From Mexico City to L.A. — Vochos Unidos Book Release Party Recap

The Vocho Always Finds Its People.

The Vochos Unidos launch party in Los Angeles didn't just celebrate the new photobook — it proved exactly what kind of book this is.

A crowd of people and vw bugs lines the Los Angeles neighborhood outside of the Vintage Motor Union in Boyle Height. Photo by Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Los Angeles was the first city in the world where you could walk up and buy Vochos Unidos in person. And it delivered.

On Cinco de Mayo weekend, Carrara Media and I partnered with Vintage Motor Union for the official launch party at VMU's automotive clubhouse in Los Angeles. Over 100 guests showed up. So did dozens of Volkswagen Beetles. Aztec dance troupe Xipe Totec performed. A mariachi band played. Vendors served mariscos and al pastor tacos. Leen Customs released two exclusive Vochos Unidos enamel pins — and both sold out that night.

Rodrigo Gaya Villar sits near a VW beetle to sign his first photobook, Vochos Unidos, for a customer at the official launch party in Los Angeles California.

Vochos Unidos has always been about the intersection of Mexican identity, community, and the vocho — the Volkswagen Beetle that became a national symbol over sixty years of life on Mexican streets. That same energy lives in Los Angeles, and Vintage Motor Union founder Savant Young has built something rare: a space where car enthusiasts and neighbors alike feel genuinely invited in.

Many of the vocheros who drove in that night were of Mexican descent — owners who saw their families, their neighborhoods, and their cars reflected across the book's pages. I signed books throughout the evening and talked about the process: the mountain towns outside Mexico City, the Xochivolks festivals, the early mornings chasing the right light on a beat-up Beetle in an alley I'd never find again.

The vocho always finds its people.

Vochos Unidos Is Available Now

Order Vochos Unidos — Ships Now

Can't make it in person? The book ships worldwide, exclusively through CarraraBooks.com. The Leen Customs enamel pin sold out at the event but is still available exclusively at CarraraBooks.com — the only place to get it.

Standard Edition — $54.99 → Order at CarraraBooks.com 306 pages · Bilingual · Premium hardcover · Printed in Mexico Add the Leen Customs enamel pin for +$15 (exclusively at CarraraBooks.com) · Free domestic shipping

Limited Edition — $124.99 → Order at CarraraBooks.com Signed by the author · Exclusive slipcase · Limited Edition–only Leen Customs pin Only 500 copies worldwide · Free domestic shipping

Next Stop: Mexico City

The book comes home next. I'll be appearing at Gandhi — Mexico's iconic bookstore — for an in-person signing event. Details coming soon. Follow @vochosunidos to be the first to know.

"A visual road trip through Mexico and the unstoppable human spirit." — Patrick Farrell, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer

"Gorgeously affectionate portrait of both the Beetle and Mexico." — Victoria Scott, author of We Deserve This

"A visually poetic love letter to his homeland and its favorite, adopted child." — Oliver Wang, Professor of Sociology, CSU Long Beach

Follow the project at @vochosunidos and vochosunidos.com.

Published by Carrara Media, Long Beach, CA. Fine-art prints via KDR Gallery, Miami, FL.

Photos by Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos at the Vochos Unidos book release, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos at the Vochos Unidos book release, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos at the Vochos Unidos book release, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos at the Vochos Unidos book release, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos at the Vochos Unidos book release, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Dozens of vochos lined up outside the Vochos Unidos book release party in Los Angeles. Photo © Rodri

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.

Vochos Unidos launch party, Los Angeles. Photo: Rodrigo Gaya Villar.