Nisei Showoff 2010 was a blast and I couldn’t be happier with how everything went but one of the things I look forward to during Nisei weekend is the 12+ hours I get to catch up on sleep afterward. The only problem with that was of the ridiculous heatwave that hit the week following. I can’t even sleep comfortably because it’s so fuckin hot. Luckily we had planned a mini-vacation to head up to Norcal awhile back and it was a coincidence that the heatwave hit. It was good to get away from everything for a weekend and see some new spots in Norcal that we didn’t get to see when we were up there for Wek’Fest. The weather was in near-triple digits down in Socal but up where we were staying in San Francisco, it was barely 70 degrees. I didn’t bother bringing a jacket because I just wanted to enjoy the cold but it actually got so cold to the point where I had to borrow a hoodie from Rodrez, which I then decided to spill orange juice all over. Anyway, we left late Thursday night and got to Brisbane around 1am in the morning, got some rest, and then headed out to go eat breakfast…

We headed out in the Honda Tuning project TSX towards downtown SF to try-out this one spot. The girls love going to eat at places they either read about or see on TV so our meals are usually pretty good…

The first spot we hit up was Dottie’s Cafe. It’s a small hole-in-the-wall spot that is very old-fashioned and there was a line waiting outside to be seated. The place probably doesn’t hold more than 25-30 people so the wait was expected…

It was so small inside…the moment I walked inside I think I already tasted someone else’s food. Dottie’s is a real old school spot from the decor, to the style of cooking, to the people inside. There were some old ass people eating there…

The first thing we tried was the grilled corn bread and it was every bit as good as it looks…

May got the chorizo omelette…

…I ordered the 3 egg omelette with avocado and sausage…

…and Rodrez ordered enough to fill the whole table. Tes got pancakes with random stuff inside of it…

I “kilt” it…

After we finished eating, we took off to go look at sideways houses with garages that are impossible to put cars into…

…”Phuket”…

We parked in front of El Balazo mexican food spot and it looked pretty good. We had just finished eating so we actually didn’t make it back to this spot to try it out until the next night…

Parked on Haight St…

Ran across this spot that had some cool collectables…

Stussy store with a crazy white kid running down the street…

Shoe monster inside one of the shoe stores…

After walking up and down Haight St. for a bit, we went up the street to Upper Playground…

Walrus shooting lasers out of his fucking mouth…

Cool sidewalk art…

Tried on this sick japanese partyline/phone jerk/creep asian porn ad jacket inside Upper Playground. Shit was sick but May wouldn’t let me buy it. Fucking thing also smelled a little bit like melting barbies so it was probably a good idea that I didn’t. That and I don’t want to walk around and have random old Japanese men shark me and try to bust a nut on me unsuspectingly…

Crazy cable system they have on the streets of downtown SF…looks pretty sketchy actually…

Ran into this old black dude that came up to me and wanted me to take a picture of him with all his albums he was selling. Not really sure why he posed like that but dude was out of his mind. He told me he was gonna sign the release forms for me to use it or whatever…

Random asian Chevron we stopped at. We actually did a lot more that night and went out to eat and walk around but I didn’t bring my camera and I’m sure most of you are here to see the car shit that we did…

We went home a little bit earlier than usual because we had to be up by 5am to go meet up with Raul who was getting his Civic shot by Rodrez for Honda Tuning. Even though it was a mini vacation, it was also for work. Rodrez had two shoots set-up that weekend and it was important that we got those knocked-out before the trip was over…

It was cold as shit that morning…We were right by the pier so it was expected but damn, it was a complete 180 from the weather down in Socal…

Setting up the equipment…

The girls decided it was a good opportunity to go for a morning run and to go check out the farmer’s market nearby…

Running in 40 degree weather was probably interesting. I wouldn’t know because Black Pie one brain-washed me and told me that only guys with sugar in their tanks run. I don’t know what that means but the only time I run is when a dragon or a hobo with a knife is chasing me so I have no idea how their run went…

