Origin
In 2017 I wanted to go rallying, but I didn’t own a car that qualified for any of the vintage rallies up north (pre 76). One night, after talking with a buddy we decided to start one. To throw a welcome party for Radwood 2 which was being held in Anaheim.
Since everyone who doesn't live here thinks LA just Hollywood, we thought it made sense to theme it after a movie. The car show was 80's /90's specific, and so too would our theme be.
A LITTLE TASTE OF ADVENTURE
THEMES
2017: Following the 80s/90s theme of Radwood, we named the event after the climax moment of Keanu Reeve’s seminal hit Point Break The 50 Year Storm .
The idea was simple, get some friends from LA to go on a weekend-long drive, meeting more friends along the way, and drive back to LA like a Radwood welcome party.
It was free. 20 people signed up. 6 showed up.
I realized that with no entry fee it was difficult for drivers to feel a sense of commitment to show up. An easy fix, this would be the last year The Storm would be completely free.
2018/2019: I decided we shouldn’t hitch our wagon to another event. People wanted to keep their cars pretty for the parking lot, and I wanted to drive. Back roads, dirt roads, cliff roads, and farm roads. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to drive cars rather than sit around and look at them. So I looked for a hole in the rally community’s calendar (January) and a location that made sense for that time of year (the desert). That landed the second Storm at the dawn of 2019.
That year we themed the drive after another cult classic, the sequel no one asked for: Escape From LA.
2020: By now the event had hit its stride. We had a good relationship with the only hotel in Jacumba, and our audience knew what we were about: driving. Our theme? The Lethal Weapon movies.
2021 It was peak pandemic. It didn’t feel right to get a group together so I pivoted to a Rally-It-Yourself kit. And because this was likely the only year I could get away with it, I adopted the theme of Jim Carry’s commercial hit: The Mask.
COMMUNICATION
The themes were inspired by a common misconception that Los Angeles and Hollywood are the same. I thought it best to lean into the thing we are best known for, movies. Specifically the cult classics we all remember. Some were good, some were bad, some were so bad they were good. But they all helped shape us and our culture more than we realize.
Over the course of the four years I started to develop some rules around the theme:
1) It has to be part of the cultural zeitgeist.
2) It’s better if it’s based in LA regardless if that’s past, present, or future. - The exception here is if it’s in a fictional location that isn’t obviously somewhere else. i.e. Edge City from The Mask works, while Gotham City from Batman does not.
3) There should be SOME car related thing, theme, or scene.
4) The less dialogue and background noise, the better.
These themes and subsequent rules created the framework for communications necessary to inform our participants, fans, and followers of key things like dates, locations, pet policies, and accommodations. The instagram became the main channel in which we’d converse with our audience. We wouldn’t always speak directly with them, but I could create videos and posts that answered specific questions for the larger audience.
This started as primarily static posts and evolved into video posts that repurpose the theme movie to suit our needs. I’d re-edit, sound design, write cards & supers, and if need be, re-voice the characters.
2019: Escape From LA Playlist
2020: Lethal Weapon Playlist
2021 (Nomad): The Mask Playlist
THE ROUTE
The event itself required a lot of time and effort. The first step was always figuring out a route through the desert that would have us overnighting in Jacumba Hotsprings, a town within spitting distance of the Mexican border. I had a vision of a group of cars driving along the border fence as the sun set, and seeing it come true brought a slight tear to my eye.
After the route was planned, it was time to work on the tactile elements: The route-book and swag bag.
For me the route-book had to be accurate. There’s nothing worse than something that is half-assed than can be easily full-assed thanks to google maps. Most of the route planning was done through that, using satellite layers to locate untapped dirt roads (for the dirt option) and waypoints for accurate mileage numbers.
After it was planned, there was nothing left to do but test if for accuracy and clear passage. This would usually require small tweaks to the route to be made while on the road testing to ensure the route-book was accurate.
ACCOMODATIONS
It was important for me to create an all inclusive event. Too many people charge an arm and a leg for just looking at google maps. They still force you to book your own hotels and find your own meals. Asking you to do their job of organizing the event.
Spite is sometime a big motivator for me and part of creating this event was to prove that you could do it right, do it cheaply and take the responsibility of asking someone to spend their hard earned money on your event with a serious eye towards ensuring they have a good time.
So I found a hotel in the desert called Jacuma Hotsprings Hotel & Resort. It had 23 rooms (17 doubles, 6 kings) a restaurant, a bar and a hot spring all in the same property. It was our little rally oasis where we could do what we wanted and have a good time. There was also 1 airbnb near by that slept 8.
It also set the maximum number for participants, which I wanted to be below 50 to keeps things manageable and under the radar of the johnny law. The event usually came in around 46 people, and there was always a waiting list.
Unfortunately during the pandemic the hotel — and with it 80% of the entire town — was sold to a couple of yuc hippies from San Diego. While I’m happy the family sold the hotel and were able to leave JHS, that place can never be our road home again. (I’m clearly stilly bitter about it)
SWAG
I’m a maker and I really like to make things. But I’m also a pragmatist and won’t make things for no reason. This event became a vessel, an excuse, for me to make the things I’ve had in my head, while giving me the guardrails to only make what's necessary each year. Restricting it to these simple riles it allowed me to keep the event affordable without sacrificing quality.
Each year I’d try make 4 things specifically:
- A car based item of my own design (usually through a collaboration with The Goods leather company here in LA)
- a piece of clothing
- a theme based item for fun.
- event stickers (more on that in branding)
SWAG BY YEAR
2017: We just made stickers. It was free and we did the whole thing in about 3 weeks time so even getting stickers was a minor miracle.
2019: Plug gap keychains, leather eyepatches, long sleeve t-shirts, stickers
2020: Oil rag tissue boxes, Storm Stripe Pattern neck ties, stickers
2021: Embroidered Hoodie, Premium Routebook, Reflective stickers (new design)
This was the year we couldn’t get together, and this deep in the pandemic you already had a mask you liked, so I went with what we’d all be wearing for the last year, sweats.
Since we couldn’t all get together I wanted this to be as cheap as possible and was able to do it all for $100 / person including shipping.
