Everyone needs a change of scenery once in a while. Especially with the year we’ve all had.

The Hundreds Los Angeles on Fairfax is no different, and after closing the shop for months due to the global pandemic and civil unrest at the hands of vicious police brutality, it was time to shake things up at the shop as we welcome our community back through those doors.

Luckily, we have some world-class talent in our Rolodex to call on in times like these. A few weeks back, we had Joshua Vides give our flagship’s dressing room a makeover with his signature black line masterpieces. While you’re trying on your future The Hundreds fit, stare at the black lines on the walls and see if you pick up on the optical illusion where the lines meet. Also, take your required selfie.

But this week, we took the renovations to a new level, inviting legendary artist and longtime friend of the brand Kenny Scharf to come tag the shop, inside and out. If our landlord is reading this, our bad.

We’ve worked with Kenny Scharf a lot over the years, and *spoiler alert* we still have a new collab coming this year, so we couldn’t think of a better candidate to give the shop a completely new look.

But it wasn’t just The Hundreds that was looking different to Kenny Scharf. It was the whole block. After a kid rolled up on an electric scooter and started yelling that our masks were hurting us instead of helping us, Kenny and I discussed how much had changed at the corner of Rosewood and Fairfax.

“I grew up in the valley, but my Grandmother lived on Rosewood,” he told me. “It was all Jewish old people.”

He was happy to help us usher in a new era at The Hundreds Los Angeles, getting to work immediately as soon as he showed up. Well, after Nate rolled him a few joints by request. He politely asked Ben if he could smoke in the shop as he worked, to which Ben replied (and the rest of us noted) “yeah, sure.”

What was funny was that he waited for the joints to get rolled, lit one up, hit it precisely three times, then gently licked his fingers and put out the cherried tip before putting the joint into a little plastic container for later.

He noticed me, someone who faces entire blunts regularly, observing the strange practice and said, “I can’t finish this whole thing right now, are you crazy?”

I thought to myself, of course, someone who had mastered his craft to this extreme level had also fine-tuned his preferred level of high. Love to see a professional at work.

Watching Kenny work was quite the experience, seeing how effortless he created these iconic characters. When he was applying the orange monster to the bottom right corner closest to the window, I asked how many times he’d put that character on a wall and he quickly stated, “millions.”

As he finished up the T-shirt wall on the inside of the store, he walked outside and asked Ben where and how big he could go on the front facade of the building, and before Ben could even answer, Kenny reminded him, “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Ben agreed and followed up with a “Yeah, fuck it.”

If you’re looking to get out of the house this weekend and you’re near Los Angeles, come visit us at 501 N. Fairfax Ave to take in some new art by Kenny Scharf and Joshua Vides, cop some new gear, and connect with The Hundreds Crew. See you soon!