Brad Parker (IG: @gnarlivin)

I grew up across the street from Jesse James ( @popeofwelding ) and was in his garage daily as a kid. I was always drawn to the arc when he was welding, even though he’d always remind me “don’t look at the light” and I’d just stare directly at that thing in a trance. Hahaa  When I was about 10 he made me this gnarly chopper out of my old Schwinn 18” bike that he extended the forks about three feet, put a smaller scooter tire out front, bent the seat post back and added a wheelie bar out of a skateboard truck and wheels…It was rad! That bike even made it into Chopper mag back in the 90s with him doing a wheelie down the driveway. Hahaa That really stuck and showed me that you can really make anything you come up with. Especially where he welded my name on the back, I think that made metal just became another art medium in my head. After dropping out of high school at 17 he put me to work cleaning up at West Coast Choppers where I started learning to weld a bit and small bits of fabrication here and there. It was a blast and I absorbed as much as I could. About a year later I just wanted to surf and got a job at a surf shop. Hahaa Watching Jesse build what he has all started from a 2 car garage in Long Beach to what he is now has always pushed me to never stop learning and finding new ways to work for myself.