Andrés Rigal’s SUMMERTRAMP: Saving the American Pool Party
The season between Spring and Autumn used to be synonymous with sunshine, smiles, and 3 months off from school. Now it seems that only two out of three of those summer synonyms are still true. Andrés Rigal’s summer fiesta can’t get you a 3 month break he’s certainly creating a space to create some new memories. Do you like bubbles? Do you like ice cream? Do you like to party? If so, you are in the right place. Welcome to SUMMERTRAMP.
So often in Los Angeles I find my self at events, where there are all the ingredients for a fun time but for some reason there is no spark. There are mixers that call themselves pool parties. They may have people, a body of water, music, and the appropriate spirits but some thing about the experience still doesn’t convince me it was intended to be fun. A lot of gatherings in L.A. are so cool they are exhausting. The focus seems to have shifted to branding, promoting, and ensuring high number of attendees from creating a good time for everyone who shows up.
Summer tramp is the answer to this, when I asked Andrés Rigal about attendee goals, he said ”
I’m not so focused on the numbers, the money, I really just want to make an event that means something to people.” Not focusing on the numbers is a luxury Mr. Rigal can afford when he fills the astro turf floored space with over 400 Angelinos, and a line wrapping around the block to enter.
Andrés doesn’t refer to the project as an “I, me” thing. It is not just a one man show, SUMMERTRAMP is a series of events put on by local promotors DJs, and hosts, to help cultivate four different summer parties that all have their own special twist in May, June, July, and August. ” There is no party like SUMMERTRAMP in the nation.”, says Andrés, when we have a chance to catch up. “We want the host parties to feel like it is their [own] party to best of our ability. If other promoters have ideas I am always saying ‘Let’s hear it.”
There are some staples to the event like, a 30 foot water slide, 800 free Jello shots, and Pizzanista Pizza. Other things you can count on are tons of beautiful people in fashionable swimwear, an ice cream truck, and a bubble machine spewing sticky spheres of magic all over the event. It is held in Downtown LA event but seems to perfectly transplant the West Hollywood scene for one day a month. The City of West Hollywood, which has many water parks with hotels, has chosen the venue as the official water park of Pride on June 9th and 10th.
You may find the ratio of men to be high but this is no indicator of the type of fun that awaits you at ST. Andrés mentions, “It is not specifically marketed as a “Gay Party’, it is a good party for anyone. I don’t think of my friends like that, I don’t think of myself like that.” SUMMERTRAMP is a fun filled fiesta for all walks of life and there no shortage of male or female flesh to feast your eyes on, after, its swimsuit season.
If you’ve gotten tired of going to events that are everything but eventful don’t be disheartened because you can get your fix. There is a summer savior who brings all the glory of the days of old, but curated in a way that let’s you express your adulthood. With his unique event SUMMERTRAMP, Andrés Rigal is not only saving the American summer party, but he is also reinventing it.
See you there.
Details…
ENJOI.
photos courtesy of SUMMER TRAMP archives :Shadowscene, LA Weekly, Rolling Blackouts, Ronny’s Photobooth, RAW Fotography, , Matt Chaney and Chris J. Armenta respectively.