Get your Subaru Fix! | Subie Freaks

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The Local Subaru Meets Series showcases some of the Subaru meets running all across America. We’re going to the SOCAL area for the scoop on the Cal Poly Pomona met. We talk to both John (scoobaru07) and Chad (StuSSYsporT) to see what’s going on! Great info, thanks guys! (Minor editing was done by me.)

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So tell me about yourself:

Name: John Lau

I’m 19, turning 20 in June and am finishing my second year at California State University Pomona.
I’ve been a Subaru enthusiast since i was a child; working with my uncle on old Audi quattros and Subarus. Finally was able to purchase a 2006 Subaru OBP WRX in my senior year of high school and unfortunately was hit by a drunk driver who totaled the car and put me out for about 6 months. Long story short, i got a new one (paid by his insurance) 2 months later, a month before i graduated. With my luck, i was hit again exactly 3 weeks after i purchased her by a woman running a red light doing her make up. I then decided to put the insurance money away or a while and let all of that die off, since 2 Subarus in a matter of 5 months right before my high school graduation wasn’t exactly more motivation to jump back in and buy another one.
I bought my 2007 STi February of last year and have loved it ever since. (*Editor’s Note* Wow! Crazy story!)

Could I get a brief description of your meet:

It was originally to meet on the top floor of the parking structure at Cal Poly Pomona and chat amongst ourselves about Subarus and cars in general. I wanted it to be a place open to anyone and all car enthusiasts alike. I even brought a few of my EVO and Cobra buddys along one time. After the chat and some pictures, we would then head off to the local In-N-Out for some good food and have a good time.
It started out small, but eventually got bigger little by little. It still is by no means large, but the fact that it still goes on and is growing bit by bit is what makes it worth while.
I havn’t gone in a while, but I talk to the guys and see some of them at school all the time.
The 6th floor parking level is always the meeting place at around 6pm on every other Friday, but the things done after vary from time to time.
In-N-Out still seems to be the place because of the meet going on right during dinner time. There has been other good bits such as Kar Factory after In-N-Out or nice nice cruises up at GMR, Turnbull, or just around town; that sort of thing.
We’re always getting ideas and depending on the turn outs, we usually try to differentiate every now and then to spice things up.

Why or how did you decide to come up with it?

I’ve always loved the environment from car meets (Acceptable and non Ricer ones) and many of the good ones (especially SUbaru) were somewhat of a ways away from my area in Temple City. I noticed an old Pomona thread that was sort of left to dry that gave me the idea to post in there and get things going. I posted a few times and asked if anyone was up for a meet at school since i noticed numerous Subarus parked at the university. Surprisingly, quite a few people responded and before i knew it we were meeting that friday.
After the initial meet, which had a turnout of about 12 Subarus, i started an entirely different thread and actually asked one of the moderators to add us into the book of Suby meets in our area. It was then that i noticed that our meet was in the middle of a significantly large dead area that just had no Subaru activity so i took the liberty of making it a plan to get this thing on the road and happening.

How long has it been running?

I started it back in October and always wanted to go back. Family and personal issues along with school caused my presence to be somewhat nonexistent for the past few months since February. I went recently in March and the meet had apparently still been growing.

What’s the atmosphere like? Is it pretty chill?

The atmosphere is very chill and everyone is very nice. There is no stereotyping or negative biases towards anyone. Like i said, all car enthusiasts import or not, yellow or green, were welcome. We’re always up for new people and even when i made my appearance again I noticed that I, nor anyone else that came had been forgotten.
I actually had plans of making this meet on Saturday morning to afternoons so we can get a nice BBQ and other things going on. (*Editor’s Note* That would’ve been nice! We do that in the MAIC.)

What’s the age demographics? Teens? Young-adults? Middle-Aged? Mixed?

The demographic is predominantly 18 and older with a mix of your early 20’s crowd once in a while. The problem is that this has only reached out to Cal Poly Students and whoever else I and the other could get this to. As much as i would love more people of any age or color to come down, the biggest issue is also that the meet is held at a university; and for some it may seem a bit far fetched or just not worth while.
This is why i wanted to originally gather enough people at the original location first, and when i felt ready, speak with everyone and move it onto a better location and network (flyers and Nasioc threads) to get more people to join in.
The idea of a better area such as a park, large open field, or just a large area where we can all have a good time and get a bite to eat just appeals to people a bit more.

