Greetings All, The Grand Opening went off with a BANG today!! Lots of CR, local, vintage, messinger and just plain old bike folks were in attendance. "Barron and the Gang" did a really top notch/wonderful job with presentation and hospitality... It's going to be a great spot for buying vintage bits, sipping coffee and g enerally hanging out surrounded by every kind of vintage bicycle items imag inable! I ran into the likes of Brian Baylis, John Jorgenson, John Waner, B ill Curtis, Wilson Hubble, Chris Kostman and others I probably knew just didn't recoginse ;^) Anyway i t was a blast and I took a bunch of pics as did Brian, John W. and Bill. I will send off my batch to Dale for posting. I only had 2 hours to spend th ere and it went by all too quickly. Don't miss the chance to visit when in the Santa Barbara, CA area. I'll leave it to the coming pictures and Bria n Baylis to give depth and detail to this special day. A warm thanks to hos t Cecile for going above and beyond the call making all feel very welcome a nd with a spread of food and drink to satisify all of the hearty travelers!
Some local SB news http://www.sbbike.org/
Matt Gorski Just now back in Belmont Shore, CA
>>From: corpuz family <corpuzfamily@hotmail.com>
>>Date: Tue May 02 21:50:39 CDT 2006
>>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>>Subject: [CR]Hello from BC Opening Cafe de Velo May 14
>
>>Hi Everybody!
>>
>>We are finally getting back on our feet! Dale was nice enough to announce
>>our opening as we were having email problems getting to the list.
>>
>>For those who don't know us we used to be located in the Netherlands as
>>Renaissance - Cycles selling vintage goods since 1999. In 2000 we had a
>>major fire and lost all our goods. No fun!
>>So we went out and started all over. After living in Holland for 10 years
,
>>although I had a blast treasure hunting old stuff, the weather didn't agr
ee
>>with me anymore. After being sick too much we moved last year to Santa
>>Barbara. Boy what a tough year it has been. Not easy moving and running a
>>business and family overseas at the same time!
>>
>>We tried our hardest but are sure we messed up here and there. So even
>>though some of you may have tried before to settle things, apologies if w
e
>>didn't come through. With a lot of our stock still in Holland it was hard
>>finishing up orders. I should have been back in Holland at least several
>>times, but my illness kept me from traveling.
>>
>>Well that's all behind us now and we are ready to go at it again! I'll be
in
>>Holland soon, so please contact me off line at info@cafedevelo.com to set
tle
>>anything outstanding.
>>
>>In the meantime we will finally be opening up as a retail store as well.
>>Many have been asking us over the years to be able to see, feel, smell ou
r
>>product! So we will open on May 14 on 615 E. Gutierrez Street in Santa
>>Barbara, CA, just blocks from downtown, beach and train station. At 1.00
pm
>>we'll have a ribbon cutting ceremony by councilman Grant House and everyb
ody
>>is welcome! The Santa Barbara bicycle coalition has been so supportive an
d
>>been pushing us to open up. It is also the start of Bicycle Week in Santa
>>Barbara. Tell the wife, I'll take you for Mother's day to Santa Barbara,
>>she'll love it and give you a great excuse to come see us! We'll have fre
e
>>drinks and food and lots of vintage stuff to look at.
>>
>>Also since we're on the topic, we'll be needing a vintage
>>salesperson/mechanic to work with us. Anybody interested, or for any othe
r
>>questions, feel free to email info@cafedevelo.com or call (805) 284 3936.
>>For an impression of our new store, we will have (if my computer guy come
s
>>through) a picture on http://www.cafedevelo.com
>>
>>To avoid any confusion, we will still be Renaissance - Cycles and it's ab
out
>>time we update and activate our website which is our next project after t
he
>>opening. Cafe de Velo is our retail name for our bicycle shop in Santa
>>Barbara. Why the name addition? Well, it will be a mix of a Cafe and
>>bikeshop in a European style courtyard with lots of indoor and outdoor
>>seating to share all about vintage stuff. So the name Cafe de Velo seemed
to
>>be more appropriate for the retail shop.
>>
>>BTW anybody local willing to help out to swing a hammer, paint etc. would
be
>>greatly appreciated. May 6-7 we'll be having a workathon out here fixing
up
>>the last touches before the Opening. Please call us at (805) 284 - 3936
>>
>>Baron C ......and the gang
>>Santa Barbara, CA 93103
>>Shop Number: (805) 966 - 6510