TOUR Stops│Genesis Invitational
by THOMAS REITEN
Los Angeles is massive. I was born and raised here, and I still feel like I haven’t seen it all. You rarely meet anyone new who is actually from the Southland. LA is a destination for many, a place that people dream of moving to. For me, it’s home, and I have never lived anywhere else.
TOUR Stops: Genesis Invitational is a project for the city and about the city — set outside the gates of The Riviera Country Club. I was honored when the PGA TOUR reached out about producing this film and knew it was an opportunity to make something different.
“Turn the world over on its side, and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.”
-Frank Lloyd Wright, American Architect
-Frank Lloyd Wright, American Architect
I have always gravitated to non-traditional ways of storytelling. TOUR Stops is a mosaic of stories that all share an authentic thread of humanity. My friend, Matt Kang, flew out from Phoenix, Arizona to join me in documenting a day in the city. His connection to LA is rooted in relationships and community he has built from visiting over years. I’ve made a handful friends through Matt, which makes working together on this project that much more special.
In our snapshot of LA, we feature a neighborhood bar, a Thai restaurant, a streetwear brand, a historic golf course and a barber from Toronto that moved to LA to chase a dream. My favorite thing about this project is the common thread of humanity we discovered in every location we visited and every person we linked with. Every person featured in this film isn’t in it for the money or the notoriety; they’re in it for the passion they have for their craft and the importance of people in their lives.
Johnny and Dave at The Douglas opened their bar to be a place for anyone and everyone to gather and drink good beer. They serve Dodger fans just as well as they serve the locals in their neighborhood of Echo Park.
Mike Cherman of Market and Vince the Barber moved to LA to chase a dream and make a lane for themselves in their respective fields. Mike preaches failure as a necessary practice to be successful and Vince moved to LA because New York was too close to his hometown of Toronto, Canada. Vince saw the value of moving far from home and built a business around being great at what he does and passing on his knowledge to the next generation.
Matt and I hosted a driving range meetup at Rancho Park Golf Course and invited all the homies out. Our boy Daniel Miller drove over 70 miles to be there and my guy Tony Bacardi drove 90 to make it to Rancho. That’s love and a testament to the friendships that can be made through the game of golf. We didn’t put this meetup together to just document it or to show how cool the golf scene is in LA. We put it together to hang with our people, hit a few buckets of balls and catch a vibe.
We’re not a golf mecca, and a few of us have trouble finding tee times every now and then. But LA has some bangers that anyone can play: Roosevelt, Rustic, Angeles National, Trump National, to name a few. TOUR pros love Riviera and always seem to be in good spirits during the Genesis Invitational. I’ve never seen Rory McIlroy cheese so big draining that putt on 18 in the final round, and dude didn’t even take home the trophy.
LA can be the city of “look at me” at times — people trying to be seen with so-and-so. I get it, that’s Hollywood. But I think that mindset is starting to fade for a lot of people.
Los Angeles, with all of its flaws, is still the tip of the spear for art and innovation.
As Los Angeles goes, so goes the rest of the country.
TOUR Stops - A story produced by Thomas Reiten & Matt Kang
Thank you to the PGA TOUR for the incredible opportunity
to tell a small story about Los Angeles.