When picking out shorts, step one is avoiding denim. Unless you 1) are named Jeb or Clyde, 2) own a 1979 Trans Am, or 3) shotgun Bud Lights on the daily, then denim jeans are permanently off the table for you. #Sorrynotsorry. For the last several years, the fit of choice has been a relaxed one with a length falling just above your kneecap when standing. Any longer and you risk being unwillingly initiated into the ICP Fubu brigade; any shorter and you are now sporting swimming trunks.

Adsum recently sent us a pair of their Camp Hero shorts I’ve nicknamed “The Weekenders.” With comfy levels off the charts, an expandable waistband for relaxed movement, and classic styling these trunks have been getting heavy rotation on my derrière on the weekends. Made of a nylon blend, they are much more casual than a short I would wear out on a bar night, and they lean heavily into the athleisure category much to their comfortable advantage. Easy to wear, easy to clean, easy to pair with a T-shirt and sandals – what else could you want from a summer short?

A well executed short will help you enjoy summer more, help you cool off, and expand your wardrobe in one swoop. Adsum has a great fit and style, but whatever you pick keep it basic and classic looking. Then the beaches and BBQs with cool legs and cooler style.

The post The Adsum All Around Weekend Short appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

And Jeremy is far from the only one. Surfing communities online and off are awash with disappointment and dismay over not only that the 2014 US Open was such a shit show, but also over that fact that this has been the case for years now. For surfing’s laid back, live-and-let-live culture this presents a difficult problem. Is it okay that 80% of attendees are not interested in surfing at all, or should the event clamp down on these hangers-on by having designated areas accessible only by a premium paid ticket? Would that “harsh the mellow” of too many? Given that very few Open-goes even watched the surfing, and that the experience was negatively impacted for the true fans of the sport, something will have to change. If it doesn’t don’t expect to see too many more US Opens of Surfing held on SoCal shores.

The post The US Open of Surfing Was a Shit Show appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

The last three months of last year was one rough ride for me. I left my stable job for a new exciting career path that is relevant to one of my passions…only to comprehend a month in that it was a toxic work environment with a dead end future. To top it off, I soiled some friendships over unnecessary issues,made minimal significant progress to meeting my end of the year life goals, and bought a totally wrong tire size for my 1990 Nissan 240sx project car. Nearing the end of December I realize that I was far from happy and would be ending the year on an all time personal low.

No job is worth your self-confidence consistently shot down to the point where you start questioning your self worth. Nor is any job worth trading your morals and what you stand for the sake of fitting in. With red flags flying everywhere, foreseeing no growth despite working over fifty hours a week, and almost forgetting how I really am outside of work, I called it quits on the last week of December.

I found it amusing that right when I thought I had post grad life figured out, I started off the New Year without a full time job and no definite future plan. As a person who finds relief in an organized and outlined future, I was frustrated and lost. I found myself in a state that many people consider necessary in your 20’s. Uncomfortable.

A few weeks into January, a family friend of mine told me she needed a ride to Berkeley. Being that I live in Los Angeles, I seized this as an opportunity clear my mind and reflect on the past couple months during the solo drive back home. The day before we left, I raised all four coilovers about an inch and a half to clear my new but overly huge 245/45R17 Yokohama S Drive tires. I’ve driven to the Bay several times in the past few years taking the usual routes but since life doesn’t always go as planned, I took it as an opportunity to try something new. Get there and back with minimal GPS usage, instinct, and take the roads less traveled.

On the way up, I knew I wanted to take Route 33 from Ojai and Route 198, zigzagging between the 101 Freeway and the 5. Although getting there took about twice as long, every mile was absolutely worth it. Route 33 rewarded us with never ending curvy corners and even snow at the peak of the mountain, a beautiful sight considering that California has been experiencing severe drought. Once at the top we were fortunate to catch golden hour. Amazing photographs ensued.

For the solo drive back down, it was a no brainer to take PCH from Monterey and figure my way back to LA using just road signs. I wanted to take it back to the old days, the days even before the Thomas Guide. When taking the Bay to LA via PCH, stops are a given. Being that I’ve done this trip once in the past, I took the opportunity stray away from the typical Bixby Bridge and Big Sur stops and just find places on the fly instead.

On the foggy morning of my drive back home, I set my phone on airplane mode and vowed to only use my phone for wide-angle shots as I only brought a 50mm lens with me. Taking a road trip with a friend is one story, but if you love your car and you happen to own a sporty one, taking a fourteen-hour trip down PCH alone is a whole different experience.

