Our Story
PART 1
If you ask Mikel Lomsky and Caleb Trowbridge how they came up with the idea for the Podski, they’ll tell you that they didn’t come up with the idea at all. When Lomsky bought the Podski property he was thinking about one thing and one thing only - his band. But it wasn’t just any band. It was Alarm58 - the greatest rock band to ever grace the stages of Central Oregon. People said they had a sound like U2, with a croon that rivaled Eddie Vedder, and lyrics that told a story like Bruce Springsteen. In fact, before we go any further, it’s imperative to this story that you experience the following 60 seconds of their sheer talent and undeniable sex appeal:
I mean, look at these guys:
“Ring the alarm! Wake up from the dream!”
But let’s back up. Lomsky was about to start the band, but he needed a place for them to practice.
“And no one would rent me their garage,” says Lomsky.
So one day he saw a little shed on the side of the road at Arizona Ave. in downtown Bend. But the owners told him that if he wanted the shed, he had to buy the entire adjacent lot.
“And I was like, I don’t want to buy overpriced real estate.”
But, he wanted his band to be the best band that ever lived (he didn’t actually have an official band yet, but, ya know, it was like an if you build it they will come type of thing). So he said screw it, and he bought the lot.
PART 2
Flash forward a few weeks. Caleb was in his mid twenties and bartending at Crux, a local brewery in town, trying to figure out how he could climb the ranks of the Bend restaurant industry. This particular day, he was sitting at Sunriver Brewing getting advice from one of the managers.
“Next thing I know this old dude walks in and says hey to the guy I’m speaking with and then walks immediately back out of the restaurant,” says Caleb.
A few minutes later, another guy walks in and says to the Sunriver employee, who is a known guitarist in town, “Hey that guy that just walked in, his name is Lomsky. And he wants to talk to you. He’s starting a band.”
Caleb walks outside with the guy. Lomsky looks at them, asks the guy about his guitar playing, and then looks at Caleb and says, “So what do you play?”
“He didn’t even ask me if I played an instrument. He just looked straight at me and asked, ‘What do you play?’, says Caleb.
And that’s how Lomsky got his drummer.
PART 3
They turned the shed on the vacant lot into a studio.
“But I had big plans. I wanted to practice 24 hours a day so we could hit the road and be rockstars, so I said to Caleb, ‘You gotta practice more,’ and he was like, ‘Well Lomsky….I have a job.”
So Lomsky got an idea. What if Caleb opened up a beer stand on the empty lot? He could sell beer right beside the studio so he could be available for band practice at all times.
But, as with most things that involve the government, the permits got caught up for a couple of years by a bunch of red tape. In the meantime, Alarm58 did become rock stars. They were playing four to five nights a week at places like the Volcanic and the Tower Theater. They hit the road and played festivals in New Orleans and Tulsa. They played with eighties legends The Call. But, as with most rock stars, the members of Alarm58 ended up having what they refer to in the industry as “creative differences.”
“And by the time we got the call that the permits were approved, we didn’t even have a band anymore,” says Caleb.
Part 4
So, they were out of a band. But once they got the permits, the calls started rolling in. Every food cart in town wanted to park at the Podski. So they said screw it. Let’s do this. Caleb was selling beer at his beer cart, pictured below, along with the addition of about 6 food carts, a few picnic tables, and a portapotty (but like, one of the really nice, spacious kinds.)
But, as Lomsky says, that first winter everyone “froze their asses off.” So Lomsky said to Caleb, ‘Let’s build an indoor bar.’ So they built a bar, and added a few more carts to the lot. Next thing ya know, there was a shit ton of trash. So they built Trash Island.
“Because of the way it started, there was never really any business plan. There were no decisions or anything. It was just kind of like we’re playing music and whatever is happening out there is happening. There was no planning. Nothing,” says Lomsky. “If there’s one rule of thumb we will say, ‘Well, what would everybody else do? What’s the “right” way to do it? And then we’ll do the reverse of that.”
“I was gonna start that sentence the same way,” says Caleb. “The vibe is so cool. And any business person in the world would probably say we did it wrong…we didn't do anything. But it's just such a casual inviting place because of how it started and how we're both super laid back…and we have good carts. They're GOOD people. The four guys that bartend for me now, I worked with at Crux. We brought in a bunch of people from the industry. And it's just a bunch of good people that hang out there a lot. And I think that's because of our whole laissez faire, relaxed atmosphere. We’re not breaking necks, we’re not mad at anyone. It’s just chill.”
At Podski it’s all in the family. A big, chill family.
PODSKI MURAL ART SPOTLIGHT
PODSKI MURAL ART SPOTLIGHT
Learn about the inspiration for our epic Podski mural wall from our resident muralist and product artist, Brandon Walsh.
The inspiration for the Mural was the business I started with my Korean Wife, "East meets West". We owned and operated the Fusion Food Truck of the same name while we were parked at The Podski. Our Brand was all about Eastern and Western Cultures coming together, in food, art and apparel. We tried to celebrate and represent pop culture between both regions, always mashing up both, in an un-serious way...
The mural was drawn out by hand in black and white, and enlarged 500%, printed out in sections like wallpaper. I got the idea of pasting the sections to the wall from seeing graffiti artists in Europe using that technique to get their murals up quickly before the police could come and stop them.
After we put up the sections, I went back and painted all color by hand in acrylic paint. When the color was finished, I had to go back and touch up all the blacks and then I covered the entire piece with a protective gloss coat over top with paint rollers.
The subject matter of the Mural is again a nod to EMW, surf and west coast culture with iconic pop art characters like Homer Simpson. The additional American icon Johnny Cash, wearing a Hawaiian shirt with Chinese Restaurant Napkins that fill in the yoke of the cowboy shirt. J Cash also has a Korean Waffle fish 'Bungapong' on his chest (we sold these tasty items on our Food Truck). Godzilla is preparing to battle Bigfoot near Mt. Bachelor is again a mashup of characters and cultures under The Fight' banner from the Asian video game Mortal Kombat. (Find them at www.emwfusion.com)
