I’m finally back from the Los Angeles Auto Show, and it was quite a banger. Also, I’m absolutely exhausted, because I didn’t get in until about 3 am because the cockpit cigarette lighter didn’t work on my flight out of my Minneapolis layover, so I’m sort of a mess. Also my throat is pretty raw from working those car-crazed and free-shirt hungry LA crowds as we did Autopian Car Trivia, where we gave away hundreds of Autopian Certified Car Geek T-shirts.

David even made me give the very shirt I was wearing to a kid, who was disappointed when we ran out! But, Even with all that excitement, the low-key hero of the booth was the little car you see up top: the yellow-and-green Berkeley we got at auction earlier this year.

You remember the Berkeley, right? This guy:

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All throughout the time we were there, that little car drew people in like a people-meat-magnet. Journalists on press days, and then thousands of people when the show was open to the public. People just seemed to gravitate to it unconsciously, and then would take pictures, or, more often than I liked, climb in it.

Sure, some of that were little, eager kids climbing in – and for them I’d usually open the door and let them sit and grab the steering wheel while their parents snapped photos – but a lot were grown-ass adults, roughly shoving their bodies into that tiny car. The security guard was having to keep an eye on it specifically, that got so common, and eventually we had to make a little sign.

Still, it brought lots of joy, and I’m not sure I realized how big a draw it would be. Good job, Berkeley!

Were you curious what the Big Trivia Screen looked like? Of course you were:

And how about the T-shirts we gave away?

Yes, you’re correct, that car on the shirt is a Porsche 356-powered Zunder! Right, from Argentina! Man, you should have been there! Maybe we’ll print up more of these and do more live Car Trivia events? What would you think of that?

Oh, also, on the way home, I found out that the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport has the best urinal stalls:

What I didn’t realize is that the MSP airport is known for their top-notch bathrooms, and was even voted America’s Top Restroom in 2016! And, even better, it seems that at least some of the reasons why so much effort has been put into this airports bathrooms is because there is actually a bathroom stall there that is famous thanks to a Certain Senator, and after that had actual visitors and tourists seeking it out.

That may have been part of the motivation for these excellent bathrooms, built in part at least by Innovative Surfaces, but it also may be because the bathrooms can be used as storm shelters? I’m not sure, but what I do now know is that MSP’s bathrooms get way more press than any other I can think of. And now, I’ve added to it!

The cycle continues.