So, today I had to take the S14 over to the body shop because the rattling windows were finally starting to really get on my nerves. I guess… that’s what happens when you start doing things like… plugging water leaks in the trunk and fixing the air conditioning. You start to get a little bit more picky about things, like when the doors sound like rattling bird cages whenever you run over a bump in the road. Go figure…

And so, I went over to this place located in Rosemead called A&B Auto Body Shop. The owner / operator has a ton of experience with restoring old VWs like Vans, Beetles, and others from the 60’s and 70’s. And this was the same place that fixed my car after I hit that stupid trash can on the freeway many moons ago. If you’ve got some work that needs to be done, I can vouch for A&B in Rosemead. They’ve got some decent reviews on Yelp too, if only a few. But, I’ll tell you now, this place is great. It’s fast work, good work, and really good prices. THERE, I’ve fakked myself, because now there may be potentially longer lines here now. Whatever… I do this for you… Internet strangers…

On the way out, I saw Malik’s I30 here. Looks fine in the pic… because you can’t see the front end :/

Time to say peace-out to my car for the next couple of hours.

And so, it was time to begin bumming around Rosemead like a hobo while I wait for A&B to finish inspecting my doors for worn out rails or snapped metal or whatever. LoL. My car’s been though so much, I wouldn’t even be surprised if everything on the inside needed to be replaced. There’s been times where I’ve had to re-glue plastic wheels into place and… and… yeah I don’t even remember, but let’s just say that the insides of my doors are more beat up than the inside of your average college sorority member. butthole on the day following taco Tuesday at a Mexican food truck.

As I’m walking down Garvey Ave., I spot this place. “CARS.” I swear, they couldn’t think of a more creative name for a dealership. This is the same mentality that leads to people naming their kids “Boy.” (Trust me, ask your Filipino friend about this.)

And then I saw this place! MAZZ used to be in San Gabriel, and I remember them shutting down years ago. Interesting story that may or may not be related to MAZZ… I was seriously a kid when this all happened, so the dots I’m trying to connect and things may or may not be 100% true but here goes…

A long time ago, there was a tuner / rim shop in San Gabriel called DAZZ. Some pro NBA player named Latrell Sprewell bought the shop and changed the name to Sprewell Racing. Not too long after, the shop either closed or moved, and then this shop popped up called MAZZ. Not sure if they were trying to carry on the “AZZ” naming theme and change the “D” to an “M” but that’s the story. It didn’t seem to survive too long in San Gabriel, and now I see it here in Rosemead. As far as I can tell, the only shop to stick around for many many years that I can remember has been Pit Crew on San Gabriel blvd. Originally a Honda-boy shop, I’m not sure what they do now, but they’re still there.

After a good amount of wandering, I eventually found myself at this Thai restaurant for lunch. Tantawan…. is a really good place. Be sure to check it out if you’re in the area. Not going to post any pics of the food I ordered… 1. because I ate it and forgot to… and 2. because you all know what chicken pad thai and a sprite look like…

And yeah, I was here by myself just chillen and eating lunch and trollin around on facebook.

Did some more walking, and I see the bike path that I usually take when I ride to work (when I don’t drive). By now, it was fakking hot outside.

Apparently, you’re not allowed to do something here. Probably something stupid… like… no walking on the sidewalk, even though there’s clearly a sidewalk on the other side of this rail. Or it says “no crossing the street here” and there’s obviously a gang-load of traffic anyways LoL… damn signs trolling me this afternoon…

Here’s the last thing before I end this post. Found this place, called Boba Bear. It’s a hookah lounge + boba tea shop. So you can smoke some things while you drink some things. And they’re open super late… until 1am from Sunday-Thursday and until 4am on Friday and Saturday. Location is kind of tucked away into an area between Rosemead Blvd. and the 10 Freeway.

The drink was pretty decent. I got a boba milk tea. The cup was pretty cool though. If I didn’t have to carry this like 1.5 miles with me back to the shop, I would have probably kept it and used it as a container for brake bleeding. It’s a real glass jar with a metal lid with a hole in it to fit thick boba straws (or rubber tubes) into. Legit.

There aren’t any pics of my walk back to A&B. This is the end of this post. Y’all go home now. We’re closed. See you next time!