HOLLYWOOD /// HIGHBURY

Arsenal FC x Where Is Football x adidas London

By Where Is Football

July 31^st, 2019

Whether they’re from Highbury or Hollywood, they’ve all got a unique story to tell.⁣⁣⁣⁣

Different backgrounds, accents and generations - but one thing remains the same: 6,000 miles away is a club that means everything to them.⁣⁣⁣⁣

This is Arsenal away.⁣ This is North London in LA.⁣⁣

RAZIQ AND STELLA

We had Arsenal cake toppers at our wedding in London.

Whether we're there, LA, or somewhere completely new, we seek out Gooners wherever they may be. That is how we find our people.

Where we live doesn't change anything about what we love.

DAVE AND GUNNER

When I first moved to Los Angeles, the one thing I didn’t have was a community.

Being an Arsenal fan fixed this, as I found supporters groups and bars in the area. Eventually, I even met my best friend.

Named him Gunner.

ANDREW AND JOSH

Andrew: My love for Arsenal dates back to the very beginning of my love for football—when I was nine years old in Uganda. To me, Arsenal is my love of football as much as my love of football is Arsenal. The two just cannot be separated.

Josh: My coach Andrew got me to support Arsenal when I was 12 and it's been a guiding force in my life ever since. He's from Uganda and I'm from Los Angeles, but we're both tied to North London. Connecting worlds, that's this club.

STAS

I was born in Ukraine. I fell in love with Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger, our coach, our professor.

He once said: "We do not buy superstars. We make them."

Those principles are why I love this club so much.

When I moved to LA, I had to wait a while for this place to become a home. It didn't happen quickly. I didn't know anyone. My English wasn’t perfect. But, those lessons of Mr. Wenger—patience, trust, improving day by day—were my own philosophy as well.

Eventually, this place became home.

All these years later, LA is my city—and Arsenal is still my club.

RICH

For almost 20 years, from the moment Henry put on the shirt, I was hooked.

It's crazy how a first-generation Jamaican-American kid can feel so connected to a club from North London.

I owe my love for the game to Arsenal.

DARRAN AND JACK

I was born in London in 1965. I grew up at Highbury, on the North Bank.

When I moved to LA in 1988 for my career as a director of photography and lighting designer, I left most of England behind—but not Arsenal. We'd do anything for a sniff of the game; even set up a pub in my mate's garage to watch matches on tape.

My son, Jack, was born out here. Needless to say, he also became a Gooner, too.

When we made the Champions League Final, I did the 30-hour bounce to Paris when I was supposed to be working on an awards show. We lost. Cost me 10 grand. Worth every penny.

Now, Jack is going from LA to London. The opposite move that I did at his age.

It's fitting that this Bruised Banana kit has spanned a generation. I can’t wait for Jack to have his own.

GARY AND COOPER

I left Arsenal and the UK behind to follow my dreams in the USA, working on films.

Who would have thought I'd eventually end up "founding" a pub 5000 miles away, just so I could watch the matches with hundreds of people I didn't know at 4am each Saturday morning.

Eventually, those strangers (all Gooners, of course) became family. #COYG

MK

I’m French in heritage, so World Cup ’98 is where it all clicked for me.

Arsenal won that World Cup, so I became Arsenal.

I grew up in New York City; but, years after moving out to LA, I am now co-branch manager of Arsenal Los Angeles, which meets at the Fox & Hounds pub in the Valley. I am also very active in Gooner Gals.