Dave Faries here, reflecting on an incident I didn’t understand at the time.
During Car Week a few years ago as I was turning onto 17-Mile Drive on my way to an event in Pebble Beach, I ran into a wall of traffic. Cars occasionally crept forward, but waves of pedestrians surged quickly. People ran along the side of the road, on sidewalks and through the trees toward the Inn at Spanish Bay. They were all young, many with cell phones at the ready.
Once I got through the crowd, it was clear sailing. The traffic piled up at Spanish Bay, which made no sense. There was no formal event on the grounds.
This was the first encounter I remember with a phenomenon that is having a massive impact on Car Week, and not in a positive way. Exotic cars were parked at Spanish Bay. Social media influencers had posted images, which drew a crowd of other influencers and spotters.
Such hypercar/influencer-driven sideshows have been wreaking havoc on Car Week. In response to an opinion piece by Editor Sara Rubin, we received an email from Paul James Mitchell, author of a book on social media culture and Car Week, The Aura Industrial Complex: Hypercars, Craparazzi and the Business of Being Seen.
He calls it the “attention economy.” In the email, Mitchell noted that this phenomenon is distinct from the organized events of Car Week. Unfortunately, he pointed out, residents on the Peninsula “increasingly experience all of it as one event.”
“That distinction matters,” he continued. “The disruption generated by the newer spectacle risks eroding the social license that allows the older institutions and traditions to continue operating there.” The influencers and drivers of exotics that descend on parking lots have little to no interest in the “institutions and traditions” of Car Week.
He makes a good point. I read the book and spoke with its author for a story that is part of a package of Monterey County institutions that celebrate significant anniversaries this year and have weathered change.
It was the 75th Concours d’Elegance (which attracts few young influencers). Staff Writer Agata Popęda outlined the history of Carmel’s Sunset Center, now in its 100th year—first as a school, then as a community focal point. Contributing writer Tonia Eaton captured a less public side of artist Jo Mora. He was born 150 years ago and his work continues to resonate throughout Monterey County.
Of course, one or two of these stories may be of greater interest to you, but I hope you find the time to read all three—a person, a place and a thing that have been, and continue to be, important features of this community.
Maybe pick up a copy of The Aura Industrial Complex, as well. It will help clear up the distinction between a collector culture that respects automotive history and problematic social media spectacles that have attached themselves to Car Week, but are not part of the organized show.