- The Place: East/West Shop
- The City: Los Angeles, CA in the Chinatown District
- The Time: Saturday, February 13th 2016 from 6P-10P
BOOOOM! POW! CRACK! No, this isn’t the latest episode of the 60’s TV version of Batman… but the sounds of fireworks filling the warm evening in the Chinatown District near Downtown Los Angeles. It is now the year of the Monkey. Those born under this sign are known to be intelligent, confident, curious, gregarious, and quick-witted with a touch of deception, arrogance, recklessness, and vanity. The traditional red dragon dance, elaborate decorative floats, and confetti filled the streets on this special day called Chinese New Year. Later that night little did people know, a small quant store nestled in a discrete plaza, there would be a pin and patch show happening at a store known as the East/West Shop. Even more discrete was the amount of talented artists that would collectively meet in this small vintage clothing store.
Owned by the creative and dedicated Erin Han, she has turned her modest shop of premier vintage clothing into a regular venue for artist from across the world to showcase their hard work in pin and patch form. People who share the same affinity of pins and patches like Erin, pack her store wall to wall, sip some free Sapporo beer, and converse about anything and everything. I found myself at this awesome venue for the 3rd straight time and notice the crowd getting larger with every single visit. I knew the drill, grab a check list, and head to the main table. There I found pins and patches from some of the heavy hitters of the pin and patch game; Pindejo (of course!),
Tuesday Bassen, Big Bud Press,
Tough Time Press,
Sad Truth Supply,
Meth Syndicate, &
These Are Things in a heart shaped chocolate box with most of the candies half eaten.
Shortly after, to the left of this glorious table there was a wall of denim pants almost like a curtain with pins and patches from top to bottom. There we had pins and patches from companies such as Good Good Pins, Last Call Company, AdamJK and No More Industries, just to name a few. If this was anyone’s first time to a pin and patch show, it could be a bit overwhelming but in a positive way… almost like a kid in a candy store. I was that kid in a candy store.
All throughout the store, little pockets of pins and patches were spread throughout. Almost like a flow chart, it was easy to follow as each pin and patch display was strategically placed. It flowed so well that after I made my rounds after admiring all the pins and patches the store had to offer, I found myself exactly at the cash register ready with my checklist in hand ready to make my purchases. These are some of the awesomeness I was able to pick up from the show.
After my purchases were made, I sipped my free Sapporo beer near the DJ booth, admired the tons of people packed in the store and I couldn’t help but smile… what completed the night was that as I turned to the left of me, I noticed this man spinning the wheels of steel, Shepard Fairey of
Obey. Erin had worked with him at Obey for over 9 years, so it was nice to see that they were still friends over all these years. That was pretty awesome to see the graffiti artist turned multimillion dollar clothing GIANT, in this mom and pop store supporting these artists and their craft.
What made the night even sweeter was that I was able to meet up with my buddy, Miguel Pindejo coincidentally and end the night by chopping it up talking about the same enthusiasm and love for this art form called pins and patches. Till the next show.
Detailed coverage by Miggs for Pindejo
