Avoiding the Knock—Stealth Parking Tips and Tricks

well people there are people that say don't buy a white cargo van because it has that creepy effect so we went ahead and got one and have had no problems [Music] white vans are the cheapest there are if you do get if you buy a van and has a color black blue yellow whatever that costs an extra couple thousand dollars so a lot of people tend to get the wagon is they're just inexpensive hi everyone welcome back to my next video today I am here with Jared tachi who is a stealth van dweller and you've dealt a lot through Southern California which is one of the toughest places around really so we're going to help you understand if you have to live in a city how to do it how to be stealth how to avoid the knock on the door what to do if there is a knock on the door and all the details real expert so Jared before you we do anything else I you record your life in your van that's on YouTube and tell us your youtube name my it's just my name actually is Jared tachi so it's J ARR OD toc CI or you can even look up my van it's called ghost so you can look up that as well and that'll be should be there hopefully hopefully yes and so and your website is the YouTube is a lot about camping in town in your life yeah it is about how to live the stealth lifestyle I guess you could say I do a couple different all different types of vlogs when it comes to how to videos or stealth videos whatever it may be okay good so this is good information you don't have to rely just on this one video you can go to his channel and learn all about it in detail tell us a little bit of your background where are you stealth camp parking at in in SoCal and all the all the ins and outs well I background a murder originally from Boston Massachusetts oh right outside the city the suburbs I've been in the van for about two years now and I in mostly around the Greater Los Angeles area for the first 8 months of being living in the van was a mostly Hollywood which was interesting in itself and so why are you living in your van in Los Angeles in Hollywood so I I I have a degree in architectural engineering which is why I built the van but I've been pursuing stand-up comedy for quite some time now and I knew having this kind of lifestyle was money-saving so I wanted to downsize into a van and also it was great for stand-up comedy to being on the road so let you pursue your dreams when they're not really paying a lot of money yet absolutely and it's honestly since I've been doing it it's it's it's freed my mind up it's freed up just like me as a person it's really opened up so many doors for me it's been probably the most gratifying thing I've ever done in my life which is weird but true it is and it's the best times of their life are living in a van you know it's weird this is kind of off to stealth topic but I've been an asthmatic my entire life I've carried it in here with me my entire life and about a year ago I stopped carrying my inhaler well I have no idea if that's because of the van life or because I've been getting older I don't really care but I contributed towards being in van life and distressing myself stress probably is the big thing yeah which is weird cuz I'm parking cities which is people would think it's stressful yeah and it's not okay well that's good that's that's what we want to learn you know to make life a less stressful and there are a lot of folks here who still have to work I mean you're a young guy you're you have to work I do and so jobs are in cities and in your case comedy clubs are in cities comedy clubs and that's where you are any side jobs I find for the first year year and a half I actually worked in hospitality industry valeting or just you know random Auden and jobs that I have to be at work so he's tough to be there they did take advantage that I lived in a van though yeah oh yeah cuz I park on their lot so they'd be like oh you're never gonna be late so that's a sweet deal there and in Hollywood especially the valeting must be just University's job you get easy it is pretty easy it is so there's a lot of people out there who want to be in cities and for whatever reason working and and live in the cities so and you've kind of mastered it after two years you're pretty comfortable how many times have you got a knock on the door the the infamous door knock yes zero that's impressive San Diego you know those places are famous for door knocks they are and I've heard that and I knock on wood haven't received one and my plan is not to get any well that kind of raised the question I remember my first night in a van in the city there were noises all the time and it was really unnerving did you find that not because before I lived in the van I also lived in the heart of Hollywood so I was used to the outside noises I used to sleep with my window open so living in the city that kind of ambient noise you're kind of used to so I was used to that noise I actually had trouble sleeping last night because I'm in the middle of nowhere and it's so quiet I'm like waking up every few minutes expecting to hear noise and I don't right I hear some people argue that there really is no such thing as stealth you're just kidding yourself you're not doing yourself any favors it's just luck or they just do you think there's any such thing as stealth do you have your own control of your own destiny there you know I do and I I think I do I'll just give you an example for eight months and my first van lifing when I first got into van life for the first eight months I parked in front of a police station that's pretty bold yeah I did I parked in front of a police station and I was among other RV dwellers and van lifers they were hassled constantly and I was never hassled the cops never bothered me the cops never you know did anything to me just they left me alone and I made it it was I never exited out of the side door I always exit out of the front doors to make it look like I was getting out of a vehicle so I do believe there is stealth aspects to you just have to do it right and what kind of a man are you in I'm in a high top of RAM Promaster it's a 20-17 so the fact that you're in a pretty expensive vehicle probably made it a little easier for you yeah I would think so and I have no windows on the sides either which is helpful but I also know that you can be stealth with Windows having a more expensive vehicle is it also caching to the person they may want to rob you so you may you may be stealth too you know law enforcement but are you stealth to the people that want to rob from you right and that's that's the kind of a trick because if you have I have