#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.

Rania Hannan was supposed to move to New York City in March of 2020—we sort of know how that one goes—before her friend built her a van in which she could drive across the country. "I had never lived outside of Michigan, and I realized I really needed to do something on my own. I jumped into the deep end. The first three weeks, I wanted to turn around like every day. I called my best friend, and I was like, Can I come back and stay with you while I figure out something else? And he was like, ‘No, you can’t. I know this is good for you.’"

Hannan traveled far and wide—up to Alaska, down to Baja. The greatest hurdle to her early years on the road were not so much technical as they were grappling with and understanding the design decisions she’d made with her van. "I had this idea for the bed where it was cut in half, and I could pull out the slats at night and turn it into a full-size bed. During the day, I could utilize the entire space: the kitchen, the living area, all of that. Great in theory, but then when you're living in it and you realize that fifteen minutes a night to make a bed—it doesn’t seem that bad, but once you’re living it, once you’re stumbling back from a bonfire, it’s the last thing you want to do."

The placement of the bed was a point of contention for Robert Walker too. "I’ve had a fixed bed, a bed that folds into a couch, one that pulls out, and another that folds into the wall. I’m the type of person that right before I’m done, I’ll tear it out, and then start all over," he explains. Walker started living out of his van full-time in 2019 after a steep hike in New York City rent compelled him to look into other options. He spent much of the pandemic traveling, meeting Wei and Gallini on the road back in 2021. "They were looking to hire, so I was their first employee." Walker still works for Brooklyn Campervans, where he helps with construction and design. The work is steady, but limits his ability to travel long distances outside the city, he admits.

After all their futzing and fixing, Hannan and Walker’s vans do feel like reflections of their personalities. For Hannan, her newer van—with a bed that doesn’t require setting up twice a day—features a series of built-in steps up to the bed for her 13-year-old dog, Sequoia, and a mural of bright-colored flowers her friend, artist Haylie Mousseau, painted on one of the walls. Walker’s van, on the other hand, features one wall with a pad of fake grass, to simulate the feeling of lying back on the earth when he’s upright on the couch.

As disconnected as Brooklyn might feel from the freedom of life on the road, somewhat surprisingly, there’s something of a community of #vanlifers in New York, including an area in Williamsburg known as Van Alley off 11th and Kent as well as gatherings around McCarren Park. "I’ve always put myself out there to help anybody; I’ve hosted barbecues just to be like, ‘Hey, let’s all hang out," Walker says.

That attitude extended to the #vanlife meet-up throughout the event. Though Wei and Gallini were consummate showmen, ready to give window shoppers and out-of-towners a peek into one of their custom vans, they were, even in the midst of what at times felt like a sales pitch, eager to lend a hand. Occasionally a regular on the scene would interrupt with a technical question about one of their own vans, and they’d be off to troubleshoot.

Nevermind that a build by Brooklyn Campervans can cost as much as a single-family house in the Midwest—the vans’ luxe feel and state-of-the-art gadgetry was offset by an air of down-to-earth bonhomie filling the warehouse. I definitely heard the phrase "pee jar" more than once. By the time Wei and Gallini held their raffle, giving away heaters and stoves and projectors for free, everyone seemed to know everyone, if they didn’t already. Sipping seltzers, attendees stood around sharing what they’d recently learned on YouTube, whether how to install solar panels or heated floors.

I watched a couple who’d recently purchased a van show off its new features, whispering about a future trek out to Colorado as the woman’s engagement ring shimmered under the warehouse lights. Another couple was coming from Colorado to pick up their van the following week. In the depths of February, most everyone at the meetup talked about hitting the road come spring, if not summer. Whatever community they find out on the open road, drivers and passengers rest easy knowing there’s one waiting for them right here in East Williamsburg.

Related Reading:

#Vanlife Too Big of a Commitment? Rent the Lifestyle Instead

How Vanlifers Are Adapting During the Coronavirus Pandemic

This Book Covers Everything You Need to Know About Retrofitting a Camper Van