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the homies

Welcome We Are L.A., a regular column by contributor Castro Frank. This column’s purpose is to introduce you to interesting people living in our city through photography. Castro Frank. roams Los Angeles with his camera, looking for stories to tell and visions to share...

I met these guys at Starbucks about 6 months ago, and now we meet there almost every day. The gentleman who owns the 1971 Corvette Stingray is named Lee, he's had the car for about 10 years. His homies are Larry (with the hat) and Max (sitting in the car). I really enjoy talking to them, they're the funniest guys I've probably ever met. They talk shit to each other and are just so full of life.

Although they've surprisingly only been friends for about a year, I really feel their brotherly bond. It seems like they all grew up together, which is really refreshing to me to find in this city. We sit and talk for hours, sometimes about their grandchildren, or about the way life was in the 1950s and 60s, to their last years on this earth until God calls for them. Our conversations really put things in perspective, and can cause real emotions to surface. Sometimes the topics are way before my time, or I'm talking to them about what's going on now, but we always feel connected.

Lee once told me: "I feel good when I drive the car, I love the attention. I've been offered cash for this thing too many times. But I can't let it go, there's days I get in the car and I feel 50 again."

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lee car
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lee grill

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