As the first 90-degree corner approached after a long straight, I down shifted and rev matched all the way to second gear. My bucket seat held me in place as the fresh tires gripped the apex of my lane. I stepped down on the accelerator and let my throttle open. At 4k rpm, I hear my intake, followed by the uproar of my aftermarket exhaust as I crept to redline. My Beirut album was playing low enough that I can hear the waves crashing down the cliff. I shifted up, and smiled. I had become lost in the moment. I felt free. It was then that I had a genuine glimpse of my inner peace again.

As the sun was setting, I took a random turn east bound in hopes to eventually find my way back to the 101. Although I felt lost, I insisted to not turn on my GPS. I was content with that…eventually I became lost in my thoughts. I concluded that when you pursue certain goals or career paths, things might not work out the first time around, or the second, or the third. But you know what? That’s okay, because life doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes things go south and occasionally it can be beyond your control. Sometimes it is under your control and you made a huge mistake and find difficulty coping with it. What’s important is the ability to thoroughly learn from the mistakes and quickly adapt to unplanned challenges. After about an hour of following what seemed like following mainstream traffic through isolated cities, I eventually saw the sign for the 101 south towards Los Angeles.

Although the last few months of last year were rough for me, I wouldn’t trade my hardships for anything less. To truly understand and appreciate what is good, you have to experience what is bad. Ultimately understanding these concepts are gentle reminder that you are trying to improve yourself every day. Similar to the routes I took to go up to the Bay and back, I decided to try an unconventional road for my career goals. Last month I managed to snag several awesome relevant part time jobs that left me with enough time to pursue my personal passion projects. Will I last taking the less traveled path? I don’t know, but one thing for sure is that my drive will.

One of my first victories after this trip? Being able to get a refund on those oversized tires.  

You can follow my photography @alvidee

The post California: The Road Less Traveled appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

With a town this size and all the best spots hopelessly spread out, you need a chariot capable of getting in and out of tight situations, one that carries ample speed to get you to and fro, and has the right amount of je ne sais qua to fit in from Beverly Hills down to the barrio. Enter the CLA AMG we’ve got for the weekend. This 2014 Mercedes is bathed in brilliant Jupiter Red to announce your arrival to anyone that can see it, and has an addictive exhaust bark to relay the message to all those who don’t. This thing is so LA it probably has an agent. With the right steed in hand, we’re off to capture the magic of this city in one action-packed weekend.

LA’s series of neighborhoods are microcosms unto themselves. Each is formed around some racial, ethnic, economic, or spiritual commonality. These groups and areas are ever-shifting and morphing, making LA truly unknowable. But we’re still gonna try our damnedest this weekend!

The city takes up the area between the San Gabriel Mountains in the East all the way to the ocean 40+ miles to the West. When most of us picture LA, the image is one of palm trees and sandy beaches. It’s certainly not a bad image. Locals call the area pictured in this mental image the West Side, and it is where FactoryTwoFour has set up our base camp. Venice Beach is still a neighborhood of lingering ill-repute for being on the sketchier side of ‘hoods, but it is in fact heavily gentrified and getting more so every day. It is still brimming with character though, and we’re glad to call it home for the weekend.

After arriving, jettisoning our luggage, and freshening up our first stop is the Venice Board Walk and the beach. ‘Natch. Rounding the corner onto the boardwalk is like leaving the United States and entering Tijuana if it was run by a pot smoking street artist Willy Wonka. It is a truly wonderful place full of strange and frightening sights and sounds. Marijuana dispensaries every 50ft or so, homeless people dressed up as mountain men wearing roller blades, or tacky t-shirts with inappropriate messages or cleverly re-worked corporate logos – all this can be yours and much much more on the Venice Board Walk.

Just steps away, the beach offers us needed respite from the crazies and the tourists. It’s always 70 degrees here. Always. But it’s still LA, so the water is neither clear nor particularly clean. Swim on, we certainly did, but take a shower afterward.

On to lunch and Abbot Kinney – a street recently declared The Coolest Block in America by GQ Magazine. Abbot Kinney is a simple stretch of asphalt less than a mile long flanked on either side by upscale boutiques and holier-than-thou restaurants and bars. Several top chefs have outposts here, but our destination is Chop Daddy’s. This unpretentious BBQ joint offers up killer grub to the hipsters of Venice without falling victim to their ways. No dried flowers in whimsical vases, no strange food pairings or unpronounceable ingredients. Just damn good BBQ sandwiches and fried pickles. Get on it.

