thursday with Big John.

Last Thursday, John and I went to XLARGE store in Los Angeles to check out  DJ D-Styles and some really cool gear! For those of you who don't know who Dj D-Styles is, He has been around for years representing a crew called Invisible Skratch Piklez who have won a lot of dj battles in the Mid-90's and early 2000's, as well as the world famous Beat Junkies. He is known for his eclectic music and for being very skilled in the form of scratching. John and I caught up on the latest clothing, music, and art which consisted of actual pages ripped from black books of graffiti artists and X-Large's own Mickey Mouse hands inside the store walls which formed LA. I posted a flyer with the address and  recommend that you check out this store if you are looking for some fresh street gear!

gaijin period.

Street art has many definitions. Mostly defined as graffiti, a modern rebellious method of art with an extensive history based in Brooklyn and the other boroughs of NYC. Today's street artist are now exposed to modern day art galleries. What was once considered a crime are now collected by art enthusiast much like it was a painting of Vincent van Gogh. Enter Gaijin Fujita of Los Angeles. A new breed of street artist blending Los Angeles lifestyle of graffiti on walls, and old school Japanese woodblock style art. The art fonts are typical of modern style of catching fame on the streets. The battle scenes are what makes these pieces seem like they have an epic battle cry feeling. Check out his other works and make sure you hit up his gallery whenever its near your town.

website: www.lalouver.com/

vanilla caffè latte

Nothing like seeing a hottie on a motorcycle. Especially on a purposely built Cafe Racer. Props to you girl!

FINish! fitment!!

Flashback to the mid 90's when most Hondas were rolling on sets of authentic Racing Hart Tracers, SSR Type X's, and Mugen MR5 wheels. Out comes an underdog of the group, 5 Zigen released to the Southern California masses in 1996. 5 Zigen pronounced as "Go Zigen" in Japanese was mainly an exhaust and performance aftermarket parts company. Introduced was the ARD GT-Spokes. This fin style wheel was reminiscent of the O.Z. Superturismo for European made cars like the Volkswagen MKII Golf. Extremely rare in today's standards with sizes in mostly 17 inch. This timeless design will surely be a collectors treasure in import tuning memorabilia. - FIN

cinema hero.

From time to time we here at asphalt hero will be featuring a much deserved person honored as being the hero of the month. For his cinematic geniues. From movies such as Sonatine, Brother, and Batterou Royale. We award Beat Takaheshi as Septembers Hero of the month. If you havent checked out his movies yet then it is a must!! A revolutionist in japanese cinema. Changing the game of the yakuza / gangster genre to a whole new level.

show'in off.

NISEI WEEK SHOWOFF CAR SHOW  

DATE: Saturday, August 13th 2011

The nation’s premiere import car show hits Southern California on the 12th Annual Nisei Week Showoff Car Show, where the import car show meets cultural experience in Downtown Los Angeles. Mainstream Productions presents the Nisei Week Showoff Car Show to be held at Little Tokyo on Saturday, August 13th, 2011.

This is the place where the top-notch show cars come out to compete and show.

 

This year the all day event features:

SHOWOFF CAR SHOW – West coast’s top show cars compete for cash prizes and trophies. This is the place where function, quality, and form counts. Overall Winner wins $1000.00 and 6ft trophy with all bragging rights. Custom Showoff (runner up) receives $500 and 5 ft trophy. We have over 350 of the finest show cars so don’t miss out!

california sunshine.

Picture this, your cruising down your favorite beach pass (Pacific Coast Hwy 1) when suddenly you decided to park on a nice stretch of ocean view and enjoy yourself a picnic. Introducing the Toyota CAL-1. Built in 1977, this concept car was Toyota's dream of fusing the fun loving, boat living life of Southern Californians. Toyota custom integrated a removable rear wooden deck on the bed, much like what you see on popular speed boats of that generation. Sadly the car never went into production probably due to the energy crisis of the late 70's. Nevertheless this is still ingenuity at its finest. Lets see what Toyota has got in store for the upcoming 2013 FT-86, the successor to the famous AE-86.