We pulled up to the historic Georgian Hotel on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica at 1:30 p.m. Tanner Hall, Sean and Callum Pettit, Kye Peterson and Seth Morrison were already there. As is typical in LA, the sun was shining bright, while a cool breeze came in off the ocean a couple hundred feet away.
The World Premiere of Tanner’s new movie, Believe, was schedule to go off a couple hours later, so we grabbed a drink on the patio in front of the hotel, then checked out the town. The Santa Monica Pier was packed with tourists and locals browsing wares, playing arcade games and watching street-performers. We grabbed a beer at a spot at the end of the pier and watched people fish, kids trying to surf, and pretty ladies strut around like the own the place. Just another hard day at the office.
Then it was on to the 3rd Street Promenade, a foot-traffic only street riddled with a mix of touristy shops and grungy boutique shops. More street performers riddles the sidewalks, some with skills far beyond expectations.
At 7 p.m., we headed to the Red Bull headquarters for the beginning of the official festivities. We started by getting a tour of the facilities: a sprawling office complex with a massive wooden wave acting as the center-piece. Legend has it that Travis Pestrana actually rode the gigantic wave on an office chair. Gnarly.
I’ve seen offices with a games room before, but never one with ten or so X Boxes, TWO Guitar Hero guitars, and a massive projection screen on one wall over-powering the other half a dozen flat-panel TVs. Can you say Halo tournament? The room even has a secret door disguised as a book shelf that leads into… mystery land!
From the games room, we were off to the top-secret, brand spankin’ new recording studio, the new home of Red Bull Records. The recording studio is packed to the brim with the absolute latest in high-tech recording gear, with flat-panel plasma TVs mounted everywhere, and four sound-proof recording rooms. I left the studio with a bucket under my chin to catch the drool.
While we were getting the office tour, hordes of people arrived in their Sunday Best, enjoying the free alcohol courtesy of Red Bull, while DJ Kya Bamba from Switzerland spun the tunes.
The movie, Believe, started soon after, and the Red Bull Screening Room was so packed I found a spot to watch the movie from the stairs on the side. The crowd applauded and cheered as they watched huge backcountry hip hits by Tanner, Sean, Callum and Kye; they went wild for Tanner’s utter slayage of pillows at Micah Heli; and they nearly got to their feet as Seth double front-flipped a 150-foot cliff. Talking to people after the movie, the general response was: “I want to go skiing so badly now!” The movie is all about deep snow and having fun skiing. A job well done.
The crowd streamed out of the Sreening Room and right back out to the party area, where the music and drinks continued for hours with pros and the beautiful women they attract. “This is what it’s always like at the Red Bull office,” joked Red Bull’s Ryan Shnyder. Kya Bamba got back on the decks, and the rest of the evening turned into a bit of blur from there!
Now, the next morning, we must wave goodbye to this wonderful place and head back to work. The cliche ‘Another hard day at the office’ is getting old anyway.
Big shout out to Ryan, Jamie and Sheldon at Red Bull for putting on this premiere, and Tanner and co. for making another great movie for all of us to enjoy while we wait for the snow to start falling.
