superkawaii – Royal Origin

Birthdays at Banana Bays | Team Aries

March is a busy birthday month in Royal Origin. I swear almost half the group are all born in March and April. Every year Vinh and Abbitt have their birthday dinner at Banana Bay in Rowland Heights and the best part is it’s usually around the same time Formula D Long Beach happens, meaning it’s the time a bunch of our out of town friends come to visit.

Vinh looking at all the drinks he accumulated that night.

I’m weird when the camera turns on me.

Me and my wife Julia.

Abbitt on alert because a barrage of shots are coming his way.

Vinh is about to show how he macks on girls.

Vinh pointing out his prey.

Going in for the kill.

Super Kawaii was in town and came out to celebrate.

Henderson is ready to eat.

Brian eats ass.

Sophia and Tanya.

The only thing you should order here is the Continental Fried Rice.

Angelo and Andy feeling how soft each other’s hands are.

Abbitt giving Angelo a list of drinks Abbitt will drink.

Stay hydrated when eating ass.

Pad Kee Mao for spicy noodles lovers.

And it begins..

Jimmy trying to recreate the Jimmy sticker.

Erik looks happy to be here.

Cheering with Kool-Aid.

Abbitt ready to pound some drinks.

Abbitt and Christina.

They are such a cute couple.

Clinton trying to home wreck.

Why does it look like Vinh is showing Cindy his penis?

Shots fired.

Shots with a chase of Adios.

Soda never tasted so good.

We know what Henry wants to eat tonight.

Sophiandy.

Fuck boys.

That Aries love.

We found a dog for our group photo!

Recreating last year’s photo.

Happy Birthday Abbitt, Vinh and Phat. It’s crazy how just within a year so many things changed, people got girlfriends, people are in better career situations and things are just better. You guys have grown so much within just a year and I am happy to be your friend at this point of your life. It just shows that everything will come with time. Just let it ride out..

-NGUMINH

April 12, 2016

Late Night Hangs | Catching Up with The Royals

I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately I’ve been feeling more alive at night. During the day it’s just so hot, that all I want to do is lay in bed and hug a gigantic ice cube to sleep. Although I’m always home, my friends know that the only reason I would leave my house is for food. Ryan Gold was in the area and we decided to meet him up for dinner.

John came and met me up in the Vette.

Ryan’s been super busy with his shop, RR Motorworks in Santa Barbara and doesn’t have the time to hang with us as much as before.

Ryan also grew an epic beard and looks like he could be John’s dad.

We’re always at Tastea.

Ryan had a two hour drive home and wanted to get home early to watch videos on how to grow a longer beard. So, we decided to go check out this car meet in the next plaza.

R32 on Work XD9s.

Super Kawaii S2000 on Work Meisters.

We ended the night with Mae’s Cafe for some breakfast food. We hard parked in front with Rodney’s BMW 5 series, my IS250 and Angelo’s Exterra.

Family time is the best time.

-NGUMINH

February 3, 2016

Formula Drift Irwindale | Throw Back Thursdays

It feels like forever since I had a camera. I’m slowly going insane not being able to capture the things I’ve seen lately and the moments I won’t be able to remember. Going to car meets has been a drag since I’m usually active at a car meet. Food is less enjoyable now that I can’t relive eating it, when I’m editing food photos for The Food Adventurist. Life just sucks without a camera. Lucky for me I found some old photos in my memory card that I never edited and it sort of feels nice being able to catch up on some photos and actually take my time to edit it.

This was a shoot Sara planned for the United Royals ad. They wanted something like a USDM vs JDM and for that theme we got Sparkle’s Rocket Bunny S13 and Tristan’s CR S2000. For models, Sara got Amy, a imported Vietnamese girl to represent JDM and Sara a Hawaiian native, pidgin speaking Korean to represent USDM. The photo was looking a little boring without the United Royals ad, so I added a little something something…

Now this photo is poppin! We got DAB city in the background and a 7’1 pimp checking out Sara and Amy. So much action, so much wow.

I think this was my last day with my Sony A7II before I shipped it out to Davin in Hawaii. I was so busy working at the booth at Formula Drift that I didn’t get a chance to go around that much to shoot. So, here are some photos in the Slammed Society area.

Stay Simple Stay True. Thanks for the support!

Arm’s IS300 with his new Elixir front bumper.

Sweet Formula Red S2000 on white and gold Work Meisters from Super Kawaii Crew. Clean S13 coupe on what looks like to be Panasport 5 Spoke G7s.

S13 coupes are Panasports seemed to be trending.

Serial Nine coming all the way from Canada to show Southern California who are the real sedan kings.

Jesus, all of their cars are so freaking sick.

Camber game is so strong on this LS400.

Yogi’s big red GS on Weds wheels.

Porsche Gang.

After Formula Drift, we had our annual after dinner at Banana Bay which is probably the worst location to take our cars to. Here’s Angelo cheesin it because he didn’t drive his 350z to Banana Bay.

Calamari. Pad Thai Chicken.The Crying Tiger. Aron doing it for the snappy snaps. You can also follow us on Snap Chat at ‘RoyalOriginBTS’. A must try and only available at this Thai restaurant is the Continental Fried Rice. Look at all of the amazing stuff you get all in one plate.

