Porsche Cars & Coffee
When I first moved to town in the late 1990s, they sold Saturns on this lot. When GM closed their doors in 2010, it switched over to Subarus. Then they tore the whole place down and build a fancy new Porsche dealership, complete with an underground car museum. Hang on, they’re selling Porsches? in Valencia? I mean sure, we’re upper middle class (or pretend to be). But, this ‘aint Beverly Hills. Hell, this ‘aint even Tee Oaks…or is it?
No matter how you slice it, Santa Clarita Porsche was here to stay. It set the high-end European tone that lead to a relocated and revamped BMW dealership, along with a newly opened Mercedes Benz dealer, both just down the street. Things were humming along quietly for the German marques, but then the Porsche dealer came up with the radical idea to host a monthly Cars & Coffee. Since then, the intersection of McBean Parkway and Creekside Road has become a gear-head block party on the first Saturday morning of the month.
People show up from all over with quarter-million-dollar rides and big smiles to match. Others come in rusted out buckets to represent the opposite end of the spectrum. You might see a Lamborghini Aventador that competed in a Gumball next to a Ford Pinto that hauled an L.A. family through the 70s. Or a pristine British supercar next to a kei car imported from Japan. There’s a real sense of belonging here, no matter what folks are driving (or even if they showed up in someone else’a car!).
Of course, it’s not all about cars. These Saturday mornings have become the place to see and be seen in Santa Clarita, and that goes doubly for pets. Each month, I see more people bringing their cute little dogs in tow. At the meet in June I spotted this friendly Savannah cat, hamming it up for the gathering crowd.
Come for the cars. You’ll see vintage Porsches worth mid six figures being used as furniture for boxes of donuts and jugs of coffee. You’ll see raced-out American muscle cars, scandalous Italian coupes, Lowriders hitting leans, plus lots and lots of Porsches. But at the end of the day, they’re all just tools. The people you’ll meet and the passion you’ll feel in the air around them is pure magic.
