VANS HQ

Recently I had the amazing pleasure of visiting the Vans headquarters in Costa Mesa, California.Not only did I get to visit this beautiful campus, but I got to meet Vans owner Steve Van Doren. And as if that wasn't enough, he gave Jenna and I, along with our friends Tom and Larissa, a personal tour of the campus while entertaining us with one unbelievable story after the next.(Tom, Steve and I posing with his portrait.)So how did this meeting come about? I'll try to keep this brief, but my friend Tom owns a no-profit called The Free Art Foundation. Tom focuses on partnering with San Diego charities to help raise money and awareness for children in need by establishing relationships with donors and artists. Steve has been one of those generous donors for the past several years. Tom was looking for a way to thank Steve for all his support over the years, so he reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in painting a portrait of Steve. I said "of course" and now there we were, hand delivering the finished piece to Steve himself.Steve showing us around his office. Here he is with an origami Vans shoe from a Japanese artist.More memorabilia and artwork in his office.The walls of the headquarters are plastered with different artwork from many different artists.Their conference rooms are named after Vans athletes. Each athlete has a hand in how the conference room is decorated. I thought this was a nice touch.This room had the history of Vans through filmstrips on the floor.Probably my favorite collaboration is this Vans x Star Wars pairing.The view from the top floor outdoor patio with built-in BBQ pit. All I could think of during the tour is how depressed I'm going to be when I walk into my office the next day. Also, not pictured, is the built in half pipe on the property.Here is the Vans Bell. From my understanding, an employee gets to ring it if they have a particularly great story, or a big win for the company. They'll send out a company wide email to meet in the quad where the meeting will begin with the ringing of the bell. Steve let me ring it. It was an honor. I was scared hundreds of employees were going to then gather round the bell and wait for me to tell a story. Luckily that didn't happen:)I can't say enough about Steve Van Doren. In the couple hours we spent with him in his offices, he was fun, extremely down-to-earth, humble, entertaining, and generous. Thank you Steve for your hospitality. You are a gracious host.I can't think of a better way to cap off the day than catching the sunset at Huntington Beach just before flying home.Never ever grow up!- FATKID