Behind the scenes, I’ve been quietly planning to do a meet over at the shop all summer long. The Chronicles & Coffee meets here have always been pretty solid but the main issue was being able to house all the cars and people that want to attend. Our facility isn’t particularly big and realistically, you can’t even fit 50 cars in our front lot without having to block most of the areas going in and out of the complex. I remember specifically there was one that we hosted here where I felt a sense of panic because it got so full that people could barely get passed the entrance gate. I started announcing these meets later and later with the last few going public less than 24-hours before. It alleviated the crowds but I felt like a lot of the older guys who aren’t online much would end up missing the event because they would see the announcement much too late. That and a lot of these enthusiasts have families and jobs now so a 24-hour turnaround isn’t exactly something most could factor into their schedules…

I wanted to switch things up a bit and try something different. Admittedly, one of the things that made me dislike shooting content here when we did do meets here was the arrangement of the cars. Being that it is your typical business complex parking lot, people would pull-in and back into a parking space. It’s the logical thing to do. You back into your spot and one after the other, you have yourself a ‘meet’. The problem with that is that it just doesn’t look good. There were so many nice cars in the lot all bunched together and no room to take in the little details of each build. The format needed to be changed, but the problem was that we didn’t have much space to work with. So I decided to make this less of a ‘car meet’ and more of a ‘showcase’. Instead of just having cars pull-in and park, I sent out personal invites to the owners of the cars that I wanted to highlight for this event. I took a look at just how much space we had here and then measured out the areas where we could park the cars at an angle. The angled-parking gives people a better look at the cars and spaces everything out for better photos. The downside is losing even more space but if we had pre-selected cars of quality, it’d be well worth it…

I knew there would be people who would be upset about this because they would feel ‘left-out’. It wasn’t my intention to prevent people from coming but this new layout made for the best visual presentation. At the end of the day, that is more important to me than sparing some feelings, if you know what I mean. I sent invites out to specific people and if they had friends who they wanted to invite, I gave them enough time to let me know so I could reserve space for them as well. All in all, we had about 45 spots open for the meet and they filled-up rather quickly. 45 seems like nothing for a meet but it just looked so much better. I don’t know if I’d do another meet like this again, but if I did, I’d likely present it in the same way…

I think because of this new presentation, a lot of people didn’t come to spectate because they felt like they couldn’t bring their cars and get a good spot to be seen by everyone else. I understand that, but it’s also impossible for me to please everyone so I had to trust in my own vision. I’d hope that people would come to see what I was trying to do and enjoy the builds that were presented for them but people are prideful. And that’s okay. I want to continue to create an environment of positivity and quality so if you didn’t come because you didn’t get a personal invite, well, I hope you understand why…

Don’t take it personally.

I don’t know if people realize this but I’ve been trying to do this for years at The Chronicles anniversary meets. I only limited the experimental layouts to the center section of those meets and left the rest the same because I wanted people to feel included. I’ve also never enjoyed shooting the anniversary meets because of the formatting and how all the cars were parked straight, one after the other. For something small like the ‘Midsommar’ meet, it just makes sense…

Consider it an experiment that worked. I think that if you asked anyone who attended the meet that weekend, you’d get an overwhelmingly positive response. Everyone seemed to have a good time and agreed that this layout was better—even those that didn’t bring their own cars. One other major, very obvious, change I made was hosting this in the late afternoon. I for one am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination so it was always tough to wake-up early to host a meet. I found myself having to take naps in the afternoon and my whole day is fucked because of it. Being that it was summer time and we have such beautiful evenings here in Southern California, I took advantage of that and opted to having the gathering from 4-8PM. I figured around 6PM or so the sun will have set behind the building and would cast the best lighting for photos. That’s the advantage of having someone who is a photographer host a meet. I take all these things into consideration. From seeing all the media that has popped-up from this small event in the days that followed, I think that overall, feelings not included, the changes were necessary…

It’d be cool to do another one of these before the summer officially ends but who knows? Maybe we’ll do one with a different group of cars or figure out ways where we could screen cars or something. I don’t know. It really depends on how busy I’ll be or how interested people are in having another. As usual, I didn’t get to take too many photos. That’s the thing about hosting meets. It’s like hosting a party where the one planning it rarely gets to enjoy any of it. I was just too busy running around making sure everything was going smoothly, taking out the trash, and making time to chat with people whenever I had a free moment. I did manage to snap some photos towards the end though and that is why we have some semblance of coverage today…

The following morning, I woke up early to stop by Wolf’s Brew in Long Beach for my boy David’s monthly ‘Brew’s Cruise’ meet. I always try to support my friends by going to things they organize and I wanted to take my IS300 out since it recently got back from the body shop. I was so worn-out from the previous day that I didn’t take too many photos from that meet either. Whatever I captured I included in this post as well. Hopefully you guys attended at least one of those two events this weekend. If you didn’t, make sure to come out to the next one. I promise you’ll have a good time…

Here are the photos…

One of the builds that I really wanted to put a bright spotlight on was Mark Munoz’s Mugen E-AT Wonder Civic. I had first seen this car completed a few months ago when I invited him to be a part of a project I was working on for Meguiar’s. Since then, he’s barely driven the car out and much of the world has not seen it yet so I thought this intimate setting would be the perfect place for fellow enthusiasts to see it…

I missed my opportunity to get a photo of this car parked next to Junior Asprer’s Mugen CR-X but it was so nice to finally be able to get those two cars together in the same place. Even Junior hadn’t seen Mark’s Civic before and he was excited to see it finally. A guy like Junior has been around since the early 90s so for him to be excited about a car is pretty rare. Mark’s AT is one of those builds that crosses generational barriers. If you’re a diehard Honda guy, this is one of the best things you’ll ever see but… it’s also one of those cars you won’t be able to fully appreciate until you see it in-person. There are so many little details about it, so many rare parts most have never seen, and levels to why he did what he did that needs to be appreciated. I really wish I was able to get more photos of it but I’m sure a time will come when we can make that happen…

