Restless in Cali

This month, Restless embarked on its greatest journey to date. The decision to do a road trip on the West Coast of California was easy, but we knew going in that we’d have to make the best of it. We had to make sure our name was heard out there, where skateshops are usually only used to hearing about two or three Longboarding companies at a time. Ultimately, we needed to visit as many skateshops as possible, all the while having fun and taking in the beautiful scenery.
	How it all started It all started out in Las Vegas, on the 4th of March 2010. Sin City isn’t really known for its Longboarding scene, so we decided to enjoy the city for what it’s worth. Casino-hopping (otherwise known as: getting as much free alcohol from every casino on the strip as possible) was a lot easier than one would think. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? No kidding!!! Yaddy-Yaddy-Yadda, and we met the next morning at the Caesar’s Palace. We jumped into our rented car, a Dodge Charger, and made it our own: we pimped it out with plenty of Restless stickers and logos. From this point on, the open road was waiting for us. Our first destination was Riverside, California, and our skateshop tour started that very same day.
	L.A. – a lifestyle is born The road between Las Vegas and Riverside was amazing. I had never seen a road like that... Up hills and down hills that never end all while being surrounded by the desert. Simply astonishing. As soon as we got to Riverside, a small city in the outskirts of LA, we visited our very first skateshop: Defy. Officially, our name was out there now. Our car was stocked with our Demo boards that we were proud to show off to all the skateshops. Our newer models, the Big Boy, and the Kicker, were always first in line. But it wasn’t always business! The moment we saw an opportunity, we jumped on our own boards and started riding that beautiful pavement, never damaged by the cold of winter. For the next couple of days, the process continued: getting up early in the morning, visiting shops during the day, and in the evening, finding a sweet spot to chill, usually by the beach, and cruise on our boards. Other cities we visited were Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Hermosa Beach and Venice Beach. The highlight of LA has to be the Hockey game we went to see: Kings vs. Canadiens!!! Yep, we were there, and we weren’t the only ones. The Staples Center was jam packed with Habs fans, which made the experience that much better. Oh by the way, we won 2 – 4.
	Road Trippin’ Eventually, we did have to leave LA. This is when our road trip took us to the Pacific Coast highway. We realized at this very moment, that our journey had only just begun. This is when we started wishing for extra days in the trip, just so we could stay in these small cities, like Santa Barbara, and actually visit them. I never knew how beautiful the Californian Coast Line could be, and these small cities were like pearls, carefully placed in between the hills and beaches. So we headed north, continuously stopping by every skateshop we knew about, and showing off our product. Another noteworthy city has to be Santa Maria, where there was absolutely nothing to do at night, but that somehow we ended up having an amazing night cruising around and hitting up that one place that was open. Santa Cruz is the city where our partying level nearly reached that of Las Vegas. Bar-Hopping was fun, but the best part has to have been jamming on guitar with a bunch of back-packers in the heart of the city. I think we pissed-off some of our hotel neighbours when we got back in that night...
	San Francisco We took a lot of picture of the Pacific Coast highway, but after seeing them now, I can tell you that they do no justice. Write this down: I must one day road trip on the West Coast of California. Your To-Do List will never be complete without it. The road led us to our final destination, San Francisco. Our last day of skateshop visits was underway and we could feel it in our blood. After the last skateshop, Purple Skunk, which was one of the cooler ones, we raised our glasses and cheered for an amazing Restless tour that was now completed. That same night, we partied like there was no tomorrow. Irish Car Bombs were definitely on the menu, and that tequila bottle that we had initially opened up in LA was now long gone. The next morning, although some of us were fighting a hangover, we were shown around the city by a good friend of Restless. We visited the Golden Gate Bridge and other attractions... this ended up being the most touristic day of our whole trip.
End Game Regardless of the number of sales that we’ll actually get from this tour, we believe that our trip was a great success. It gave us the chance to meet some incredible people and it also allowed us to make new contacts that will give Restless new business opportunities in the near future. Overall, we visited 49 skateshops. It’s fair to say that not all of them were interested in our product, but at least they gave us their honest opinions and even gave us feedback as to what it takes to break into the West Coast market. Of course, we’ll all remember the skateshops where our product was hailed for being new, original, and innovative. There was some interest for our product in the end, and it makes me even more proud to be a part of something this awesome. Restless is already looking forward to similar trips in States, and even Europe. Eventually, we should be heading south to our friends in NYC as soon as we can.