our story
Happy Hops is a family-run business based in our favorite spot on the planet: San Diego. Our story started a long, long time ago right here in sunny Southern California when Tad was a kid in the 1970s. The little guy became a tad bit obsessed with the alluring lifestyle of the van… a happy living space on wheels. Tad’s first car was a 1974 cherry red VW Thing, bought in the Hollywood Hills, that came with a Smith’s tape in the cassette player. And so his love affair with VW vehicles began.
Tad met the charming love of his life (that’s me, Catherine!) when we were students at USC (go Trojans!). We got married, lived in Texas for a while (yeehaw!), came home to California and had a super cool kid named Jackson.
We bought our first VW Van in 2018, a beautiful beige 1979 Westfalia camper. We love taking her to the beach with our chocolate lab Ponch and our silver lab Charlie.
We welcomed our second VW van into the fold in 2021. This awesome baby is a 1966 split-window panel van. He comes from an impressive warehouse of vintage vehicles, amassed by a kind collector in Idaho. With the help of our talented friend and architect, Eric Johnson, Tad created a custom built walnut keg wall that nestles perfectly into the side of the van. We restored him to his original color, VW Turqis. And now he’s rolling out to parties all over San Diego!
