Le Hangar 23

When we set out to shoot our first Autumn campaign in Downtown LA, we wanted a motorcycle that felt like it could’ve been lifted straight out of a photograph of Bob Dylan in the ’60s - raw, stripped back, and full of soul. That search led us to Elliot, the man behind Le Hangar 23, and his perfectly weathered Triumph.

From a French Farm Hangar to the California Desert

Elliot’s story starts far from Los Angeles, in the French countryside, where he spent his summers in his grandfather’s farm shop, known simply as the hangar.

“Whenever I visited France, all I wanted to do was hang out in the hangar with my grandpa,” he recalls. “Growing up in suburban Huntington Beach, I didn’t have many chances to get dirty working on things, so I soaked up as much of it as I could.”

It was there he learned how to weld for the first time - badly, as he admits - but it opened his eyes to the beauty of craft. “Just learning how [to weld] opened my eyes to all the ways you could make and fix things.” That hands-on approach would go on to define everything he does.

The Allure of Triumph

For Elliot, the obsession with Triumph motorcycles began with a single image: a TR6 desert sled kicking up dust on a dirt road.

“The simplicity of the design and the way it looked like it could go anywhere really stuck with me,” he says. “It felt like a bike that had endless opportunities- you could build it for a purpose and actually go out and use it.”

After years of tinkering in his garage, a chance meeting at a swap meet led him to a job at Triumph Classic Motorcycles, where he honed his skills under the guidance of a seasoned mechanic named Tink. But Elliot’s ambitions stretched beyond the workshop walls- he wanted to build something that brought people together.

That’s where Le Hangar 23 was born: a nod to his grandfather’s workshop, and a place designed to make the world of vintage motorcycles more accessible.

“The restoration customers at Triumph Classic Motorcycles were mostly older guys, and younger riders were missing from the picture,” he explains. “With the high cost of bikes, parts, and just the knowledge needed, it can be tough for new people to get into it. I wanted to create something that made it more approachable and gave people a way to be part of it.”