Western Civ stopped by the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Club’s 5th annual rally after enjoying a ride with them up the PCH and back. More classic iron and steel than you can shake a stick at showed up and it was truly amazing to see everyone’s machines on the road and on display.
Club Parking only
This 1971 Triumph has had one owner for 40 years. 
A beast of a Honda
The only pre-unit Bonneville at the event was in gorgeous shape.
Ran into Western Civ friends Gregroy Westbrooke and…
Nick Fouquet of Westbrooke Maker hat company
Handmade in Venice and worth your dimes.
Looks vintage, but really electric
Looks vintage, is really old.
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Western Civ took a drive down to the LBC earlier this month to checkout the Inspiration Trade Show, hosted by our old friend Rin Tanaka. Originally Rin began the show at the Santa Monica Airport hangers. Last year he moved the event to Long Beach…Housed within the Queen Mary.
The show brings together a rather eclectic group of collectors, artisans and Americana manufacturers from Japan, Italy, France, South America and of course the good ol’ U.S. of A. . Inspiration is three floors of Vintage collector items, re-issue military goods, New and vintage motorcycle, surf, skate and Hot Rod products. A big kids dream!!!
Western Civ trolled the 3 floors meeting new people who love to ride.. and caught up with old friends who share the same passion for the culture that we do. The images here are just a small percentage of the color and creativity we found at the show. Thank You Rin for inviting us down to partake in the festivities…
Photo’s by: Imani Lanier
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Belgians like everything bold: steak and frites, black Trappist beers, and even their fashion designers (look no further than the grizzlied Walter Van Beirendonck) are evidence of that fact. So it should be no surprise then when it came to ’60s Pop Art and Psychedelia, Belgians too painted with a heavy hand. And the late Guy Peellaert (1934 – 2008) was no exception.
Eschewing fragile the Warholian Jackie Os, kitsch Lichtensteins or even the traipsing psychedelic bohemia of Peter Max, Peellaert preferred to draw the absurd adventures of lofty comic book Amazons. In a mix of Fellini meets Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, his gargantuan women kidnapped you by the scruff of your cafe racer scarf and whisked you away on the back of their speeding chopper.
For Pravda (the comic, not the Soviet daily), he modeled his heroine after sultry Yé-yé chanteuse Françoise Hardy. Likewise, Sylvie Vartan was his inspiration for his Adventures of Jodelle. Peellaert, along with contemporaries Guido Crepax (Valentina) and Jean-Claude Forest (Barbarella) set the tone for Europe’s recently sexually liberated ’60s (recently re-dubbed “The Sex-ties”).
For better or for worse, Peelleart entered the ’70s armed with only that decade’s weapon of choice, the airbrush. During his second phase, he churned out two of his most well known works including the baroque coffee table effort Rock Dreams, and the beastly iconic cover of David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs.
While it would be tragic to imagine that he rode his airbrush into obscurity, his ’60s work has recently been enjoying a revival. Shortly before Peellaert’s demise, graphic/music jackmaster of all trades, Trevor Jackson (a.k.a. Playgroup) christened the cover of his acidic Make It Happen with Peellaert’s trademark Pop femmes. And recently Fantagraphics, home to Love & Rockets, Eightball, Acme Novelty Library and Robert Crumb, announced plans of a re-release (and re-mastering) of Pravda and Jodelle this fall. Guy, it seems, rides again.
— David J Weissberg/Western Civ
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