This was the second time in my life a best friend had announced to me that they were sorry to tell me but they were suddenly moving to Hawaii. Oh hell, no. Bradley and I had developed a friendship which was way too pure for this goddamn world and its …weather. So I invited myself to visit him and his exceedingly blue-eyed boyfriend, Jonathan in their heavenly studio loft in Chinatown, Honolulu.
For 2 months.
They didn’t say no.
Friendship! We swam with sea turtles, rope-swung, hiked towering watertrickles, drank mai tais on premature afternoons, crashed infinity hot tubs at sunset, buoyed ourselves in the warm and silvering dusklit Pacific, and turned a bottle of wine and a dirty concrete slab overlooking moonlit freighters into our own personal loveseat… And we were so good-looking!
But mostly, we opened a vintage boutique (rather, Bradley and Jonathan opened it while I pretended to be right about everything), Barrio Vintage, a concept pop-up. What a dream! Leather, cashmere, Gucci, Dior, preposterous prices….
Quite literally speaking, it was paradise.
Then Rian Flynn came and shit got real:
Photos by Rian Flynn
Styled by Amber Mortensen and Bradley Rhea
Model, Johnelle Anderson
Clothing from Barrio Vintage
Barrio Vintage is open every First Friday at the Chinatown Artists’ Lofts. Add them on Facebook to find out more.
