From the coastal sunshine of Los Angeles to the raw and untamed mountainous embrace of Salt Lake City, Utah, Blair Lucio is a man on the move. With a keen eye for style and razor-sharp taste in everything from clothing to old-school motorcycles and cars, it’s no surprise that Blair founded General Quarters, a vintage-inspired apparel shop tucked into the ever hip enclave of LA’s South La Brea Ave boutiques.
The bright and airy store stocks a wide collection of apparel and accessories informed by Blair’s own penchant for classic Americana and quality long-lasting goods. Heavy denim rests on tables surrounded by racks of Double RL, Levi’s, Filson, and more as Blair has refined and built General Quarters into a one-stop-shop for those who enjoy the tradition of hard-wearing and adventure-ready goods that always look as though they were pulled from a recreation of “On Any Sunday”.
Not too far off of the beaten path between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, when Blair wants to get away from the noise of the city and reconnect with both nature, he heads for the hills. Behind the wheel of his Classic Ford Bronco, Blair heads north towards Death Valley to take his beautifully restored Bronco to an area steeped in the golden era of Hollywood and its iconic Westerns.
Alabama Hills is located west of Lone Pine, California, and thanks to its remote setting and rugged landscape, the area is best known for having played host to a wild collection of many of Hollywood’s most notable Westerns, including “The Lone Ranger”, John Wayne’s “Blue Steel”, James Stewart’s “Broken Arrow”, “Charge of the Light Brigade”, and even scenes from “Gladiator”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”, and hundreds more.
Here, the arid desert gives way to cutting ridgelines of towering rock. To drive here, especially in a Bronco, is to turn the key on a time machine to drive back in time and roam the dusty roads and sprawling desert like a modern-day Steve McQueen.
Much like McQueen and his contemporaries explored the freedom of the desert as an antidote to the pressures of their Hollywood lifestyles, Blair sees this place as one with minimal interference. It’s just him, his Classic Ford Bronco, and the outer reaches of a locale made eerily familiar as the backdrop for the storied old west.
As a companion to this kind of escape, a Classic Ford Bronco offers the best of both worlds. A pure analog experience that stands as a contrast to the constant progression of technology and automated convenience. Fully refined and modernized without sacrificing any of the charm and intrinsic appeal of the vintage off-roader, these Broncos are hand-built to each customer’s specifications, which is a rare but understandable treat for someone with Blair’s eye for detail and experience with craft goods.
In Alabama Hills, the cowboys are gone but the song remains the same and the area will forever call to the curious and the confident. With a day spent on the fringe behind the wheel, Blair knows that the best things in life keep an eye on the past without ignoring the present.
They say that style never dies, and, as much as one can pay tribute to an era, the best results come from making that tribute all your own.