The best moments in life are when I’m around my closest friends eating and sharing food. When you begin to strip down everything in life to the bare minimum, forgetting the cars, the money or anything materialistic, you will eventually realize moments like these are the reasons for living.

Cherish every moment, you never know when’s the last time you’ll see someone or place.

November 26, 2015

Formula Drift Car Show Roll In | Long Beach

This year felt a bit different at Formula Drift Long Beach, it’s usually the time of excitement to show off our new car builds, but this year we were on the other side of the Firestone bridge. For 2015, we decided to be vendors and only displaying a couple of our cars, but we were still able to catch the roll in for the show portion of Formula Drift. Nothing better than seeing a line of slammed cars roll into a show and it gets even better when the roll in is during golden hour for some crisp photos.

Aired out Golf on Messer Wheels.

Jon Tran’s Hyundai Genesis coupe looking fire on VIP Modulars.

Buddha Concept’s RX-7 sitting pretty on some gold Panasports G7.

The Fatlace MK7 face lifted with a Voomeran kit on Work Wheels CR2P.

Nice Porsche bagged on BBS RS.

European cars leading the line.

Entering the show in clean fashion, Dapper’s Audi A4 wagon

Noel’s VARIS FRS late as usual, but still gets that VIP treatment.

Following Noel’s FRS, Mark’s M5 with that Filipino time roll in.

Sick RHD Subaru on Klutch Wheels.

Line full of fitment.

Sean Rosendahl the G35 Static King.

Project Zero reppin San Diego.

Boogie’s E46 with the new “Polizei” livery, always striving to be different.

Big Boogie Butt.

Honda CRZ slammed on Work VS-KFs.

Low n Slow E90 bagged on Blitz wheels.

David and Mike praying for the basics.

The “Riberty Walk” Audi A4.

Such crazy fitment on this FRS!

One of my passengers on my feels train, Jonny Ocean.

So good. Can’t believe this was painted at home.

More photos in the gallery, stay tuned for the event coverage tomorrow!

April 14, 2015

Washington Part Three | RO Explore

Another morning, another adventure, this time we were going to explore the nature side of Washington and get in touch with the beauty of mother nature. We wanted to check out the ice caves today and go for a small hike.

So many greens.

Shooting some HOODRATstuff promotion.

The Baeton in the HOODRATstuff beanie V2.
http://shop.royal-origin.com/product-p/hrs-beanie2.htm

OO Long Sleeve in black.
http://shop.royal-origin.com/tees-s/114.htm

Fancy metal bridge.

These natural sun flares were so awesome. I couldn’t stop taking photos.

AW Films brought out his gear to film our hike.

Vinh rocking the Bad Things Seal tee.
http://shop.royal-origin.com/product-p/bad-sealtee.htm

We finally arrived at the ice caves and we were in shock and awe of how huge this cave was.

This little kid wanted to go inside the caves so bad, but his mom didn’t let him. Apparently some one died here a week before when the ice came loose and hit him in the head.

Clinton holding onto his head.

After getting some cool photos (pun intended), I got out of there asap.

The walk back was surprisingly fast and with the sun coming down more, it was less harsh for photos.

Abbitt is crazy.

Met up with Henderson and he took us to Alki to try Marination Makai. They had lots of interesting food like this kimchi fried rice with pork. It was delicious.

Spam and kalua sliders.

Vinh and Clinton’s large order.

Nice ocean view from Alki beach.

Missing you comes in waves, tonight I’m drowning.

Mellow beach.

Clean NSX in front of a nice house near Alki.

Yoshi is pretty down to drift anywhere.

Fainting Goat, a spot that was recommended by @fortheloveoficecream.

Interesting flavors and everything was super creamy. This place made it up for yesterday’s disappointments.

Hendercupping.

When bae ignores the kiss.

Read the shirt and buy it here:
http://shop.royal-origin.com/product-p/enjysin-tee.htm

More sunset views.

“I once did gay porn”

The next morning, we met up with Vickie and Long to check out Pike Public Market. Lots of energy going on in this market for how early it was.

Find us at the gum wall.

So much bacteria in one spot.

Shout out to Vickie for these tasty macaroons.

Macaroon porn.

Free stickers courtesy of AWStickers.

Finally got to try some Seattle’s best seafood and it did not disappoint! This is the seafood bisque and the captain’s roll.

Long enjoying his sea food bisque and Vickie is on a diet.

Next spot would be Bleecher’s cheese shop.

Vickie ready to give some food to the needy.

Delicious mac and cheese, too bad I was full from eating all of that seafood bisque.

The first Starbucks and it was too crowded to order anything.

A visit to the friendly neighborhood troll.

Gelatiamo would be the last dessert shop we visited, also very delicious. Water based too, so I didn’t get the shits afterwards.

Thank you to everyone from Super Kawaii for the hospitality especially Justin, Vickie and Long! Also a big thanks to Henderson for driving us to cool food spots and to see amazing sun sets. Yoshi aka Mike for keeping us company and always having a car there to shoot. We’ll see you guys in April!!

