hours.
Cleanup. Iron Mike is bummed.
Scotty iLL and Alex are bums in a bumfight.
1 hour later, our doors reopen to a fresh crowd with a fresh slate of fitted caps. New Eras. New line-up. It’s a new day.
by bobbyhundreds
STUFFED.
Jon thought it’d be a great idea for an early Thanksgiving. Being that we were locked in by torrential downpours and the Korean market was having a sale, he picked up kalbi and bulgogi for the crew.
Tofer stopped by to eat some homemade Korean BBQ and also hook us up with his newest book, Vacation Standards.
This is his second book after his critically acclaimed debut Finger Bang! and once again, packed with all sorts of sordid, disjointed shots. But this time, almost twice the size. The hits just keep on comin’.
Here, a self-portrait:
As usual, you’ll find some of our friends and a few key members of our own staff within these pages. Or at least parts of them. Like, say, Alex’s NECK.
Trust me, I’m showing you the SAFE stuff.
The book is on sale now at Marc by Marc Jacobs (U.S., Paris), MOCA (L.A.), Hammer Museum (L.A.), Tate Modern (London), Colette (Paris), Kiasma (Helsinki), and other fine bookstores. Published once again by ROJO.
Wallace also dropped in to say whatsup.
Scotty’s in the book. A couple times. 2 words: Birthday. Party.
Patrick holdin’ out.
Sneak peek.
Tyler is King.
by bobbyhundreds
HATS OFF.
#limited additions, #thla, #thsf
On Black Friday, after the sale ends at 10am, we will close for an hour and reopen both THLA and THSF at the usual time of 11am with our new Holiday range of New Era 59/50 fitted baseball caps.
The “2-tone Adam Bomb“:
“Blame Takers“:
“Square Adam“:
“Faded Adam“:
“Checkers” (not pictured):
And for all of our online customers who are also trying to participate in Black Friday, we will announce your own special sale on Friday morning via e-mail. The only way you’ll hear about it is by signing up for our newsletter (check the sidebar next to the blog), so do that ASAP.
One surprise I can leak early is that the “Bizarro Adam” New Era is being released exclusively through our online store on Friday morning. This is a The Hundreds *ONLINE EXCLUSIVE* hat.
And speaking of exclusives, we will also release the “Herringbone TH” hat, which is a The Hundreds exclusive. Sold at THLA and THSF this Friday morning, and will hit our Online Store soon.
Last but not least, first 100 customers who spend over 20$ at the register at either THLA or THSF will get our Black Friday 2008 t-shirt for free.
Aside from the opportunity to get up to 50% off the entire store… have I given you enough incentive to come play with us on Friday morning? See you dark and early.
by bobbyhundreds
DON’T SLEEP.
#HQ
Cool Hand Mo demonstrates exactly what NOT to do for our upcoming Black Friday sale. DON’T SLEEP on it. No, really, like literally, DON’T SLEEP. It won’t be worth it. Last year, the line started in the early afternoon on Thanksgiving Day, so I apologize in advance to angry mothers and fathers and annoying uncles everywhere.
And don’t fall asleep at the office in the common area where you’re right between the sales and design rooms. Open game.
“Where did all these oranges come from?!”
by bobbyhundreds
IT’S TRICKY.
We co-sponsored Atlas‘ Best Trick Contest 2008 this past weekend at Shoreview skate park in San Mateo. Here’s some footage, filmed by Dayman Cash and Ricky Flip.
by bobbyhundreds
TAKE IT BACK.
If you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you’re headed. I’m sifting through some old photos, some of which I shot over a decade ago. Obviously, they were photographed on film and when I scanned them in years ago, 400 pixels wide seemed large ENOUGH.
This was taken back when I was living in Japan, around 2001. I was blown away that these Tokyo kids were lining up to buy clothing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Most waited hours. Kinda seems not so weird in retrospect.
This is a photo I shot of Chad Muska back when I was in high school at the C&C (back then, Color Crazy) skate demo. It must’ve been 100+ degrees that day, with stifling smog and heat. If you look closely enough, you might spot Chad’s boombox.
