Hey all. So this past Friday I got together with Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer to film some footage of them in San Francisco. They were in town as part of Kiehl’s Life Ride, a charity ride to help raise money for amfAR.
me filming Katee and Tricia (photo by Travis Shinn)
First off I had no idea they were even coming up to The Bay Area. I knew they were a part of the ride but I thought they were just doing it in LA. So I texted Tricia and asked if they were coming up to San Francisco, as the ride was from San Diego, up the west coast, ending at the Kiehl’s store in SF.
She said yes that her and Katee were riding bikes all the way up the coast.
So, I said that we should get some footage when they come up. After much texting back and forth we all decided that I should meet them at the hotel they were staying at (the Triton in downtown SF).
They were supposed to get in at 1:30pm, so I made my way from home towards downtown and over the Bay Bridge around that time. Got a text en route that said they would be an hour or so late. No problem.
Got across the bridge, found a parking garage (that raped me pretty much) and made my way to the Triton lobby. Waited for quite awhile, went across the street and got some Starbucks and finally around 3pm the Life Ride crew shows up.
Mind you I’m not complaining, I’m very much used to waiting. So around 3:30 I see Tricia and Katee and the other motorcycle riders pull up. So I sit and wait because there’s no sense in getting in anyone’s way until everything is situated. They end up having to park somewhere else and so I sit and wait patiently, sipping my Mocha Frappucino.
Katee walks in and I call out to her. She tells me she burned the clutch out on her bike.
Then Tricia walks in and sees me and starts apologizing for their lateness. I of course tell her it’s no big deal and not their fault (as it wasn’t of course).
So after they get their hotel room keys and everyone gets the info of where and when they’re all meeting to ride over to the Kiehl’s store later that day, the three of us take the elevator up to the top floor where their room is.
We walk into the room and it is TINY, as you can see in the video. But, Tricia did tell them that her and Katee just needed a place to shower and change as they were flying home that evening. But this room was super small and looked like something out of a 70’s porn movie. Not to knock the Triton Hotel, because honestly it was a nice enough retro hotel. I loved the carpet in the lobby:
Anyways, we start filming (which you can see in the video below) and these two are hilarious together — even moreso than I remember from before. I think they were a bit tired from their ride that day which made them even more giggly than usual. It was hard to not laugh out loud while filming. There’s more video coming next week which will show even more of how these two are when they’re together.
So we wrap filming in the hotel and I leave them to shower and get ready and all that and make my way to the Kiehl’s store on Fillmore. I arrive and realize that I’ve got about and hour and a half to kill, so I decide to finally eat, as all I had had that day was a donut and my Starbucks. The sugar was kicking in I have to say though and I needed some real food before I started feeling like a crack head.
So as I drove around looking for a parking spot I see a Crepevine on the same block as the Kiehl’s store. Perfect!
Crepevine on Fillmore in SF
I love Crepevine. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. I’m not much of a crepe guy, but they have awesome sandwiches and a great garden burger.
Anyways, so I park and go eat (finally) and took some time to recharge. San Francisco is hilly as fuck and I wasn’t used to doing that much walking while carrying around a 30 lb. camera bag, so needless to say I was spent.
Hung out at Crepevine and then made my way up to the Kiehl’s store around 5:00pm. The bikes weren’t scheduled to arrive until 6pm, so I waited, talked to some of the people at the store and familiarized myself with the layout and let everyone know I was filming for Katee and Tricia so I was supposed to be there.
Finally a little after 6pm the ladies and all the other bikers show up. We all go in and photos, music, food and drink ensue. After doing some recording and being offered drinks by Katee and Tricia I decide my work was done for the moment so I put my camera away behind the bar and proceeded to have some awesome Vodka and Pomegranate martinis. The bartender was this really hot girl who was very gracious and loaded me up on alcohol.
Then I happen to make my way over to the DJ who turns out to be DJ Cams, whom I had actually met previously at Manor West one night when DJ D-Sharp was spinning.
It was nice to have somebody there I sorta knew, and I think he felt the same way, so we hung out quite a bit and picked some songs to spin for the party. It was very 70’s, 80’s and 90’s rock inspired.
DJ Cams
As Katee and Tricia were obviously busy talking with, well, everybody at the party, I darted in and out (it was hella hot in there) and got some photos of the bikes and such and then resumed my filming duties when they presented the big ass check to amfAR and presented the riders and such.
Soon after the party was pretty much over. We all said our goodbyes and I went home.
Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff
It was really a great day/night and I’m glad I was on hand to capture it on video. Also, the Life Ride raised $85,000.00 for amfAR, which is pretty awesome.
Without further ado, here’s the video from that day (another one is coming next week):
