#Vanlife Is Thriving in—of All Places—Brooklyn

Close your eyes and picture, if you can, hashtag vanlife: the far-flung American West, the vibrant oranges of Zion National Park, the refurbished Volkswagen Transporters. #Vanlife stretches near and far, to and fro, from the forests of Maine down to the beaches of Florida, from sunny Arizona up to postcard-perfect Montana. You do not, perhaps, picture #vanlife in an East Williamsburg warehouse humming with Brooklyn #vanlifers on a Saturday morning in February.

The gathering and open house was the first of its kind for Brooklyn Campervans, whose owners Arther Wei and Oliver Gallini recently moved into their newer, bigger spot after three years of business in New York. Five of the company’s newer vans—big, gleaming Mercedes Sprinters full of geometric tiling and wooden surfaces—were parked in a U around the warehouse, a table full of half-submarine sandwiches, beer, and La Croix in the middle of the room. Wei and Gallini have known each other for long enough to lose track ("Maybe five years?" Wei guessed), but their friendship solidified when they refurbished their first van together and took it on the road during the pandemic. Both have backgrounds in interior design and construction; both were eager to get out of New York, but just as grateful to return to the city they call home.

Slowly but surely, the #vanlifers pulled up: striped pants, beaded necklaces, ponytails on everyone of any gender. Dogs scampered around, including Nugget, a French bulldog in a striped one-piece. After an hour it was difficult to tell the tried and true #vanlifers from potential customers, everyone otherwise intermingling and hugging and swapping stories. #Vanlifers make good company, in part because the nature of their lives forces them to. It’s not only the long days on the road, but it’s all that it takes to even get on the road: building the van, charging the van, modifying the van. As much as any one solo traveler might take pride in what they built for themselves, none of them did it truly alone.