Oh and the video-fisheye distortion, I screwed it on my lens because I couldn’t afford a real fisheye. C’mon, I grew up on Beastie Boy videos, and considering everything I knew about the skateboarding world was framed within the 15-16mm range,.. perhaps now you’ll understand why I use a fisheye for the everyday blog.
Speaking of cameras, around the turn of the millenium, I got sent this mini digital camera from Japan for free. It was the size of a Tic-Tac box, hung off a keychain, and took, like, 1.0 megapixel shots. I used it to sneak a pic inside the Medicom booth when they introduced the Kaws Bearbrick at the San Diego Comic-Con.
My main setup back then was a Nikon 8008s with a SB-26 flash. Someone from Weezer’s crew photographed me photographing Weezer at a Nagoya, Japan concert around 2002. Goddamn you half-Japanese girls.
While we’re on the subject of shoots, we shot the cover for this old issue of STANCE magazine with the Jackass guys during their prime (before their movies, and before they got kicked off MTV because of liability). It was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. If you ever watched CKY or any of those Jackass episodes and wondered if those dudes are really like that all the time, the answer is YES. After having Steve-O taking dumps on the flag and hurling his turds at everyone onset, and Wee throwing firecrackers at the assistants, setting one kid’s shirt on fire, it was all-out mayhem.
Zach finally managed to pull SOME kind of shot together miraculously. Moments later, everything collapsed and somebody was urinating on someone’s back. I forget who, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.
Back to Japan. So back then, all the kids were obsessed with these guitar-playing video games in the arcades. This was what, almost 9 years ago? At the time, I would just sit there and document everything that was going on, completely awestruck. I was convinced that not in a million years would something as ridiculous-looking as THIS gain popularity in the States. You know, one of those things that Americans go “Those crazy Japanese!!”
By the way, have you heard of this new craze called Guitar Hero?
Kids and adults alike were lined up for other machines with similar concepts. There was one to play drums, another where you sang karaoke. And there was this one, with traditional Japanese Taiko drums. Okay, maybe this one won’t get as big here.
This is random, but whatever. Jeremy Enigk from Sunny Day Real Estate circa mid-’90s/I don’t remember.
by bobbyhundreds
GRILLS GONE WILD.
I must be hungry. Here’s another food blog.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, sushi was the exotic Asian delicacy that all the white people were losing their heads over. Famous people would always make oddball references to the raw fish dish in movies and popular media. It was super trendy, super sexy, and super lame in my opinion. Fast forward to the past few years, and the bandwagon has pulled up to Korean BBQ. I’ve eaten Korean BBQ all my life (naturally), had it in London, in Japan, in New York, Cerritos (The Corner Place what what), Hong Kong, but nowhere beats L.A. Even compared to actual Korean food in Korea. Say WORD.
Makes sense. There are a quarter of a million Korean-Americans living in and around Los Angeles. And all those Koreans gotta eat somewhere, right? I’m here at Chosun in the heart of L.A.’s K-town. Most brave Angelenos start off their newbie Korean food experience at this well-known eatery. Telltale signs of a tourist-y, kinda-authentic Korean food experience: LOTS of white people (who act like experts). It’s CLEAN. The Korean waitresses are FRIENDLY and speak perfect ENGLISH. The portions are small and OVERPRICED.
And most novices start off with Kalbi, or Korean-style cow short ribs, to those of you who fear that this is a rack of Laborador Retriever. Kalbi is the gateway entree to Korean food land. L.A.-style marinated kalbi is soaked in fruit juices, sugar, garlic, and soy sauce, and has become so popular that everywhere else in the world, and even in Seoul, they call it “L.A. Kalbi.”
So as you’ve noticed, Korean BBQ is “exotic” because there’s an actual barbecue grill in your table. At the kinda-authentic spots, the friendly, pretty, English-speaking waitresses cook the meat for you. At the straight-up legit spots, the pissed-off Korean ahjumas with missing teeth dump the raw meat off and you’re on your own, pal. But you know the ribs are alright if they’re bright red. The darker-brown the beef, the longer it’s been sitting in the back of Mrs. Kim’s kitchen.
