Has anyone heard how this show is going ,thier web site says there sold out 1200 cars ,my wife was downtown San Jose today and saw 15 or so cars ????
So far its a bust. Been there for 2 days with 90% of the foot traffic being other vendors walkin' around just to stay awake. Im vending next to Alex and we cant believe how fucked up this show is. Nothing on the building that lets people on Market St know whats going on in "SOUTH HALL"...........not the fancy Convention Center grounds they show on their web site. Sure Saturday there will be some 300+ cars in the parking lot behind the hall and its FREE !!! So whos gonna pay $12 to come inside to see us vendors. Ive done the Strangers show for the past 4 years..........fact is I sold my first piece of striping to Alex at that show. May be pissin' off some people but gonna try to bail on Sunday so i can do Scotty's show.
TBonez - Sorry to hear that. I sincerely hope business picks up for all of the vendors. Your spot is waiting for you on Sunday! Hope you can make it. Be good to see you. Here's my rant and I will try and be as PC as I can. I am a little jaded that he picked our weekend. He produces a local cable hot rod TV show and has not supported us at all, in 9 years. We try and do the right thing. Low entry fee, low vendor cost, support the Artists, and hope everyone that attends has a good time. We could have a dozen tri-tip, taco, and hamburger stands at the show (making money off of them. We get a ton of calls and turn them down) charging good money for food. We say NO, bring in some meat, grill it up and hang with your friends or make some new ones while your cooking! My problems with the Hot San Jose Nights show, other than a little name rip on another well known show: - 1st year show charging $100? Does not work for me. The argument will be "T-shirt and dinner tickets", not my bag. Paso was in the $50 ball park for three days and that show KILLED! But I think I am preaching to the choir here. - Kruse Auction? I could careless. Even the hate that Goodguys gets sometimes, I don't think they would ever venture into those waters. Especially when you take our state of economy. - The show is literally all over the place. A "free show and shine" on Saturday? I HATE that phrase. But you have to pay for Friday and Sunday parking? Hmmm... I do like that there are a couple of day trips but two out of the three are basically freebies. I know that working with the City of San Jose can be a big pain in the ass. I have worked in the night club industry for 20 years and the redevelopment agency are a bunch of assholes. But, if I were doing a four day event I would have insisted on a sanctioned cruise night. IF you sold out 1200 regs the city would be bending over backwards on the influx of revenue. Plus the off duty cops would be loving the extra pocket change for working street patrol, they make good money off of us. I know that Penny from WCK has put out big ducketts for the Paso cruise and Saturday show security. In the end, I wish this show was a little bit different. Maybe next year, maybe not....
Thanks guys I had a feeling that's the kind of report I would hear , The first thing I thought when I saw sold-OUT on thier web-site ,it seemed faked the whole venue is all over the place ,all their doing is copying Hot August night's from Card room Casino , swap meet at a Flea Market (that's not even a flea market anymore its all non car vendors) The Strangers car show is one of the best of the year ,super nice people ,great setting for pictures ,the Strangers put on the best show and they do it for the Fun of Hot Rodding NOT PROFIT
There will always be room for improvement and changes. It's been very hard to keep any car related events going in San Jose. I worked with Roger for years to promote and build up his shows and swap meets. Making flyers, doing mailings, contacting merchants and clubs in the area. Offering free spaces for club displays and vending. Never any takers or responses from ANY of the clubs in the Bay Area. Roger could no longer go on operating at a loss. The vendors won't go if the public is not there, the public won't go if there's not a good assortment of vendors. Mike has worked very hard to put this together, and I'm sure with your input, and a little tweaking it can work.
We took a drive downtown last night & saw 1 guy in a sweet '59 El Camino driving round obviously looking for the rest of the cars...we stopped by the Holiday Inn...there were 4 cars there...and they were just leaving...and Brian "Phat Caddy" crashed the Drive In Movie with the '57...from his pics it looks like there were maybe 20 cars there. I know where I will be Sunday...
worst show ever. my brother wants to do a cable access show,we figure it would be nice to show what's really going on...
Its gotta be better than the Car Guy Channel....remember to practice shitty camera work & leering at women...
Today I went to the San Jose Flea market to check out the Hot San Jose Nights swap meet. Terrible, I went there at around 1:30 pm Not many vendors, maybe 20. Only a few cars for sale, a few old 60's work trucks. Nothing like the last Goodguys swap I went to a few months ago. The Berryessa flea market just is not thought of as a "car stuff" swap meet. In the past there were swap meets at the fairgrounds and Evergreen College,and the Old ford parts place in Campbell. All were much better while they lasted. It's amazing how hard the old car biz is in San Jose. I went down to the Convention center and saw some cars in the Show and Shine lots. Thanks to a nice group of guys vending at the swap meet I got some tickets to go the the indoor show tonight.
We drove the coupe over to San Jose for dinner ,not many cars around found some at the Holiday inn ,met a couple of guys at dinner that went very nice guys ,had a good time but they said they pd $100 bucks and they still need to pay for parking their car in the Show and Shine Sunday (Show car parking not included for Sunday) WTF
BIG HELL YEAH !!!! pulled out today at 4:30...........freakin' disaster. Alex wasnt far behind as well as a few other pissed off vendors. You kats have the best show goin'. Wont make this mistake again. See ya Sunday!
Hey Chris, Manuel said there were more cars at the Capitola event. That guy that has his name all over it seems like a sleezy used car salesman.
Heard from a vendor the Hells Angels had a talk with Mike and wanted there money back for there booth.
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