Tag Archives: HQ

As I was packing up my office through the end of last week, I took this final shot of my work home for the past 4 years and couldn’t help but sentimentalize The Hundreds’ short existence here at 1729 Wall St.

In the summer of 2008, The Hundreds entered this 17,000 square-foot office/warehouse in downtown Los Angeles with vast spaces to fill our dreams into.  This wasn’t another one of our flagship stores, but The Hundreds’ new headquarters – for Design, Sales, Marketing, Administrative, Finance, Packing, Shipping, and Online Shop – all under one roof.  We entered the void and began to build… This is what my office used to look like before all the Hunger Games clippings and insect taxidermy adorned the interior:

This was the hall where our marketing and admin staffers now sit (and AIM each other about how much I suck):

This was the beginning blueprint for Ben’s office, of course the only person with his own toilet, where he locks himself into and cries during the payroll period.

And leading downstairs into the reception area and what would eventually become our showroom:

Over that first year, we had a lot of blanks to fill.  Our warehouse today is literally floor-to-ceiling with boxes, but back then it was wide open for games of S-K-A-T-E and indoor soccer.  Here’s Dyer, who now services customers, but in ’08 was servicing 360 flips:

Our first Thanksgiving we held our first staff BBQ in the warehouse dock.  When we throw these today, there’s barely room to maneuver with all the staff in line. But back then, we had fewer mouths to feed:

We got those arcade machines from the Slauson Swap Meet and Derrick Rose came over to play NBA JAM:

DJ Mike B used to visit a lot back then.  This time he came with DJ Fashen:

Nice lil’ coincidence that we’re moving out right before the presidential elections, considering when we moved in, Obama was head-to-head with McCain:

The design room was virtually empty so Scotty had plenty of room to test our collaborative Forum snowboard at the time:

Dave Choe would swing by and “talk story” before he gave all the good stuff to Howard Stern:

My girl Penne used to sit at my feet (R.I.P.!)

Staff bonding experience over painting Pat’s desk orange:

Speaking of painting, there was that one time Benjie, Vito, and I painted an exploding erection across our rooftop that’s visible from the 10 freeway…

…hmmm maybe we’ve outworn our welcome.  Farewell to The Hundreds’ HQ on Wall Street.  Thank you for the memories, our growth as a brand and business, and as creators.  Thank you also to all of the staff that participated in The Hundreds during those pivotal years as a company.  Here’s to the next frontier of The Hundreds, our new home just 15 minutes down the road, a new generation of staff, and a new set of stories to tell.

Stay tuned. It’s just about to get interesting.

by bobbyhundreds

Dear Mr. Richard Head,

This is our Customer Service team at The Hundreds.  Their names are David, Brice, and Bonnie.  They are some of our brightest and best; the most patient and positive individuals involved in this company.  And they are doing everything in their power to help you.

They work their hardest to address your concerns about an order that you haven’t received, or a billing issue, or a wrong color, and are more than willing to correct an error if it exists on our end, or clear up confusion if it happens to be on yours.  Sometimes we misread an order, or you ignore the disclaimer on the receipt, or “It’s just a hold on your card, it hasn’t been charged,” or you try to return an item after wearing it and washing it and pouring marinara sauce down the front.  Regardless, David, Brice, and Bonnie are trying to figure this out for you because this is Planet Earth where mistakes tend to happen.

But if, out of frustration or anger or sheer stupidity, you decide to take out your bad day on David, Brice, and Bonnie… if you resort to vicious name-calling or screaming to the point where you are insulting and demoralizing our staff… If you threaten that you’ll never support The Hundreds again, after all these years you’ve been dedicated to our brand, and you can’t wait to support a competitor of ours…

Then please, PLEASE, do so.  

You see, you’d be doing us a huge favor.  I actually would prefer you didn’t wear our clothing.  Because if you are this big of a douchebag to a complete stranger, then imagine how you act to the people in your community.  Imagine how much you are secretly, or obviously, hated.  And by wearing our clothing, you’re advertising us with that reputation.  Yup, I’d much rather forego the few hundred bucks you spend on our product to lose the negative publicity you’ve been bringing our brand (p.s. this also goes for those of you with douchebag parents like the dad who hurled an unwaranted “Fuck You!” to Bonnie yesterday afternoon)

The difference between us and any other greedy, bloodsucking corporation out there is that your money isn’t as important to us as your credibility.  Furthermore, we have a priority to take care of, and protect, our crew and family.  David, Brice, and Bonnie are our crew and family.  (In fact, all of our customers are, as long as they can behave and exist as normal, mature human beings).

We’re sorry but this isn’t Burger King where it’s your way, right away.  And this isn’t your traditional retail outlet where the customer is always right.  We don’t have a multi-tiered automated service system that files your complaint away in a corporate abyss.  We have David, Brice, and Bonnie.  They are some of our brightest and best; the most patient and positive individuals involved in this company.  And they are doing everything in their power to help you.

by bobbyhundreds

And let’s pull the tour of The Hundreds HeadQuarters back around, into my office.  I don’t consider myself so much a collector, I just have trouble throwing things away.  So, I guess, I’m an upscale hoarder. ?

Renowned illustrator and graphic designer Clark Orr visits us this afternoon, in town from Florida.  Clark’s the same dude who brought you recent The Hundreds t-shirt favorites like Rumor Mill, Letters, and Recycled, as well as other greatest hits from Johnny Cupcakes and Benny Gold.  Basically, Clark’s the industry’s secret weapon, and I pulled the curtain wide open on the wizard, didn’t I?

My lovely, long lost friend Kellen is also back in town.  Although she now hails from the UK (Kellen manages Johnny Cupcakes’ London shop), her heart remains here in Los Angeles.  Everyone convince her to come home!

by bobbyhundreds

Bursting at the seams. I remember when we first walked into this building in downtown Los Angeles, over 4 years ago, swimming in empty space.  Now you can’t throw a dead cat in here without hitting a blind dog (no, really, we found a blind dog last week).

It’s finally time to move on, so over the next few months we’ll start transitioning into our new home, and you are more than welcome to move in with us.  Only caveat is you’ll need to help carry some boxes. You wouldn’t happen to have a truck, would you?

I got a little sentimental and meandered around the halls of The Hundreds HeadQuarters with my camera this afternoon, memorializing some of the cave drawings (and cave-dwellers) we’ve amassed over the years…

The Hundreds is too Huge right now.

by bobbyhundreds