Can you name any of the regulars (NASIOC or real names)?

0deucedub
blckrex
boarder4life2112
freshADR
Bamf_albert
Z3RO
StuSSYsporT
105wrx
UNLV
funky monk
WeakSauce2.5i

^^Just to name a few.

What’s the average number of people that come to it?

I would have to say the average is around 10 or 12 so far. Like i said it still has a lot of room to grow.

Got any cool/funny stories?

We always talk about random things.
Nothing specific that i remember though, but Stussysport might know of some inside jokes lurking around.

What’s some of the sweetest rides you’ve seen at the meet?

One of the guys from F4 goes, he has a pretty sick bugeye with morrettes. His plates read “bugeyeFTW”.
There’s also a really clean 04-05 with a mine spoiler integrated with the trunk and repainted to be one piece; you might have seen it around Nasioc. I personally love that. (*Editor’s Note* Yea, I think I have seen it before!)

Best parts of the meet?

There’s always something to talk about and we’re always laughing.

Worst parts?

It could use some more fresh faces and larger turnouts, but it hasn’t gone on for that long and i haven’t made the decision to try and make it larger yet.

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John told me that he hasn’t been to the meets recently and that I should also talk to Chad about the meet. Here’s his responses:

The atmosphere is really chill. We meet up every first and third friday at Cal Poly Pomona in the afternoon. But yeah, since the beginning of our meets (or since they started up again) we tried to make everyone and anyone who came feel like they were welcome. We always made an effort to go up to anyone who showed up and introduce ourselves to them and just chat for at least a lil while, as well as introduce them to anyone else there that we know. It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert with subarus, just bought one and know nothing, or if you dont even have a subaru. If you share a common interest with cars, were down to have you at the meet.

The age demographics is mostly teens and young adults from about 18 to 28 or so. One of our regulars is a little older, i think in his mid 30s, but overall, with the regulars and the new people that show up, they all seem to be in their 20s or so. As far as ethnicity goes, we have a whole range of people, from white, mexican, black, and asian. We also have a few ladies that come along sometimes, but none owning their own subaru, but coming along with their boyfriends.

Ok, the regulars are (nasioc username because i dont want to use their names without permission); Stussysport (myself), wrbwrx86, weaksauce2.5i, 0deucedub, UNLV, boarder4life2112, Z3RO, funky monk, bamf_albert, freshADR, & tazma61.

The average number of people that attend is usually around 10 or so cars. Depending on the week and situations, we get more or less. I think the most cars that we have had was about 15 to 20.

Of all the cars that come, we have seen some really nice rides. The most known one (I think) is this gold bugeye wrx with a wide body kit, and carbonfiber all over. He was sponsored by meguiars and EDO as well as some others. His car was recently on the cover of Import Tuner i think. Beside that, a friend of mine has a 05 white sti with this sick molded trunk and super clean interior. He has carbonfiber accents on the interior as well as a few things on the exterior. But most of all, we all have our own cars with different things about each that are awesome. (*Editor’s Note* Nice!)

The best part of the meet is all the subie guys that come. Everyone is super chill and cool to meet up with and just talk about cars and anything is general. We also try to change up the meet as best as we can; whether we go go-carting, on a cruise, canyon run, install/car detail day, arcades, etc…

The worst part of the meet is basically when/if no one shows up. Our meet also went under due to rain during our meet for like 3 consecutive meets. Also when I saw no one at the meet or when only a few cars show up. If that’s the case, we’ll still usually go eat and figure something to do after.

Pictures… well we have some posted on our forum, but there is like 130 pages, so is alot of searching. There are some recent ones on page 123. If you want more, you can either search our forum, or i can try and locate some for you.

Again a big thanks to both Chad and John for letting all us other Subie Freaks get to know the Cal Poly Pomona meet. Great and well-thought responses!

Photography by Chris (105wrx)

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