Now it’s back in the righteous CLA and up to Santa Monica. This town is akin to Venice’s older, responsible brother. The strange and unique are not welcome here. It is a very safe and predictable place. And very boring. Santa Monica is the outpost of the Old White Person. If worldwide chain restaurants and brands are your thing, and you enjoy paying $16 for an “artisan cupcake,” you’ll fit right in. What Santa Monica has that is of interest to us is a world-class farmer’s market. Chefs from across the city descend on the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market to grab the freshest produce to bring back to their Michelin-starred restaurants. And of course to talk some shop with their chef buddies who they invariably run into. Hosted on the 3rd Street Promenade ever Wednesday and Saturday, there is no better place to pick up the freshest California fruit, OR find a very fresh Californian date to join you for dinner. Browse around, try a sample of the best strawberries you’ll ever eat. Grab a fresh baguette and some flowers. Just don’t be surprised if you start fighting over the last bunch of spinach with Chef Sang Yoon.

Pro tip: avoid the Santa Monica Pier. It’s an overcrowded tourist trap brimming with lame carnival rides, terrible food, and worse street vendors hawking shot glasses and neon-colored visors. Everyone goes to the pier because they think its a must-see Westside attraction. Don’t be everyone. You can see it plenty well from the great bluffs overlooking the ocean, and there you will avoid being bunched in with fat mid-westerners who sweat too much and shower too little.

So after samples the local ware and partaking in all the good and bad the Westside of Los Angeles has to offer, it’s time for…………….a nap. But after that, it’s time for dinner! Why yes, our city excursions do revolve around food stuffing our faces. What of it?

Tonight we’re rocketing in our svelte Mercedes to A-Frame, Roy Choi’s joint in Culver City that is on our go-to list for LA. The atmosphere is fresh, the beautiful people are right, and the plates of Korean-American mashups are wholly unique anywhere in the world. We pig out on perfectly crisp Beer Can Chicken, seaweed covered popcorn, sublime duck, Asian ribs, and one of our party even hogged the enormous burger all to themselves. And you know we didn’t leave without getting the epic pound cake churro. Damn good.

Since Chef Choi’s just treated us so well, we’re off to cap our first day in Los Angeles at his Abbot Kinney bar The Brig. It’s small, modern, and incredibly loud when a band is shoe-horned in there, but there’s a pool table in the back and more beautiful people to be enjoyed. After hustling a group off the billiards table, we camped out on it for the rest of night, getting tipsy on Manhattens and reflecting on the adventures behind us and those still in front of us. When we call it a night, our minds are filled with the big day ahead. Tomorrow, we stretch the CLA AMG’s legs in the Malibu Canyons…

Read part two of our Los Angeles Adventure here!

The post 72 Hours in Los Angeles Pt 1 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Right off the bat, the E550 hits you with its angular design language. This isn’t the mathematical and cold “flame surfacing” of modern BMW’s or the brutalist slabs and creases of new Audis. No, the current Mercedes design language is a more organic and pressed theme. It works well in the flesh and is a welcome departure from the jutting faces of the Mercs from just a few years ago.

Inside you’ll find the same quantity and quality of leathers and surface materials that have been a trademark of the silver arrow almost since the company’s inception. Everything feels up to a high standard and the aggressive, angular design continues here as well. Of special note are the seats – pounding out a cross-country trip in these bad boys would be about as comfortable as laying in a bed made entirely of Tribbles.

Upon first firing up the powerful 4.6L V8 the first thing that struck me was the delicious “thrummm” of the engine. The next thing I noticed was that the radio was already set to Classical. Natch. With the roof down, radio off, and AC disengaged, in other words all distractions removed, I embarked upon my journey. It immediately become clear that the E550 is not a panacea for every driving need and condition. The following are all the things the E550 is not: a sports car, a city car, a posing car, or a fuel-sipping miser car. This is a grand-tourer in the traditional sense. A big, powerful motor paired with an eminently comfortable cabin and sublime road manners. It is built to gobble up great swaths of road at a time.

Because the E550 Cabriolet is more about marathons than agility sprints, the basic concern with convertibles – their softness and propensity to wobble – is not even worth worrying about. If you are thinking of tracking or autocrossing this car, you have bigger problems then body roll and stiffness. Taken for what it is, the 2014 E550 Cabriolet is the only choice for cross-country motoring.

You can check out more of the car in the gallery below:

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