Towards the end of the day, he propped his hood up for a bit so everyone could see his dual-cam ZC set-up. Just look at how clean the engine bay is, it’s so good…

I really like what Carlos Palafox and the JUST4FFUN guys represent to the Honda community so I always try to invite them to things that I’m involved with. That day they had another event to attend in San Diego but they still managed to find the time to stop by and I appreciate that…

Jose Mejia is more of a weekend-race-car type of guy and would rather be on the track but even he brought out his Integra RS for the meet…

Dan’s Car Garage Amis S2000 made an appearance with his brand new carbon Amis Radical vented hood…

I was surprised to see that Kristian had been working on his Civic lately and managed to get it running the night before the meet. He came over to ask for some wiring assistance from Ryan Der and the car fired-up just before midnight. This car has been down for the last couple of years since it went through a major overhaul so it’s been a long time coming for it to finally see some time outside with a running motor. There’s still much to do but the car firing-up is a major step…

Duane Bada recently got his Civic back from the body shop after a full black re-spray. The car is looking good with the Exceed by Mode Parfume front lip and wing but can anyone identify those wheels? I bet you can’t…

Brian from JADE always has some pretty amazing cars and knows some people with some equally great builds so I had to invite him to Midsommar. I heard he recently picked-up a new project and I’m excited to see what he’ll do. It’s a car I never expected him to get so my interest has definitely piqued…

Jonathan Monteith’s S2000 has gone through some extensive changes since the last time I saw it so when I saw a photo of it pop-up on my Instagram feed, I extended an invite so I could see the car in-person…

I know everyone considers me a ‘Honda guy’ since that seems to be a majority of my focus but I do try to add some variety here and there. I don’t think anyone would expect to see a Varis widebody BMW M4 at my meet but I know people that know people and here it is…

Kemritte took some time to bring his AE86 out to the meet and spent most of the day talking to friends like Dominic Sacco who just moved down to Southern California recently…

Sean Stell’s FEEL’S widebody Civic needs no introduction now, as you’ve all seen his car recently in my latest project for Meguiar’s. He threw the Racing Hart C5s back on and made the drive out so everyone could see that this car is real and current in 2021. No Photoshop magic or active time machine present, this thing is real and no, it’s not the one that used to be yellow…

John and Chloe have been vacationing in Los Angeles for the past few weeks so I invited them to come by the shop to see some car things…

Chuy took a break from riding bikes in his skin-tight onesie to pull his Spoon Sports-themed Honda Integra Type R outside…

Gary from Auto Factory REALIZE came down in his AP1 S2000 to hang-out…

Fiasko’s RHD DC5 with Mugen aero and Desmond wheels pulled-up late after making the drive from San Diego…

Had to get another shot of Jose’s Integra since it rarely makes an appearance away from a race track…

A rare photo of Sean’s FEEL”s Civic together with Kristian’s car. One has been around since 2001 and the other has not been outside since then, lol…

Teddy’s S2000 has been coming along nicely with the addition of some Mugen goodies…

A couple of JADE Crew members getting ready to head home…

Some day maybe I’ll have the opportunity to own an S15. Until then, I’ll just enjoy Brian’s from a distance…

There were so many more great builds at the meet but alas, I didn’t have the opportunity to capture them all. Hopefully you guys have been active online and seeing many more photos from others who did have the time to shoot. The most talked-about build from what I’ve seen online has been Mark’s AT, and rightfully so. If you guys have an opportunity to see this build, make sure you do. You won’t regret it…

After the meet, we all just hung-out for a while before grabbing some tacos from a local food truck. Then we took some shots, talked some shit, and I didn’t end-up going home until around 4:30 AM. I don’t regret not getting more sleep because it was spent with good people, but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t hurting the next morning when I took my IS to Long Beach for the monthly Brew’s Cruise meet…

David’s meet has been getting better and better every month. We always manage to get some new cars at the meet and this Toyota 1JZ-powered RX-7 pulled-up to the surprise of all…

Kyle’s Aimgain Lexus LS460 seems to be a regular attendee of the Brew’s Cruise meets. He either loves waking up early or he lives nearby…

This Lamborghini Murcielago on BBS E88 wheels was pretty fucking amazing…

Cars like this is why it’s cool to come out to the Brew’s Cruise meets. It’s not too crazy big and you get to see a good variety of cars in peace…

Thanks to David for saving me a good spot so I could park my wagon next to this incredibly symmetrical building…

Chew’s Civic looking very good as it cruised in with the Exceed front lip and gold Advan RGs…

Judging by the engine bay, and the lack of a gas tank lid, I can only assume that this FD was just recently finished. The joy the owner must have had hearing his 1JZ-GTE spool-up as he drove to the meet. We saw it all cruise by and were just happy to hear the smooth sounds of the 1JZ and not the aggressive roar of a GM LSx…

Also should add that polished Enkei RS05RR wheels is a lowkey flex…

Noel Barnum pulled-up late as hell but we created a parking spot for him behind the Long Beach community announcements sign that takes up an unusual amount of space…

Cruising height of Noel’s Varis FR-S…

Just a couple of ‘Honda guys’ trying to get some coffee on hot Sunday morning…

Saw this Civic with a JBlood front and J’s rear wing pull-up later in the morning…

And the concluding photo for this set is of Rob and his Ferrari on BBS wheels…

That’s all for this one. Thanks for looking and huge thanks to all those who attended the Midsommar meet. Everything went so smoothly that I almost want to do it all over again at the end of the month…