30 Bikes: the story of Homestead bicycles
Trailer is up! Follow the journey and help me finish this inspirational film.
Shop
Merch is here! Support the film and rep Homestead in a cool old school / new school style!
Homestead Bicycles
In 1991 I started a BMX Bicycle Company called Homestead Bicycles. I'd just dropped out of college, hadn't researched any market conditions or strategies, but just knew that I had a dream of creating a really cool bike. A bike that might not be for everyone but that was unique and fast and light. I got Cyclecraft to weld them, Brian Foster to paint them, sponsored a kid from Auburn CA as my only rider, and I was on my way.
For four years I drove around the western U.S. to ABA races, and ran BMX tracks for two youth summer camps. I made a ton of shirts and stickers and all told sold 30 bikes, but hardly enough to make a living.
In 1995 I folded Homestead and haven't looked back.
Until now.
Join me as I try to locate everyone and anyone who owned a Homestead Basilisk BMX frame. Early metallic green models were painted by a young upstart racer named Brian Foster - we went shopping for paint together, with the water-running Basilisk lizard as my guide. Ten bikes have been found and there's more to come - look for the trailer on Christmas Day!
Alden's Trunk - Art & Stationery
Alden's Trunk Art & Stationery is hand-drawn cards and gifts by Alden Olmsted. Each design is drawn in the city featured and is available as Postcard, Notecard, Glass Magnet, Print, and a few as T-Shirts. Custom ideas or questions please ask!
If you need your items quicker I work with great retailers in California and beyond. Find my cards and gifts at the following shops (list subject to change):
and many more!
Follow the progress of each map on Tumblr - more cities and states always in the works.
Children's Book: The Story of Elmer in Yosemite
Available now on Amazon and at https://elmerinyosemite.com
I've llustrated my first children's book, written by Richard Barna, about the legend of
'Elmer' in Yosemite!
The legend of 'Elmer' in Yosemite Valley goes back all the way to the 1930's - and though many dispute the exact origin, the calls of "Elmer" around dinnertime can be heard even today in Yosemite campgrounds. Follow Elmer's journey - and ours as we promote our book at http://facebook.com/elmerstory
Photography Gallery
An old camera found in a closet led to a slow education, but convinced my dad to gift me a Topcon camera kit, complete with James Bond-like metal suitcase. My pictures got instantly better, having multiple and high quality lenses to play with, but the shutter wasn't up to my number of shots, and began to fail intermittently on a cross - country trip to Indiana to purchase an old Chrysler convertible.
* * *
Fate smiled though, when I popped in to a random camera shop in Scotts Valley and the store owner recommended what is now my favorite camera, the 70's - 80's classic Canon F-1. I finally found a camera with a great light meter, that operated in very extreme conditions, and that produced in print the image I saw and wanted to capture when I originally took the shot.
25,000+ photos in heat and cold, sun and rain, it's been held above my head on the Yuba River, huddled with me under a crevice opposite Half Dome in Yosemite, slid down dirt cliffs on more than one occasion, dangled over the edge of Havasu Falls in Arizona, accompanied me to England and Wales, and will continue I hope, to accompany me on many more adventures to come.
Questions about print sizes and mounting options? - Just ask!
Films
I have been shooting and and editing video since my late teenage years, and in 2006 shot my first feature film Dill, California on a 16mm Arriflex Camera that I bought on craigslist. It was an amazing experience, and I have since made two documentaries, written six screenplays, and pitched television pilots to alcoholic producers.
2007:
2012:
My Father, Who Art In Nature (2012) Official Trailer
2014:
The Story of Jug Handle (2013) PBS Version 26:00
2015:
Director of Photography on Convinced (2015), a feature documentary exploring 'Why would any intelligent, sane person become Catholic? Trailer on Vimeo
2016:
Life is a Highway: An Olmsted Journey
2017-2018:
Director of Photography on Unprotected, a feature documentary exploring the history and results of contraception, feminism, and the sexual revolution. Trailer on Vimeo. Click for local screenings here.
2019:
30 Bikes, The Story of Homestead Bicycles
30 Bikes is the story of a tiny BMX Bicycle company I started in 1991 after writing a letter to Bob Haro. I dropped out of college, enlisted Cyclecraft to manufacture, and designed a pro frame and fork set called the Basilisk. I ran the company for four years before running out of steam and resources.
23 years later I'm tracking down the 30 bikes I sold, who bought them and why, and where are they now. It's an awesome journey so follow at @hbbikes and check back here for screenings.
Press and Comments
Five Stars *****
These [California] cards are so beautiful that I almost don't want to mail them to anyone else! Thanks so much.
- bfoster, etsy.com California Postcards on Etsy
Olmsted Film receives standing ovation ~
Alden Olmsted's film My Father, Who Art in Nature receives standing ovation at Wild and Scenic Film Festival https://lightcapfarm.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/alden-olmsted-receives-standing-ovation-for-my-father-who-art-in-nature/
Thank You so much! ~
I just wanted to let you know how much our boss LOVED the map that you created. She was so touched and could not stop staring at it, looking for the places she knows. Also, I cannot recall if I said this but when our team took a look at the map prior to giving it to our boss, we were all so impressed and thrilled. It looks awesome!
Thank you so much for working with me (us) to create that wonderfully personal, custom map! The map and my boss' reaction were better than we had hoped for.
- Rosemary K
Bio
I was born in a small town in Northern California. While my Muir-inspired father John D. Olmsted was off stopping bulldozers and saving state parks - like Jug Handle State Natural Reserve in Mendocino, and building wheelchair trails out of old mining ditches - like the Independence Trail in Nevada City - my history-major mother was teaching my brother and I about California history and driving the neighborhood after dark.. looking for her youngest son.
I made it one and a half semesters through college, dropping out to start a bmx bicycle company at age 19. Summer camp employment in the Santa Cruz Mountains, mission trips to Mexicali, screen printing classes and a different car nearly every year, my twenties were a wide mix of almost-successes and lots of lessons learned.
In 1999 I made a simple but important journey - saving up and flying to Indiana to purchase a 1966 Chrysler convertible. I knew I needed to buckle down and get my life together, but I also realized I needed to enjoy the present, and the convertible was the perfect choice. It's since been featured on television and in films like Catch Me If You Can, and every time the top goes down is a reminder to me to slow down and enjoy the ride.
In 2001 I would return to college, working full time and taking night classes to finally graduate in 2003 from BIOLA University with a bachelor's degree in business and organizational leadership.
Until 2008 I had a mostly normal life, enjoying the fruits of a good job, summer house parties, traveling abroad, buying a new car, and even filming a movie, Dill, California. I knew however, that if I wanted to write or direct films I'd better dive in sooner than later so I left my stable but predictable life and headed back to Hollywood, for the third time for those keeping count.
After writing three screenplays and going to lots of networking mixers and events, I was wondering if I'd made the right choice. That was when I got the phone call that is still having an effect on my life - my father had six months to live.
A hurried trailer and a whirlwind experience of becoming my father's caregiver resulted in my feature-length documentary My Father, Who Art in Nature (2012), which showed at Nevada City's Wild and Scenic Film Festival, and to my dad, five days before he passed.
* * *
Five years have passed and though I've made another documentary, The Story of Jug Handle, shot another as Director of Photography Convinced (2015), launched a successful kickstarter campaign for my road trip web series Life is a Highway, life is still very much "in progress."
~ May 2016
© 2015