Opening unmarked shop doors in LA is like lifting rocks in a jungle. What are you going to find—bugs? Treasure? Somebody’s precious classic Porsche or sketchy dudes holding a séance to get some jalopy through a smog test? The Wanderwell Society, operating out of a nondescript three-bay garage in Venice, is a bit of all that. It calls itself a “DIY social club.” It’s kind of a car club, kind of a classroom, and most importantly, a great catalyst for cultivating friendships.
I’d go so far as to say that Wanderwell has figured out the ultimate and optimal execution of a modern car club. Driving with homies is fun, but you can really only chat with whoever’s sitting next to you. Cars and coffee meetups are cool, but there’s only so much standing and sipping I can handle before getting antsy.
This group is all about doing, learning, breaking down the intimidation of trying new tools, and experiencing the joy and pain of wrenching as a collective. I knew I’d like the vibe when I saw “RIGHTY TIGHTY LEFTY LOOSEY” stenciled in huge letters across the back wall. Hanging out with some members at a “welding 101” session a few weeks ago, my suspicions were confirmed: A clubhouse full of eager-to-learn DIY enthusiasts is indeed an awesome place to spend time. And clearly, I’m not the only person who thinks so.
Wanderwell just celebrated its first anniversary and is already expanding with a second garage in LA’s South Bay. When I stopped by the Venice, CA, HQ a few weeks ago, I saw tidily packed tools, the embroidered mechanic onesies of members hung on a rack, a stocked beer fridge, and a neatly organized, simple floor plan. One garage bay is a lounge area with couches and a TV, another is a detailing bay, and the middle one has a lift for real work.
It’s almost like the best possible version of “your friend with all the tools’ house.” The only rule (or, at least, the biggest one) is that you can’t leave your car on the lift overnight. That prevents any one project from hogging the bay—and keeps people on-task while their car’s on the rack.
Wanderwell got on my radar because the main man behind it, Adam Kaslikowski, was my friend with all the tools when I lived in LA myself. I actually met him through another LA-based car group, The Motoring Club (which has also expanded considerably since I joined circa 2019). Kas and I became buds as he hosted “oil change nights” in the alley-garage behind his apartment. A bunch of us would hang out, crack beers, talk shop, talk shit, and roll one vehicle after another onto a pair of wheel ramps to do oil changes and show-and-tell whatever upgrades we’d done to our rides.
I loved it so much—people came through with everything from Ferraris and Porsches to Mustangs and motorcycles, and, on a couple of occasions, that 300ZX I bought for $100 made an appearance. Every oil change night, I got a little closer to my new friends and pretty much always learned something about cars.
“It’s like oil change night every day,” Kas (as I call him) told me when he pitched his new endeavor. When I finally got to visit a few weeks ago, man, it made me miss living in Los Angeles all over again.
The Wanderwell Society solves a whole bunch of problems at once. It empowers DIY newbies to get their hands dirty with a safe space and toolset, and most importantly, social support. Because shadetree mechanic’ing is rewarding, but let’s be real, it’s also a pain in the ass and oftentimes a lot less fun than it looks on Instagram. But tinkering with friends around? Totally different experience. Even the most heartbreaking bolt head-snap is much easier to endure when you’ve got folks around to offer help and hands. Heck, even a little ribbing is more fun than swearing at steel when you’re struggling by yourself.
In addition to playing with personal projects, Kas and company also host workshops to introduce members to skills like welding. In an informal evening session, I joined a group of club members for a brief rundown on how welding works conceptually followed by a few practice beads with two different types of welding tools and a “final project” of tacking a screwdriver bit to a Porsche part somebody was throwing out. (We made them into little bottle openers.)
Kas indicated that the Wanderwell Society was close to max membership months ago, and that an enthusiastic partner is already setting up another outpost. But I suspect that expansion will continue. There’s already talk of the Venice shop spilling into an adjacent office to increase the size of the social space.
I hope it does keep expanding—and not just for the sake of my friends’ fortunes. I just love this idea as a hands-on evolution of car enthusiast clubs. Not everybody’s lucky enough to have a friend with a huge garage and an ultimate set of tools, but outfits like the Wanderwell Society can make that experience accessible.
Wanderwell’s name is a nod to the motorized-adventure pioneer Aloha Wanderwell. She was a highly accomplished overlander, pilot, roadtripper, and experience-haver long before it was commonplace to do any of those things, let alone for a woman to do them. So, yeah, the club is about cars and tinkering, but it’s really about learning, growing, and exploring. And that stuff never goes out of style.
Know about any other clubs like this? I’d love to hear about them—hit me up at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.