fake signage on my van what Arkansas when I park and that's a that's a tip if you buy fake signage and I have different types of signs I have dog grooming signs I have plumbing signs or you know chemical signs which is a good one because no one's gonna break into a chemical truck so if you have something that is gonna if you have a you know JT's computers you know people gonna break into that because you might have a bunch of computers inside so you kind of want to make sure that you don't look expensive on the outside yeah so you have a cargo van all windows on the outside some people say that that gives the creepy van vibe that you know you're gonna jump out and grab a kid and pull him in yeah versus pass your van which some people think is more stealth because of it so but you didn't think that because you bought a cargo van I did and this goes back to the windows I didn't put a free candy sign that's another tip folks no free candies no free candy yeah I don't think it's a creepy thing but like I think it's more creepy if you can see inside of a van while somebody's doing things inside of their van like if you have windows on all the sides and as you know you turn the lights on the inside and it's dark on the outside you can see clear as day inside of any vehicle unless you have curtains now I didn't want to put any windows on that side so you can't see inside my venom what I do have windows went by my back doors but I have two sets of curtain see there's no light kind of trading and I would even argue that a van with Windows passenger van that's all covered over is more suspicious more notable and memorable yeah just another cargo van right and exactly you you want to be a chameleon when it comes down to it you want to blend in with your surroundings so whatever you know if you have if you have an RV just make sure you blend in with the rest of your surroundings around you if you have a van like mine like a high-top one of the reasons I did get this van was because I knew I was gonna be in Hollywood a lot if you go around Hollywood there's a ton of movie trucks that have the same exact van that I do right you know even now you see FedEx using these trucks so they're out there and you just have to design it correctly you know it's now to my van is one of the top sellers for you know in America yes because you see if everywhere you seem everywhere we're at the RTR in 2019 oh man they're Pro Master's are everywhere yeah because they're inexpensive they're very easy to build in now a lot of people argue that the reason there isn't really any stealth is because you're not fooling the cops I mean the cops are they're no dummies those are you know they know what's going on so are you trying to pull the cops or I actually know I'm not trying to fool the cops because I don't think even in Los Angeles actually illegal to live in your vehicle really you know what's funny is my van wook was up for sale and I actually had a cop contact me I'm not gonna say where but he contacted me he wanted to purchase my bed so he could live in it right and I will tell you what police station but there was a police station of a of an officer living in his van he parked it on the lot so that is legal very legal because he parked it in the police parking lot I was more on the street but I'm not trying to fool the cops if you are respectful towards law enforcement they're gonna be a respectful right back you know if they do knock on your door or if if a security guard knocks on your door they're just gonna ask you to they're not gonna pull you out of your van and search it they're not gonna do any of that they don't care they just want to make sure that you're not doing anything illegal inside the van they want to make sure you you're not you know selling drugs or even having children in there it's just let's just respect them that's all I can say about that is we're not we're not fooling anybody no right now I think that's important it is it is I can I can picture I can I can pick out anybody living in their vehicle if I Drive down the street I could say living living no that's an actual van living like it's easy okay we're trying to fool the public so that they don't call and complain I called the civilian right right just the public just the everyday person walking by right I want them to walk past my van and them not to think twice that somebody's living inside of that right a lot of us live in cities for a while and travel it sounds like you did too you were LA San Francisco San Diego so is there a difference between traveling on the road and stealth and living in a city still yes bodily Google is your best friend you know if you can literally look up anything on Google and every city is different even in Los Angeles Beverly Hills parking restrictions are different than Hollywood parking restrictions Santa Monica is different than Beverly Hills and Hollywood it depends on height and length sometimes to make sure you read the signage correctly a little trick about reading signs is you read from the top down in signs because sometimes you'll go to a street and they'll be like 30 signs on different parking restrictions if you start at the top and it says no parking during this time this time that's the one to take president over the other two below it so that's really important if you're inside the city's to do to read the signs and also look up actual parking restrictions if you have commercial plates you can't park in certain residential areas I know that my van is over seven feet high and it's over than 18 feet long that's a restriction in a certain part of Hollywood believe it or not so you have to keep that all in mind street cleaning is another huge sign you have to keep an eye on but when you travel what I like to do is park actually in I'll look up like holiday and expresses comfort ends a different type of I wouldn't say big resorts but nice four-star three-star hotels that are on the road which you see everywhere Best Westerns when you pull into those that are on the road whether it's on any freeway or right off the freeway you pull into them you'll see seven work trucks and because I look like a work truck I'll pull right next to them and I'll pass out and I'll sleep through the night and then you get up and you go about your day just don't go inside and use your complimentary breakfast yeah don't do that do you have any just general tips and tricks that you can give to folks to help them to do this better designing your van you want to make sure that your your solar doesn't look like solar so I have per I personally have flat panels that are flexible but if you want to