J and Nicole Ryan may not yet be household names, but the marks they’ve made on car culture are indelible, especially in Southern California. The two created what has become an almost sacred pilgrimage among car people, up one of America’s greatest driving roads and into a parking lot filled with some of the earth’s truest enthusiasts. The pilgrimage is called “Good Vibes Breakfast Club,” and its story will move you.
Galpin Motors’ “My Porsche Story” — in conjunction with Porsche Santa Clarita — tells fascinating tales about people and their Porsches, and this one about J and Nicole Ryan and “Good Vibes Breakfast Club” is truly a masterpiece.
Here it is:
The clip begins with J talking about how he met Nicole, who was Chris Rock’s publicist while he was a production supervisor on Everybody Hates Chris. Nicole, J says, was often on the road representing big-name clients. “She would take no shit,” he says in the video above. The two married in 2013, though not long after, she began having vision issues and “she was clumsier than usual,” J says in the video. Nicole was then diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, MS. This changed everything.
“We realized we couldn’t do what we used to do, and we couldn’t live like we used to live before the diagnosis,” J says, referencing their previous life filled with travel and adventure. He and Nicole understood they had to do something new, so they figured they’d buy a Porsche 911. 911s weren’t that expensive at the time, and it seemed they were only becoming more popular. J describes in the video how he ended up with the particular yellow car you see above (a 2005 Porsche Carrera S), but the important point isn’t that particular car — which he and Nicole modded into a bit of a hotrod — but rather what they began doing with it. “We really felt like we were saying ‘fuck you, world. We’re doing our own thing! This is for us!'” J says.
Specifically, one Friday they took a drive up Angeles Crest Highway to a restaurant called Newcomb’s Ranch. It was fun, beautiful, and serene. “We found our escape,” J says about the 10-acre private property. “This worked and we should do it again. And we came up the very next Friday, and never stopped coming,” he said, mentioning that he and Nicole would post photos on Instagram.
This Friday pilgrimage up that amazing canyon road to Newcomb’s Ranch was already a well-known journey among car enthusiasts by late 2019 (when I myself did the drive), but it was really during the pandemic when J and Nicole’s Friday AM journeys morphed into something great. “It just blew up. It. Just. Blew. Up,” J emphasizes in the clip.
The video, shot prior to Nicole’s passing on August 1, 2024, includes an interview in which she — coiner of the name “Good Vibes Breakfast Club” — describes what made that trek so special to her. “Coming up here reminds me of when I was a little kid, when we went to see my grandparents, and all I saw was trees,” she says in the video. “It reminded me of that good, wholesome excitement of going to see family members.”
Speaking about the close-knit community that has been brought together by her and J’s weekly pilgrimage, she says: “That car has become our life. It’s serendipitous how it all works … That’s what [Good Vibes] is for. Give back to each other.”
I chatted with David Osorio, who was part of the production team that made this incredible video. He noted that in the episode you’ll notice Nicole talking about the community “protecting” Good Vibes. “That’s because this isn’t the type of car event that cheers for revving or over-driving your car. Good Vibes is as close to an enthusiast church as you’ll ever get,” he said.
In terms of what makes GVBC so unique, he told me part of it is the fact that so many people get weeded out. “You have to be able to have a free Friday morning. This opens it up to many entrepreneurs, high-level professionals, and artists. Secondly, you have to be able to drive. It’s not easy going up the mountain to Good Vibes so many of the ‘watch me stand by my car at cars and coffee guys’ are out.”
David, a longtime driving enthusiast and car nut, told me that the weekly event builds upon California canyon culture, something that has existed for decades. “So many true enthusiasts enjoy a drive through the canyons because it’s cheaper than a racetrack and convenient,” he said, “but don’t be an idiot, never cross the double yellow, and know you and your car’s limits. This is a golden unspoken rule for many true to the game.”
Ask anyone in the LA car world about Good Vibes Breakfast Club and Newcomb’s Ranch, and there’s a good chance they’ll know about it. There’s something pure about this thing that Nicole and J built. It’s not about showing off, it’s not about speed, it’s not about professional networking — it’s about sharing joy with people, and using cars as a vessel through which to do it.
If you’d like to see more My Porsche Story episodes, check out the one on Bruce Meyer and Matt Farah.
I’ve only had the pleasure of going up there once since getting from San Diego to that area on a Friday morning takes some commitment, but what an awesome gathering of cars that were there. I hope to go again sometime.