It got bright at just the right time and we got started right away as soon as Raul showed up. It was interesting that we shot out by the pier because we came all the way up from Socal and Raul drove out from Lake Tahoe to meet us…

There couldn’t have been a better spot to shoot at. There were no other cars nearby, plenty of space, and the bay bridge in the backdrop was perfect…

Interior shots…

While Rodrez was doing that, I was walking around snapping everything I saw. This of course is the Honda Tuning TSX project that Rodrez is dipping around in. Love the 19-inch Advan RS-D wheels…

The shoot went pretty smoothly and Rodrez knocked it out pretty quick…

Once we cleaned up, Rodrez let me play around with his lighting while we waited for the girls to come back from the work-out…

70-200mm..

10mm wide angle…

We had a couple hours to spare before we had to meet up with the guys from ATS Garage so we stopped by Pier 23 for lunch…By then, the sun had finally decided to show up but it was still pretty cold…

How courteous of them to welcome us with naked asses from the 1940s…

Iced-tea…

May’s clam chowder and garlic bread…

My shrimp and crab sandwich with fries…shit was bomb as hell!…

Fried calamari…

Tes’ seafood sliders with fries…

Rodrez’s fish and chips that he was waiting all week for…

After we finished eating, we decided to hit up Ghirardelli Square. They always give out free chocolate samples there and some of us bought chocolate to bring home for others…

By the time we finished waiting in line to pay for chocolate, it was time to head back to grab Rodrez’s gear and head down to Hayward to meet up with Chris Sakai and the ATS Garage homies…

We got there a little late because of the crazy traffic down by the Wharf but it was all good because all the ATS guys were down at the house just chillin’ anyway. Rodrez was shooting Chris Sakai’s EK that evening but EVERYBODY decided to come out to watch…

We normally don’t really like that many people around because it tends to cause a scene but that’s just how the ATS guys roll. When one of them goes to the ATM, all 40 of them have to come along, haha….It was cool though because they were really familiar with the area and nobody hassled us for being there…

Like I said at the beginning of the year, Chris Sakai and Ryan Der’s EKs are probably the best out there right now and it was good to see Chris finally get his time in the spotlight…These two cars are amazing builds. You really have to see them in person to truly appreciate all the details…

Sunny from Franklin Autobody broughtout his Insight on air…

Angel wasn’t there but Fred and the guys brought his S2000 out to catch some sunlight…

Jay from JDMEGO and I were just having a discussion over AIM about how awesome this S2000 is…everything about it is on point. Just to see it roll down the street with us with its wide stance is crazy…

Ken from Wek’Sos came out to chill…

Rodrez doing what he does best…

Ryan aka Rywire mid-sneeze…

Fred Chapman rockin’ his Chronicles steez…

Ryan Der sharing some laughs with the rest of the ATS guys…

Here’s some larger-sized pics of Angel’s S2000…just because. Click on the link below to see the larger version…

Larger Version (1400×933)

Larger Version (1400×933)

ATS*Ferd…

Ken so he has more facebook pictures…

ATS*Fred…

I don’t know what they were laughing about and I felt left out, so I jumped in and fake laughed to make it not awkward. I even busted out the belly-clincher which I have only had to use 3 times in 28 years…

Sunny and his baby…

Rodrez going over some shots…

Chris’ J’s hood…

Puppy…

Anh talking to Chris about how it feels to be featured…

16 ATS guys putting Chris’ hood back on…

Love the Rando kit…

ATS*PattyCakes…

Finishing it up with some interior shots…

Two more of the S2k just because…

After Rodrez completed the shoot, we cleared out and head back to our area. Then we went down to Haight Street again to go eat at El Balazo. Shit was pretty decent for Norcal mexican food but we went in with no expectations… it was time to go relax in the hotel room and watch TV after that…

We made a shopping run before we headed back to Socal and I spotted this Delorean that was parked right across from us…

…and whatever this was supposed to be…

That’s a wrap…back to Socal…thanks for looking…PEACE.