Modern Vespa

Nope. Went past last weekend; they're still doing the build out. The windows are papered over.

Hey Snapshot05. Thanks for the memories. The first Scooterville was actually in old downtown Anaheim, but burned down under questionable circumstances maybe around 1986. Scooterville USA (shown in the pic)opened under the same ownership on Orangehtorpe shortly thereafter. We used to start up a lot of LA rallys at those shops.

I salvaged a nice "mickey-mouse" tailight, front rack and backrest after the original fire, that all refinished very nicely (still have those parts). I used to hang out with those people a fair amount, and remember Scott Chain (on far right) and his mother Judy very well, and weird old John in bushy beard, the mechanic (who lived in the shop for a while). He didn't talk much, and the rumor amongst the kids was he got messed up pretty good in Nam. Scooterville (the original shop) did the repaint on my Rally 2000. Eric Larson worked there too, before opening Go Fast Scooters across town a while later.

I believe that's my black Rally there in the center of the picture with the whitewalls. A little off the left in the crowd you can see the tall Dasmi windshield on a burgundy P200, and I'm pretty sure that's Channing Limbaugh's bike (now living in Michigan and one of the Rovers I believe).

love that their flyer doesn't have a vespa on it but instead a piaggio that won't be sold there.

But the models seem to look right for a certain percentage of the DT loft demo. Thinking about printing out this flyer and bringing into my barber as a style ref. And yes, my barber also loves Ed Hardy wine.

I wonder if the new owners are even aware that this is not in fact a vespa. Or did they just look through the CD of artwork Piaggio sent them and choose the "hippest" shot they could find?

But... it will be nice to have a place so close by in case I need an oil filter or other small part right away. I'll still hit up NoHo most of the time (nicer rides) but it's nice to have a close backup.

http://scoot.net/classifieds/forsale.html?id=19090

How do you know they're not selling Piaggio? Most of the other Vespa dealers carry the Piaggio line as well.

I think it's interesting that they're closed Tuesdays when VSO is closed Mondays.

They were unable to sell 50cc vespas, so general.

Kind of OT, but it sounds like you are suggesting that Vespas hadn't already been in the USA since the '50s, sold by dealers like Schleicher (Oakland), F&S (Boston), et al.

Scooterville had been around since the 50s, I couldnt tell ya about any other shop.

Eric,

I don't see why this would matter. The 13 miles between us may as well be another State. I was asked about how I would feel with the dealer in that location numerous times by Piaggio and thought it to be a good idea. I hope they make it as we need a few more good dealers in So Cal.

They certainly have their work cut out for them however that's why they make the big bucks.

See you Saturday,

SDG

I don't know that it "matters," though it seems odd for a business to be closed Tuesdays. Those that are closed one weekday are most often closed on Mondays. I have to wonder if their decision to close on Tuesdays was influenced by the fact that the two main scooter dealers close to Vespa of LA (VSO and NoHo) are both closed on Mondays.

Good dealers are definitely welcome. I'm very interested in what's going on in that end of downtown. The area E and SE of Little Tokyo is quickly becoming the artsy-er, hipper alternative to the big, more expensive lofts in the center of DTLA.

Don't know if I'll make it there Sunday, but hopefully I can drop by next week and check it out.

I didn't think all Vespa dealers sold the entire Piaggio line. I thought just the MP3s. Of course I could be wrong, maybe I've always had on my vespa blinders and didn't notice the little Piaggios. However I still think I'd have a Vespa on my Vespa Store grand opening flyer. Just sayin'

Yeah, something tells me they got a set of assets from the company and just went with whatever was most downtown LA-ish.

Not everyone that flyer is intended to reach is as well schooled on all things Vespa/Piaggio as we are here in MV-land.

Besides, the poster is just "art", same as many consider the Vespas to be...
to many, any scooter is a Vespa. If it gets people to the shop, it did its job.

Artistic license.

Looks like a cock-up to me, simple as that

Drove by it today on the way to the Kings game, looked cool, best of luck to them and the better for us, more choices.