March 22, 2015

Washington Part Two | RO Explore

Waking up to the cold brisk air of Washington was something unfamiliar. The air was so crisp and I woke up freezing my ass of because I didn’t know there were extra blankets under my bed. Besides the near hypothermia incident, today was going to be a day filled with exploring the city and stopping by some local shops.

Felt good to walk outside to a natural setting with trees giving us that fresh air.

Thank you to Rick Wilkerson for cooking us some bomb french toast croissants! A look inside the Wilkerson’s residence.

Yoshi met us up early to go get some coffee at Garage Autohero.

Posted outside of the Wilkerson’s home was pretty surreal. We always saw photos of Abbitt’s Subarus posted up in front of this wooden home, but never really thought we would ever be here. Life’s a trip.

Having trees that surround your house is pretty awesome.

On the way to Garage Autohero.

Garage Auto Hero had so many projects going on, it must be difficult to keep track of it all.

So many cool things going on in this shop.

Ray makes the best coffee in the area.

Baeton enjoying his coffee. Thanks Ray!

What the Milpitas boys have been wanting to do the whole trip was to visit a recreational clinic, so we stopped by the local Kush Mart. I didn’t bring my camera in because I wasn’t sure what the rules were, but it was like going into buy some alcohol or candy.

Met up with the locals at Skillet for some breakfast. They’re known for their grilled cheese with bacon jam and chicken. The poutine fries here are bomb as well.

Artery clogger for sure, but worth it!

Abbitt trying to live in Vinh’s moment.

Jonny brought out his sick TC! I want his wheels for my brother’s Legacy.

Next door to Skillet was an ice cream shop called Parfait.

Decent ice cream, super slow service because there was only one worker and the people in front of me wanted to try each flavor twice.

Vickie handing us some goodies. Thanks Justin and Vickie!

Some rollers on the way to our next stop, Molly Moons!

Love the city vibes in Seattle.

It’s awesome that the streets in the city are safe for slammed cars.

We had a big crowd joining us today.

Mike and Clinton really enjoying paying for parking.

Not what I expected from the best ice cream Seattle had to offer. Tried to give it to a homeless person and they didn’t even want it.

Everyone enjoying their basic ice cream. Just kidding… haha or am I?

Potatoes with glasses.

Jonny with dem portrait shots.

The next stop was the Starbucks Reserve. Super hipster Starbucks.

Coffee shop game on point.

Coffee art.

Live in the moment Abbitt.

Tea game on point too.

Borrowed this sweet tray from the Starbucks Reserve for rolling up blunts.

Deciding on the next destination.

It’s a cup from the Starbucks Reserve hanging on a tree while barely holding on to it’s own identity.

Couldn’t get enough of Henderson’s M3.

Taylor’s Mazda is fun to look at it as well. Got a lot of cool photos of this car because of the paint.

Welp, the Space Needle was cool. Time for the next spot..

The locals took us to this spot for a spectacular view of the city, see for yourself.

The feels.

Obligatory visit to Dick’s before we ended the night. Part three coming soon…

March 20, 2015

Washington | RO Explore

Washington has been one of the states that I’ve been wanting to visit on the west coast for the longest time. Mostly because of the vibes the city gives like that mellow foggy winter hike kind of vibe. It’s hard to explain, but it seems like everyone who lives there takes awesome photos on instagram. So, I definitely wanted to go out there to get some good photos and hang out with some friends I haven’t seen in a while.

Watching the sunset on the way to a new journey was a beautiful moment.

After a brief 2 hour nap, we woke up in Seattle and the city welcomed us with it’s bright lights.

Some bokeh night feels.

Just by driving on the freeway, you could already feel the chill vibes through the tunnels. It must be fun to cruise through these tunnels in a fun car with wide open throttle.

The first stop would be Dick’s Burgers where we would meet a couple of friends and try the infamous Washington based burger joint.

Surprisingly, there was a plethora of awesome cars already posted at the meet when we arrived. Like Taylor’s MZ3, even though he wasn’t driving it.

Super Highwaii’ Miata owned by the infamous Youtube sensation Vickie Mun.

The Dick’s Deluxe burger at first it had a whatever taste to it, but after a while I was just craving more for some reason.

Abbitt and his long lost brother having a talk about why living in Washington is so awesome. Just kidding, it was just a really cracked out dude talking to us about some random shit.

Slammed TL on MB Battles. Pretty ridiculous camber on this thing.

S13 Coupe fitted with a BN Kit and retro headlights. Sick stance.

Man do we love Dick’s. Multiple at a time..

Clean Mugen RSX on CE28s.

Ryan from Cake Face clothing brought out his clean 350z bagged on LXZs.

Henderson arriving fashionably late.

New friend, Yoshi’s G35 slammed on AME Tracers.

That fender fuck.

Henry’s STI on Volk TE37s.

The crowd of new Washington friends.

After the meet, we were still hungry so we decided to go get some pizza in downtown Seattle at Hot Mama’s. On the way there we got some sweet rollers of Vickie’s Miata.