Guess what I found tonight!!!

Today I had to send out some invoices and make a photo DVD for a client's commercial use. Afterwards, I got a call from my friend Glenn, who is from the Bay Area. He was in Long Beach for a tradeshow, and wanted to hook up for dinner near Venice Beach.

Glenn's sister and some other friends would be meeting us too. Glenn's longtime friend Elaine just opened up a women's boutique (shop) in Venice, so he wanted to check it out. When we got there, I was like... ohhh! I remember Elaine! I met her and her ex-roommates (I remember cause all these chicks were pretty hot) at their old apartment in LA La Brea area several years ago, when I was chillin with Glenn.






Turned out the shop was a high end boutique for women, called "Ecookie" in the popular Abbott Kinney area of Venice. Here's the view from the back of the shop, I was chillin in the courtyard while the others were shopping.






This is Elaine (left) and Glenn (duh!). Elaine owns this shop. Ecookie looks very stylish and high end. I obviously don't spend much time in women's boutique stores, but I can see why chicks would want to chill at Ecookie. The whole place has a nice atmosphere and a cool vibe. Elaine even had Sade singing in the background. Tight.

I like that thing hanging on the wall. Elaine said her friend sculpted it out of foam, then painted it. Pretty dope! I wonder if he can make a car like this...?

No, I'm totally serious.







Now I can see why guys might want to chill at Ecookie. Elaine designed the dressing rooms with a backlight and a semi-transparent door, so you can "kind of" see the women changing in there, at least their silhouettes. I won't front, I tried to catch a glimpse of something through the doors, but I couldn't see good enough.






Here's Glenn (left) and Herbrock One chillin out on Elaine's fly sofa, in the back of the shop.







(L-R) Althea, Glenn, and me. Althea said "Oh shit it's the old Earthlink crew!" and we all started laughing. We all used to work together, for Earthlink. Dude this was years ago.

When I still worked in the technology arena (We grew up as Silicon Valley kids), I was the Regional Sales Manager for Earthlink. This was several years ago. I hired Althea, and ended up meeting Glenn, who was her younger brother. We had some of the same friends, and had pretty similar interests. Later on, Glenn ended up working at Earthlink too, so yeah we ended up kickin it alot. We went to alot of car events together and stuff.







Elaine made reservations for us at this bar that served wine and tapas. I had reservations about those reservations because tapas are small Spanish style appetizers, and you can't get full off that (me, Herb, Glenn, and Althea's bf are pretty big guys)! Unless you order a ton! Sho nuff, we ended up with a pretty good sized check, haha! It's all good.

That's Althea on the left, and her bf Giancarlo right in front. Good thing I asked him about his line of work! He runs a "test only" smog shop. DUUUDE! Smog guys are good guys to know! =)

I told him I needed to replace the catalytic converters and 02 sensor in my Lexus SC400. The 02 sensor went bad, causing the car to run too hot, burning up the inside of the catalytic coverters. Now my cats are clogged, causing the car to run like shit, so sometimes not run at all. I need to replace all THREE cats in the car. Stupid Lexus, why did you make it so expensive for us to change cats? Now we have to buy THREE. And it's a Lexus part, so it's even more expensive than a normal one, just cause it has a stupid L on it. Stupid Lexus. Just make that ish cheap dammit!






It was pretty freakin dark in there, so I was surprised I was able to get this photo of Glenn and Elaine.

Okay, so listen to THIS!

Me and Elaine were talking, and I was saying, "hmm... Venice... so this is near Dogtown right?" And she casually turned to me and said "Oh yeah, this IS Dogtown. And actually, my boutique used to be a skate shop." Real nonchalantly and casual like that.

WAIT. Back it up sister, WHAT did you say?! So she started telling me she doesn't know much about skating, but her store used to be a skate shop, and there's even something carved in the cement right in front of her store.

So after dinner, she bounced out in her white Porsche convertible, and I decided to walk with Herb back to the front of her store, even though Glenn didn't feel like going. So look what I found!






WTF!!! Ohhhh SHITTTTT son! Is this for real??? This right here is a photo of what was carved into the concrete, on the sidewalk in front of Elaine's shop. It looks to me like the original Dogtown cross, with a bunch of initials from the Dogtown skaters!!! WTF that is so dope!

Crazy! Does Elaine's new boutique "Ecookie" now sit in the original spot of the legendary Zephyr Skate Shop from Dogtown and Z-boys fame??? OMG I was not expecting this!

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, you gotta get yourself some culture. Go watch the movie "Lords of Dogtown" and then also watch the documentary "Dogtown and Z Boys" which are both some of my favorite movies... not because I'm super hardcore into skating necessarily, but because I see many parallels to the birth of the skate industry, and the birth of DRIFTING.







So this is the front of Elaine's classy upscale boutique for women, called Ecookie. It's in the Abbot Kinney area of Venice CA, so check it out if you're in the area, and tell Elaine to bump some hip hop music in the store. Because she has nothing against rap music. And buy something for your girlfriend, support the cause! Your girl might even reward you for it! =)