Festive and Happy Time at the First Ever Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet, 2023 El Monte, CA

★ On-Location Coverage, Photographed and Reported by Py Pai
★ W&HM - Wheels and Heels Magazine / www.wheelsandheelsmag.com / IG @wheelsandheelsmag

# A Brand New Car Meet Positioned to Become a Great Car Show

Under the bright So-Cal sun, a budding car gathering that has strong potential was happening. Inside a compact shopping mall, the first-ever Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet debuted with a high presence and great turnout.

The car meet was beating all the traditions of a car meet. First, this is the first time that the organizer, who is our avid contributing photographer, RR Lopez, put together the car meet/show. They did not have a huge marketing budget, but they do have a tight network reach. It's inside a compact shopping mall.

Nonetheless, the car meet has everything that a huge mega car show has and in a very tight and cute, and efficient package! This is definitely not the car meets in the past, which were simply just a few cars and owners that decided to park together at a friend's shop parking lot.

This first-ever Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet has established a new and higher bar for all car meets and car shows!

# Many Cars, Mini Bikes, Vendors, and People Showed Up

The Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet has all the elements of a big car show, including

Cool cars from JDM to Itasha to many different types of custom cars
Mini bikes from HNRSOC that showcased some of the coolest small scooters and bikes
Many vendors, including Shinya, Big Abe, and many supporting Anime style shops showing up
Awesome DJ booth to support the whole block's music and fun atmosphere
Restaurants and food vendors inside the shopping mall - The secret weapon of this car meet. It comes with delicious choices for refreshments and stomach-fulfillment.
Celebrity showing, including Pro Drift Driver Ken Gushi in a super cool and stylish appearance chatting with friends and fans
People, many many people showed up to support, enjoy, and check out this fun event

# Many Types of Cars, Mainly JDM

Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet hosted many different types of cars. There were cool JDM with all kinds of mods inside the engine chamber, under the hood, right by the fender, inside the four doors, as well as under the dashboard.

Then there were several Itasha cars that are adorned with various anime/manga wraps. Several of the cars even have many stickers that depict a cultural trend for the growing demographic group.

# Strong Support from HNRSOC Mini Bikes

Actually, we saw the HNRSOC posting on Instagram and came about covering the event. Their strong support with many mini bikes cruising afar to attend the event made it even more worthwhile.

Many shiny and articulated mini bikes showed up and their owners seemed to have a great time chatting with people from the new population in the El Monte and San Gabriel Valley region.

# Ken Gushi, the Celebrity Pro Drift Driver

The cool pro drifting driver Ken Gushi showed his support for the event by showing up in stylish casual attire. The awesome drifting celebrity chatted with friends and hung out at the venue. Many fans came over to show their admiration and borrowed the opportunities to connect to the legendary drifting star.

# Strong Anime / Manga Vendors' Support

Across several aisles of the parking lot, there were many lifestyle vendors lined up for attendees to browse and purchase merchandise. There were the clothing apparel booth by Shinya, as well as the famous Big Abe hat and lifestyle products, to name a few.

Then there was a strong presence of anime/manga culture vendors. Several were selling car stickers, decals, T-shirts, or just fun Japanese-culture and Japanese-Americanized-culture kinds of stuff.

# Festive and Great Time Well Spent on Sunday Afternoon

The weather was perfect, the location was convenient, and the venue was just compact enough to be a festive show. Jiro's Pitstop Car Meet is geared to be a great model of a car meet and a budding car show entrepreneur.

As mentioned before, they have set up a much higher bar for car meets, and our hats off to the organizer and all the supporting vendors, car owners, HNRSOC teams, as well as the store on site. Another very important element of the show is that the people showed up and had fun!

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