WAKE UP! It’s Launch Day in the bay ~ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ
“This is the most outside I’ve seen the bay be in a long ass time” - GP Pabros, Cohort 3 artist
And indeed it was. For starters, Friday was Valentine’s Day. Restaurants and bars were crowded more than usual, and date nights and “galentine” celebrations kicked off the weekend for many people. It was also All-Star Weekend in the Bay Area. Athletes and other random celebrities were dropping in on the city to show face at afterparties. Basketball fans and party people were flooding the sidewalks to clubs everywhere north of SOMA. Oh, and did I mention the Chinese New Year parade was going on, too? Thousands of people are taking BART into the city to see basketball games in action or watch the floats drive down the streets of Chinatown. Even MUNI anticipated the chaos because it made its light rail and bus services free the entire weekend.
In one way or another, almost everybody was out and about Saturday night. But for 70 of us, it was a very special day for Club Rambutan - it was Launch Day for 03: The Identity Issue.
February 15, 2025 would date an incredible milestone not only for the collective itself but the SF team specifically, as it would be the first time Club Rambutan would host TWO launch parties - on the same day - in two different cities, which also officially debuted our freshly-formed San Francisco branch that was put together in September 2024.
All other launch parties before this were hosted in Phoenix, Arizona, where Club Rambutan’s founding team is still based.
I drove early to safariii CAMP’s Oakland warehouse to set up for the event. Ricky greeted me at the door and we began setting up for the big day to come.
“Where’s Maria?”
“She’s stuck in traffic”
It looked like it was up to us two to set up for the time being. At least we also had Amal and Adeeb from safariii CAMP to help us out. Ricky and I glanced between the floor plan and the venue space to move the furniture around. Couch over here. Tables over there. We were setting up as best as we could. You could hear my sigh of relief once I finished setting up the projector after looking at the manual a dozen times.
Raim, Maria, and Sonia eventually beat the Bay Bridge traffic and the excitement is building. The team huddled around the merchandise table as we glanced at the newest issue of the magazine. It was the first time that most of us SF team members had seen it in person. Come to find out, Maria had to rush to her local USPS to pick up the magazines less than two hours before the event because she missed the initial delivery to her house the night before while she was out for Valentine’s Day. Crazy weekend, I know.
Bound by metal spiral clips and variously shaped pages inside, I could already tell the magazine took a while to put together. Maria emphasized that 03 was structurally unique compared to its previous sister issues, and unlike Issue 1 (which was a staple-bound zine of 60-something sheets of printer paper) and Issue 2 (a perfect-bound, 120+ page coffee table-like book), Issue 3 was trimmed, hole-punched, and assembled completely by hand by the Phoenix team.
Each copy also includes a FREE detachable 10x16 inch poster of Ashya Joselle’s (a featured Philadelphia-based artist from Cohort 3) exclusive project.
As DJ Skolastik Bookfair started to spin and set the mood, guests began to trickle into the venue. Some took a seat on the couches and chatted amongst themselves, while others sat at the collage table and got to work finding snippets and cutouts to paste onto their creation. Some headed towards the back and treated themselves to some wine and complimentary snacks, such as beloved Filipino desserts like ube pastillas and hopia and raspberry and creme-flavored Kit Kat candies.
As the night went on, the collage table seemed to be a hit. The National Geographic magazines and colored pencils were spread across the table and everyone was focused on the task at hand. It was cool to see everyone and their different creations. Caricature artist Dahlia Margate was meticulously sketching and drawing paintings for guests. DJ 4DHILA started her set midway through the night, and her hype woman cheered her on by the turntable as she played some Bay Area classics that got the crowd real excited.
At last, Maria, Raim, and Sonia introduced themselves to our guests and shared the hard work they put into making this event happen. That’s when it hit me: the last few months of work that we all had put into this magazine, the foundation of the newest San Francisco team, writing for our new newsletter, and networking throughout the Bay Area had led to this night. From September 2024 to this month, we got to work with incredible artists from around the world who made up Cohort 3, meet and spotlight other local Bay Area artists doing incredible work of their own, and come together to celebrate a night where we can continue to express ourselves whether through music, through collaging, through reading.
At least that’s what I thought about while grubbing on my al pastor quesadilla downstairs.
NOTE FROM MARIA
Were you unable to attend our Oakland launch? Or are you wondering if we’ll have any more events in the future? Fear not! Although both Club Rambutan teams always go on a month-long hiatus after the conclusion of each cohort and publication of its resulting issue, you can rest assured that launch parties are always regularly scheduled celebrations to look forward to. We are also starting to draft up plans for a much larger and formal creative event to bring to SF, too (hint: it rhymes with “passion glow”). All announcements are posted on our Instagram and newsletter, so be sure to give us a follow there as well!
And last thing: be sure to read the long-form interviews for our Cohort 3 artists below. These were written by the Rambutan Roundup newsletter squad, which is Felix Dong, Maya Johnson, Percy Humphrey, and yours truly. And grab a copy of 03: The Identity Issue while you’re at it!
