2019 UK / London 2

February 07, 2019 by Jonathan Chow in London, UK, Trips

Our second and only full day in London, we first traveled to our old stomping grounds around Shoreditch and Brick Lane. Later we went to Mercato Metropolitano to meet with Marcel and one of his owners while wrapping up the day at the nearby Tate Modern museum. Gonna try to cram everything in one post, so early apologies for the length of this one.

One thing I really appreciated about London was the popularity of traditional neon signage. I do wish they were more common here in the States, though some of the language that was used should probably stay in UK…

Some good ole guerilla marketing along with an amazing book store, will definitely need to remember it next time I go back.

Japan Trip / Rides 2

January 21, 2018 by Jonathan Chow in Japan, Trips

Second half of my ride-specific pics.

Oh look, the perfect car for everything, aka RS4 Avant.

S class rocking a full Lorinser kit!

Japan has some strange cars, but never would have expected a modded XKR! Looks like it would have come straight out of a catalog from the late 90's.

Tokyo is definitely the place to be for some perfect condition Euro classics!

This 901 seems more fitting going to a meet at Venice Beach than cruising Tokyo, but it works there too!

Admiring the beautiful bikes in this city when suddenly a wild Dodge Ram van appears!

American cars are far from popular in Japan, but whenever you spot one, it's always an interesting model.

Something timelessly classic about the Toyota Century.

Shy little guy

I think I'm in love...

And on the very last night, near our place, I finally ran into a proper R34 GT-R, though I spotted some interesting mods. It has some aggressive venting on the passenger side of the bumper but not the other side. But then it's also rocking Endless calipers and what appears to be BBS RE-MG wheels (!!!), so who am I to judge?

Japan Trip / Rides 1

January 18, 2018 by Jonathan Chow in Japan, Trips

So now that I've wrapped up the general travel pics, I gotta of course mention all of the amazing cars and bikes I encountered while in Japan. I didn't spot anything too exotic, but for such a metropolitan city that frankly doesn't require any sort of personal transportation to get around, there's an amazing amount of interesting rides. So, that said, here we go!

Subaru, please! If you're not going to give us a hatchback Impreza WRX, then for the love of God, please bring over the Levorg! Honestly I'd prefer the Levorg, and if I were going to push myself for a new car, this would be the one car that I'd immediately jump for.

Why yes that's a Lancer Evolution IX Wagon with an older diesel G-Wagon in the background. That's Tokyo for ya.

FILM / Speakeasy Two Wheel Meet

January 06, 2016 by Jonathan Chow in Film

Back in December I went to a two-wheel meet with some friends over at the Speakeasy Brewery. As the name implies, it was a show-what-you-got affair with motorcycles, scooters and bicycles. Personally, I was mostly interested in the motorcycles, so here's some shots of what caught my eye. Shot with my AE1 Program using a Sigma 35-70mm 2.8-3.5 on Kodak Portra 400.

Paris Day 2 / Pt 4

February 19, 2014 by Jonathan Chow in Paris

We end the day walking around more alleys in the Latin Quarter.

It's easy to forget these alleys are still streets people drive down. This Peugeot RZC kinda looks like a meaner, bigger TT. Pretty cool, except I personally think that lacking a beefy AWD powertrain and sticking with a FWD layout means its mostly for looks and going quickly on mostly straight roads.

Malongo was probably the only really neat coffee shop we spotted while in Paris. Turns out they also sold most of the machinery one would need to start up their own coffee shop so it was definitely a great place to swing by. Would have gotten some coffee as well if the prices in Paris wasn't so unreasonably expensive. Six Euros for an Americano? Pass.

Really great bookstore with some of the most impressive photo books I've seen in a long time. Wish I had room to bring some of them home with me.

Paris definitely had the better collection of dope bike spottings. I mean, how cool is it when you're riding a "Wolf"?

Ending day 2. Next up, we finally go to the tower!

Paris / Day 1 Pt. 2

February 08, 2014 by Jonathan Chow in Paris

After beginning to get the ins and outs of the city, we began heading towards Sacre Coeur.

Old school Saab 9000 with old meshies somehow fit really well here on the Parisian streets.

At first glance, I thought it looked like an Indian temple at the top of the hill. Maybe because it was so much cleaner (whiter) than most of the other churches and temples we saw. The domed tops helped the Taj Mahal affect too.

Look at these punks causing a ruckus with their skateboarding and scootering. Actually, the real delinquents was the scum at the base of the hill that'd grab people's hands (mostly women) and try to put a piece of colored string on your finger so you'd be "forced" to buy their crappy excuse of a souvenir. Despite the police being in clear eyesight of the activity, they just kept at it the entire time we were there. If you happen to see them, don't be shy to physically push them away and tell them to [shoo] off; it's the only way they'll understand you're more trouble than you're worth and they'll just move onto the next victim.

Once you move past that unfortunately scum though, the rest of the area was really pleasant. Even the pigeons, which look a lot healthier than those in London/SF/LA, were friendly.

It's really refreshing how clear and open the city feels compared to London. Even with the local smoking and the weird smelling grocery stores, the air here is just so much cleaner.

It even managed to get Michelle to crack a smile.

And have I mentioned that I miss hills and breaking up the monotony of the flat, featureless slab of land that is London? Yeah it may be a little bit of an exercise to get up to the top, but I enjoyed every moment of it.

Finally we arrive.

And what a view!

Through the trees and buildings, we even got our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower. Definitely a great area to live for the view, though I'd try to avoid the bottom of the hill.

Because when you think of Memphis, you think of palm trees? Gotta love the crazy MKIII Golf specials.

Alfa Romeo may only have a collection of fwd hatches and saloons/estates (if you exclude the 8C and newly introduced 4C) but man these things are lookers. My favorite looking modern fwd hatch for the longest time has been the VW Scirocco R, but the Alfa Romeo Brera is a very close second.

Peace brah!

The local ads tend to have a fun vibe about them compared to the serious and clean ads of London.

I know this is considered to be the city of lights but it feels like the city of color coming from the bleak streets of London.

One thing that I've noticed these past 3 days is that Paris is the sheer number of scooters and motorcycles, which makes sense when there's almost no parking and the traffic is crazy. What this means to me is plenty of great 60-early 90s bikes to spot, like this Yamaha and BMW.

This wraps up the first day. Stay tuned for the next day as we go to Notre Dame and Pompidou.