I first heard of Wahoo's Fish Taco restaurant in 1988, right after this first one opened. I was working at Unreel Productions, the video company owned by Vision Skateboards at the time. Skateboarding was reaching the peak of its third wave of popularity, and Vision Skateboards and Vision Street Wear clothes were selling like crazy. A lot of really talented young people were working at the various Vision businesses, spread around several buildings, and anchored by the Vision main office at 17th and Whittier in Costa Mesa. This first Wahoo's above was a few blocks from the Vision buildings, and as soon as it opened, Vision workers started hanging out there after work.
Right after it opened, someone came by Unreel from Vision, and told me I should come hang at Wahoo's after work. I've never been a big seafood person, and fish tacos seemed weird to me then. I was totally wrong about that, their fish tacos are great. But it took me a decade to figure that out. I never went to Wahoo's to hang with the Vision crew people. My loss.
Inside the original Wahoo's Fish Taco on Placentia, in Costa Mesa today. #steveemigphotos
So I finally visited this first Wahoo's restaurant last week, intending to meet a friend from Norway, and a few others, in town for the X-Games. From the start, Wahoo's have taken the Baja California fisherman's meal, based on fresh caught fish in tacos and rice, and blended it with a hardcore action sports world vibe. The walls and ceilings of Wahoo's are covered in surfboards, skateboards, BMX bikes, photos, posters, stickers, and artwork form surfing, skateboarding, BMX, and other action sports. They have that "chillin' by the beach when the waves are flat" vibe. Casual, fun, and hanging with friends and good food before or after going riding, skating, surfing, or snowboarding.
Vintage Vision Psycho Stick skateboard on the wall of the Costa Mesa Wahoo's. Few people know (or remember), that Psycho Man, the guy on this skateboard, was a real person who worked in the Vision Skateboards Art department in the late 1980's. He was actually a cool guy, I met him a couple of times. But he had a crazy style, and unique look, so they put him on a skateboard which turned into a hot seller. #steveemigphotos
In more recent times, the last couple of years, I learned that old BMX freestyle friend, Ron Camero, a former Vision freestyler, is the guy who decorates all the Wahoo's restaurants. He contacted me when he saw some of my BMX Sharpie Scribble Style drawings, and wound up buying several to put up at different Wahoo's restaurants. There are none in the original Wahoo's, but my drawings now hang in several other Wahoo's.
Here's one of my Hugo Gonzalez prints, in the Wahoo's in Los Alamitos, I believe.
You can also find my Sharpie art on the walls of Wahoo's in Torrance, the Long Beach Marketplace restaurant, San Clemente, and Las Vegas, I believe. So a huge thanks to Ron Camero to adding my drawings to the walls of the coolest taco place in and around Southern California. The food is good, the beer is cold, and there's a laid back, fun vibe to every Wahoo's. If you are into any of the action sports, or just like tacos (that's pretty much everybody, right?), you need to check out a Wahoo's Fish Taco. Yeah, I'm overselling it, and believe it or not, this is NOT a paid post. I'm just stoked to have some of my art up at Wahoo's around the region.
Another Hugo Gonzalez drawing, up at a Wahoo's (top left). Photo by Ron Camero. #sharpiescribblestyle
Disclosure: Yes, I've sold several drawings to be hung in Wahoo's Fish Taco restaurants, several months ago. There was no deal for me to write a blog post in exchange for those sales. When I visited the first Wahoo's last week, I snapped some pics, and decided to do a blog post.
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