You should also find a saucer of sesame oil to dip the kalbi in once it’s cooked. Don’t drink it, it’ll be the worst tea you’ve ever had.
Korean BBQ can be expensive. Here in L.A., one plate of kalbi can hurt you upwards of $30! But I think it’s because of all the freebies that come along with the deal. Sure, at Mexican restaurants you can have all the chips & salsa, and American restaurants do the bread & butter thing (ZZzzzz).
But at Korean restaurants, you have umpteen side-dishes (all you can stomach) called bonchon. You should find spinach, spicy radish, salad, soup, rice, potato salad (I don’t get that one either), fish cakes, bean sprouts, and of course, kimchi, which is the french-fries to kalbi’s hamburger. Kimchi is spicy fermented cabbage, there are all different kinds, and it makes your breath smell like you’ve been tongue-kissing a dead fish.
Chosun’s kalbi is eh. There’s much worse out there, but there’s also much, much better.
The real reason why we’re here is for the nnaengmyon. Ok, see that word, nnaengmyon? There’s no real way to spell it out in English, so I did my best (Sorry for the 2 “n“s in a row. I know it makes you feel funny inside.) Chosun actually does a great job with their nnaengmyon, which kinda makes up for their WOMP WOMP kalbi.
Nnaengmyon or however-you-say-it is a popular summertime dish because it’s served freezing cold and it’s refreshing. Koreans are big on things that are refreshing. And they revile dust or anything dusty. (And maybe one day I will tell you the myth of Korean electric-fan death). Some restaurants even throw in ice cubes to maintain the chill factor. Chewy buckwheat noodles served in a broth with cold beef cuts, a hard-boiled egg, Asian pears, and cucumbers.
At the end of the table is a canister of hot mustard. Drop a couple spoonfuls into the mix. Also, there’s a bottle of vinegar next to the soy sauce. Throw a couple swigs of that in also. Stir.
At the end of your meal, you might find a small cup with seeds floating in it. This is NOT the aforementioned sesame oil you balked at earlier. This time, you CAN drink it.
It’s a traditional Korean punch, made of dried persimmons, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, and water. Sounds like the ingredients for the Spice Girls. It’s sweet but has a stinging kick like Drew Barrymore in Charlie’s Angels. If you drink it and accidentally swallow a seed, Korean mythology states that you’ll be mauled by a rabid bear in your sleep.
Congratulations. You survived eating dog for the first time, you monster!!! (juuust kidding) Korean BBQ, and now you can tell all your wide-eyed (literally/figuratively) friends about your far-out experience. And that pungent garlic/barbecue-grill smell emanating from your hair, clothes, armpits, wrists, face, mouth? That lasts for 3 days and gets worse every morning. Hope you don’t have any important meetings this week.
p.s. that bear thing was a lie.
by bobbyhundreds
BREAKING BREAD.
I try to lay low on the food blog posts, but I’ll be honest, eating is an integral part of our everyday lifestyle. Los Angeles is a cultural hodgepodge with over 140 countries represented, and our food selection certainly reflects that. Off the top of my head, I can access my favorite Mexican, Korean, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Argentine, Japanese, Peruvian, and even Himalayan restaurants within a 10-minute drive.
But sometimes I just want a good sandwich, and Bay Cities in Santa Monica is the deli for that. This spot’s an L.A. landmark located just blocks from the beach. The parking lot is a dizzying whirlpool of honking cars, so park at a meter around the corner. You gotta pull a number at the deli, where you’ll wait impatiently along with 30 or so other anxious customers who’re ready to get their sandwich on. I’m always down for the “Godmother,” which is genoa salami, mortadella, coppacola, ham, prosciutto, and provolone in an Italian roll. And when it comes to drenching your sandwich in “mild” or “hot” pepper juices, just be aware that “hot” is more like “asphyxiating death.” If you don’t wanna wait in “line,” (more like a mob) which is kinda part of the experience, you can also order online beforehand and just pickup your order at the back of the shop. Swoop on a bag of chips, a drink out the fridge, and might as well get some groceries while you’re at it. This is a gourmet market after all.
Best sandwich in Los Angeles. Hands down.
by bobbyhundreds
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