Fatlace Open House – Party at the Paddock
The Fatlace Paddock is a design studio, car garage, hang out place and merchandise retailer tucked behind Interstate 101 in San Mateo just miles from San Francisco International Airport. We had been by the paddock before but it was a regular business day. Not much going on. But this particular Saturday, we saw a flier on their Instagram page promoting the Fatlace open house with cool cars, merchandise clearance sale and food trucks. We had to check it out.
Upon arriving we were greeted with the sweet and sour aroma of chili spiced chicken wings and hip hop music wafting throughout the paddock. There was a group of guys hanging out playing pool and some “Hellaflush” eye candy to check out. Fatlace is just one of their brands joining Illest and Hellaflush. Founded in 1999 by Mark Arcenal, these brands were founded on a love for hip hop culture, skateboarding and bad ass cars. A worldwide following has ensued.
Not only that, this is the U.S. headquarters for vintage Porsche 911 tuners RWB / RAUH-Welt BEGRIFFE. One year at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Arcenal hooked up with RWB founder Akira Nakai and a partnership was born. Basically it breaks down like this; If you see a RWB Porsche cruising in America, it was designed and modded here.
Everywhere we walked we saw loyal fans hanging out and rocking merchandise, kicking tires and sorting through bins of clearance sale tee shirts and other cool swag. We noticed how many families were visiting making it a nice outing for a few hours. The little ones were enamored with the Illest foam fingers. Fatlace Project and Marketing Manager Teara De La Cruz and fellow paddock member Max offered us warm greetings.
The cars on hand varied throughout the afternoon but we saw Bimmer’s, Lexus’s, Datsun Z cars, Ferrari’s, American muscle and of course Porsche’s. The Paddock is on Amphlett Drive in San Mateo which parallels 101 behind a large brick wall. It’s a long straightaway and we saw several guys whack the throttle. It’s a lifestyle after all!
But the sweet exhaust notes were enough to attract a portly motorcycle officer who did a fly by then parked on the sidewalk to stalk his prey. He soon got distracted playing with his phone and nobody got tagged for exhibition of speed.
We dig this place and these guys. They were way cool and treated us like members of the Fatlace family. But they need bigger tee shirts for middle aged American white guys! LOL
Fatlace Open House Photo Extra!
