Whenever I'm overwhelmed with the amount of car events happening in Los Angeles, I find myself coming back to the first Cars and Coffee gathering I ever went to…Early Rodders in La Cañada. One of my Uncles brought me to this event when I was a senior in High School. There is something about it that reminds me of why I like going to these things in the first place. There’s always a familiar face or two, new interesting vehicles that no one has seen before, and just a calm easy going vibe. You can tell everyone is just there to see some cars and talk story.
One Friday morning last summer, Joe from The M Shop and I decided to drive up to Newcomb’s Ranch to meet up with the Good Vibes Breakfast Club. It was packed, and vibes were definitely good. It was really hot that morning, and we found some shade under a tree. There were three older gentlemen standing under the tree as well. We got to talking, and they were some of the coolest dudes I had ever met. We chopped it up about their hot rod builds, the motorcycles they rode up on, and just joked about life in general. One of those guys was Rick Chew. This was the first time I had ever met Rick. He told us that morning he founded the Early Rodders event. He was a retired Fireman that grew up in Highland Park, even went to Franklin High School. On my way down ACH, I caught them at a turn out taking pictures of each other. I pulled over so I could snap one with all three of them, they were so stoked about it.
Later on that week I did some internet research and found a Los Angeles Times article about Early Rodders. In the interview, Rick stated he wanted the event to be “not a club with a bureaucracy and not so organized that cones would have to be set up every morning - just a bunch of people who love cars getting together for a few hours on Saturday morning.” Thats exactly what it is, and its perfect.
I went to Early Rodders this morning looking to see if I could chop it up with Rick again. I saw his friend Kurt carrying a sign that said “Rick Chew’s Place”. As he was hammering it into the dirt, I asked if Rick was here. He told me Rick passed away less than 3 weeks ago. He took a trip to visit his daughter in Denver and fell ill shortly after coming back.
Somewhere in the past few years with the development of social media, we seem to have lost this purity in a car meet. I feel like every weekend there is some new thing, new gimmick, new spot, new page, new brand. One could say we are spoiled with car events in Los Angeles, but I think the car culture has been tainted with attempts to monetize and capitalize on our passion. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for the enthusiast driven company/brands producing quality, well thought out products and events that identify with the culture, but there are also fakers out there fueled solely by the intention to advertise and make money. When the motive is only financial, we can tell. The vibe is different. You can’t put a BBS sticker on a knock off wheel. We can tell the difference. Los Angeles car culture needs more Rick Chews. A real car guy that put together something solely to provide us with an event we can all enjoy. RIP Rick. Glad to have met you.