Damn. That was a heavy lunchtime watch, but I’m glad I did. It’s a great story and J and Nicole leave an amazing legacy beyond her passing.
I had the pleasure of meeting J and Nicole in early 2023 when I was out in SoCal for work. Someone invited me to a little gathering at a Porsche shop and I ended up chatting with the both of them for a while. Genuinely nice people and it was so sad following Nicole’s decline from then to this August, you could tell there was just this fierce love for each other between the two of them, to say nothing of the “new life, let’s just do it” spirit.
I’ve been up to GVBC a few times as part of my visits out west and it is always full of good folks eager to talk cars and enjoy each others’ company.
Watching Nicole’s life get ripped away from her piece by piece was incredibly challenging, even from 1500 miles away through Instagram posts. As someone whose spouse had the same terrible disease diagnosed just before the pandemic, it was heartbreaking watching this glowing woman lose every shred of independence at an unfairly aggressive pace. May J find happiness in his memories and may all those who met Nicole never forget her and support those who were closest to her.
A lot of the local meets in my area are also on weekday mornings which is extremely annoying if you’re a normal person that has to work a real job. Just reeks of classism.
It kinda does, but I understand why they do it. The crowds at Newcombs on a Saturday morning (when many regular working folks are off work) can be big. I’ll probably come out to GVBC on the Friday after Thanksgiving…but the crowd will be huge because normies like me have the free time. I’ve lived in SoCal for over 15 years, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing really wrong with this place that a 1-2 million dollar yearly income wouldn’t fix.
It does, especially because it lists these occupations as the ones that are acceptable, which imparts an air of social classism as well as economic classism. For all the jokes about Hollywood David, I still would have thought he’d have picked up and responded to that.
One does have to wonder how much of that just comes with the territory… most Porsche media just tends to cater to wealthier crowds, and every time I’ve been at a Porsche-oriented meet I’ve been the poorest person there by far. Meanwhile with BMW’s there’s a much lower barrier to entry, so I find those crowds to be a lot more enjoyable and down to earth.
I wouldn’t even say that the event or the crowd is all that classist (although I certainly wouldn’t say it isn’t), but that specific quote just reeks of it and should have rated some kind of pushback. It’s as if there’s an unquestioned and unquestionable hierarchy of the beautiful and engaged achievers – which is true everywhere, of course, but usually with a slightly thicker veneer of egalitarianism laid over it. Keep the wrong sort out and all that.
Lots of people have jobs in LA that are not M-F, 9 to 5, like any big city. With the film industry, maybe more so than other places. Newcomb’s is great, Mt Waterman has new owners and when it has good snow it is great. Like going back in time.
I did hear a remark about the classism from a buddy who went to the Friday-morning thing, but I suppose they get their turn.
I thought that was a very weird thing to call out as a positive aspect of this.
When I found out my local Corvette club meets on Thursday mornings at 9 I just assumed it was because the target market was old, retired guys. Sadly, I only meet one of those criteria. 🙂
Yeah, the “so many people get weeded out” part didn’t exactly give me “good vibes”. Seems pretty consistent with my experiences with the Porsche community so I’m not really surprised.
After this, the 2nd best meets are the impromptu meets at the top of Stunt Rd. Randomly met many cool people up there, good coffee too.
There’s coffee at the top of Stunt Rd now?? I haven’t been there in at least 5 years.
I met up with some folks there many years ago and we did some canyon carving. I ended up sliding off a turn on Tuna Canyon Rd (loose gravel + no guardrails). Took a few hours for tow to come and cost a lot of money.
There is a couple, that on weekends, bring their coffee cart up there and sell coffee. They don’t stay there all day, just til mid-morning.
Back when we used to run Stunt hard, we used to see who’s brakes and turbo would be the reddest. Not doing that anymore.
Ahhh. That explains it, I always went after the sun went down.
They are recent in the past year or so, if you haven’t been up there in 5 years, they wouldn’t be there regardless.
Stunt Road <3
I was only in LA for a week but I spent every day in the canyons and surfing in Malibu. LA sucks. Malibu area is amazing.
My sympathy to J for losing his soul mate. I know there have been many times in my life I could meet such a woman with declining eyesight so she could feel the same about me. It is great they created a feel good community without the negative aspects.
Thanks for this depiction of the best of car culture. Once belonged to a similar tribe and I miss those drives and friends.