Art & Inspiration The Search For Cool

Nice read. My quest for cool changed and morphed with age. As a young teen it was my Schwinn Orange Krate bicycle. Something I had to have and my parents saved forever to get. But when I had the bike, I had to have a costume or 'look". Being kids with no money, my friends and I, who all had Krate bikes, rode around wearing denim Levi jackets. We couldn't afford leather and my dad sure as hell wasn't going to get me something THAT rebellious. We were the cool kids. Or so we thought. Riding around in the summer wearing a denim Levi jacket and sweating our asses off, we probably looked crazy. But man, we sure FELT cool.

Now, I just have a pair of retro sunglasses. I refuse to drive without them. Bifocals and all.

 

Cool read and it brought back memories of when I too was a quote un quote greaser. Miss those days a lot and I also miss my greasy hair. I still have the attitude, toned down a couple of notches, and the only thing I did loose was my hair when I got out of the service. Yup fun days.

 

Undergraduate degree at 20? You're not only cool (we already knew that), you're a fucking prodigy!

 

Surely there are pics of you with said hair-do.

 

I grew up into Star Wars, Sci Fi novels, and BMX. I was most definitely not cool. I wanted to be cool, but everything the kids in my generation was into was fucking lame. My senior class was into House music, Honda Civics, and dropping E. I was into Metal, Old cars, and (still) BMX. I dunno if I'm cool yet, but I severely doubt it.

Then the fast and the Furious came out when I was like 19 or so and further separated me from my age group.

 

I had tight, rolled bottom Wranglers and tucked in white Hanes T-shirts as my only attire for about three years. Loved the smell of pomade in the morning as I slicked it through my hair everyday as a "yute". I was the only kid in high school that looked like that. Now, all the kids wear that shit and call themselves "Hipsters" more than a decade after I already did it. In the words of Dr. Dre, "You a fad, something that we already had..."

 

Laptop.... ruined.

 

That's just because you think Vin Diesel's hot

 

Yeah Ryan, pics or it never happened

Rich

 

Psh.

I'm still cool.

...in my own world.

 

I remember when I discovered the 'scene'.
I jumped in balls deep and LOVED IT.
4 inch pompadour, 5 inch cuffs.......

I've toned it down now.. my favorite style is the late 40s "El Mirage" look
Its got that same 'raw' aspect of the 1940s hot rods and customs... which I thrive off of.

 

You win. Although the scene in Knockaround Guys where he beats the guy in the bar is pretty awesome too.

Edit by Ryan:

 

Thats actually a pretty deep post. Im 35 so i think im about the same age as you guys..i got into that stuff around '96
And those were sure the good old days for me.
I think everyone looks cool at that age. Young, thin and fresh with a twinkle in their eye.
I like looking at pics of my grandpa during ww2, he was a staff sergeant and tail gunner, and my pops was a pretty cool cat in the late 50's early 60's

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LOL well this thread took a weird and unexpected turn.

 

Here you go Ryan, your search for cool is over!

 

I'm not cool. I've never been cool. I couldn't be cool if I lived in an icehouse. Cool people shun me like I've been drenched in liquid shit. I could give a shit less. I know who and what I am, and I'm fine with it. That being said, Burt Reynolds as Sonny Hooper... that's fuckin' COOL.

PS- Don't let 'em hang shit on ya, Ryan, I liked The Pacifier too.

 

Death? DEATH?!

I'm Nacho Friend!

Seriously though I feel like I may be shooting myself in the foot here. But honestly I may be a little harsh on TFATF. It's basically the SAME movie as my FAVORITE movie of all time. And no I don't mean Star Wars, I mean POINT BREAK.

A movie so close to my heart I have the DVD on me at work. As proved by this picture:

 

I spent over a decade of my youth deep
In the socal punk rock scene, goin to shows, getin fucked up and getting into trouble, still love the music just dont dress like it anymore. And my ears thank me for not going to shows anymore....


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Back on the original subject...

I was 15, my buddy was 16, and we headed into Oak Cliff to A&B Muffler Shop on Inwood to have a pair of Flowmasters installed on his 5.0 coupe. The old dude there didn't have any, but he said he could just cut out the stock mufflers and weld in some straight pipe, if we wanted that. My buddy said that would be alright and put the car on the lift.

The grizzled old dude then did something I've never forgotten. He was probably in his '50s, looked like he was probably former military to a 15yr old kid. In one smooth, well-practiced motion, he picked up his torch, busted it off with the flint striker, then tossed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it with the torch.

I thought then, and still do now, that watching that old man light his cigarette in that grungy old muffler shop was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

 

Cool is a phase? Speak for yourself homey. I grew up with cool. Circle tracks and hot rods, fights and fabrication and the smell of bondo, the aroma that only a cutting torch can make (except maybe a car with too much "juice"!). Sitting behind the wheel of 427 hi-riser with a clutch pedal that took both of my 8yr old legs to push, and idling up the street 2 blocks for a full tank of real premium fuel for the weekend's race. Hair, jeans, t-shirts and boots, still have all of em today just like in my youth. Does it mean I'm cool? To Mrs Highlander, to some of the young guns I've happily trained over all my decades in this shit, and to some of the, what do we call them today? Oh yeah, haters. I learned they come in all generations. Cool should be something only one person can define. Usually that person's over the top of your bathroom sink.

It might show in how you dress, how you talk, maybe what you drive, or maybe the vision you apply in whatever it is you do. Others see it and don't usually talk about it. They don't have to, nor do they have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it is they're seeing, why they like it or why it brings that vibe to their senses. Cars, art, and maybe sometimes a certain mix of wardrobe and hair style, or simply an internet hangout that has most of the things, and many people, you find to be cool, and maybe always have been. Just sayin...

 

There's something about old muffler shops...a buddy's family has one and when we were in high school the ok shop had a soul of its own, complete with wood floors and all. No it's gone replaced with a modern building, more efficient yea but lacking character. Don't know if we were cool, but we sure felt like it hanging out at the old shop working on old cars when everyone else our age was into imports and mini trucks.


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Johhny Utah is a little bitch. Bodie Rules. Vios Con Dios. Hey if you want a real good laugh get the ROAD HOUSE 20th Anniversary DVD with Kevin Smith Commentary. IT's good for a laugh.

My Cool chart has been on a Downward Trend since 1982.

 

Anything for the Birth Of Hotrodding Is cool though. So much inspiration in that book.

 

I was at the mooneyes show the same year that Desperate Generations was being filmed and Buddy Dughie who I was staying and hanging with said to me " you need to come back here next weekend our club (The Lucky Devils) is being filmed for some movie and you need to be in it with us." I told Buddy that I had to get back home for work and since at that time it was 8 hour drive out to LA for me I would not be able to make it. I kick myself for not listening to him. Those were the days with when Dan Collins and VonFranco were in the Lucky Devils, Linda's doll hut was going along with the Derby and the only people that I knew of that were doing photo work of the scene were Michael Farr and David Perry