have actual panels make it look like a like a rack that will hold a ladder I actually had a friend that did that and he actually put a ladder on the roof and to make it look like a ladder rack and he had solar panels up there as well very easy simple to do and there it is if you do have windows I would say do a fake signage with dog grooming or pet grooming because if you ever see a pet grooming truck they all look windows on the side so you can get away with having being stealth with windows on there so you like you like some camouflage the signs any other camouflage that you use yeah if if you went to go look at my VIN right now I actually have a hard hat on the dashboard I have a fake clipboard with scribbles on it and I have a worker's vest that you can look you can buy any of this stuff anywhere Target Walmart doesn't matter and I put that on my front seat I got the thing on the dashboard and a fake clipboard it works perfect you really are a work truck you can fit in almost anywhere yep yeah well what about residences then because in the word in a residence you might be a little off do you do you camp in residences I have and I do you've got to be very careful when it comes to residential areas you I don't personally like to park right directly in front of somebody's house so I will find a side street you know how how blocks are sectioned off you know your your front door we facing the street you turn the corner and there's usually a block that's empty if you can find a spot there I would recommend doing something like that and I wouldn't spend more than you know a night there I would really just post up to sleep there because ever you there for days on end somebody's gonna call the police and say there's specific yeah it's a suspicious vehicle right there that you need to go and check and that's when you get your door knock so really in the end you got to use your common sense when it comes to this all common sense yeah for people watching who are just starting out do you have examples of locations you recommend if you're whatever city you may be in you know the good areas and you know the bad areas so obviously stay away from the bad ones and I wouldn't go to the super like I'll give an example is Los Angeles I wouldn't go to skid row which is in downtown Los Angeles it's that's that can get a little hairy sometimes but I also wouldn't park in the middle of Beverly Hills you can also go right outside the city limits which would be the suburban area right where the houses are starting to become homey I guess just look up restrictions again on Google certain cities won't allow you to park on the street for certain cities so just because of that okay and what about apartment complexes do you ever go camping on them yeah I mean in Hollywood that's all there is is apartment complexes so yeah I would park right in front of those like they don't you know the only thing that kind of stinks is the people on the second floor can see my solar panels so I try not to stay too too long in front of those certain apartment complexes because if they see the solar panels then we go back to the common folk know that somebody's living in that band because they could see the panel's right and on the kind of opposite of the spectrum how about the industrial areas with the light warehouses and things like that um you know it really looks like it fits there it does right and there are parts of downtown LA that I fit in like a like I could stay there for months on end you're right on that yeah my your van can fit right in there again you know the good parts of the industrial here you know the bad parts of the industrial area when it comes to your own city that you may be in so some will attract the homeless and and other are VIIRS and some won't yeah I woke up with a homeless guy sleeping under my van one day really yeah in Hollywood okay and we haven't mentioned big-box stores Walmart Home Depot do youdo those things actually do not park in parking lots yeah I don't I don't like to I just you can when I drop when I travel I like to go to like those the three-star hotels or motels I don't like going into a Home Depot it's just I I feel like I'm sticking out you see a van in a Home Depot a Walmart or wherever they're sleeping in there I think yeah there just says I will say that I do like 24-hour grocery stores yes that's a really good one yeah I have done a couple 24-hour fitness is because I'm a member there right so I'll sometimes will go into the club and I will kindly ask the front desk person the overnight front desk person hey I'm in my van out here is that okay if I if I sleep here for the night and 99 times out of a hundred they say I want to see your van out of respect yeah because they just want to see it they want to check it out so yeah that 19 times out of a hundred thick they're good to go we should tell folks if you're living in the city where are you going the bathroom where you're gonna take a shower that joining a gym is really the obvious solution it is I built a bathroom in mind I have a shower but yes going to the gym Planet Fitness 24-hour Fitness anything any gym is really 24 hours you have one example well Jared thank you so much no thank you for having for sharing your knowledge I mean a lot of people being forced into it this is gonna really help I hope so and by all means I'm open to anybody that needs has more questions or whatever just let me know tell us your channel again you can find me on YouTube Jared tachi J arr od toc CI or lookup ghosts ghosts van is also a way to find me my website will be launched any day now it's Jerry cha-cha Dom so please I'm all anybody can shoot me an email shoot me a message that's very good thank you you're welcome and work away so you go and see you doing your comedy I'll be hitting the road and starting ghost comedy tour which I haven't even announced yet so there it is keep your eye out for it folks thank you so there you have votes I know you've gotten some really good information out of this if you did like us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later have you seen the cheap RV living teespring store if not you should check it out you'll find mugs t-shirts stickers sweatshirts and lots of cool merchandise please visit us at WWE stores slash cheap RV living store and thanks for visiting [Music] you

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 649,239

Rating: 4.8885913 out of 5

Keywords: live, living, car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, gypsy, camper, camp, boondock, travel, snowbird, caravan, tiny, house, tribe, RTR, adventure

Id: vn9F0fxnicc

Length: 20min 37sec (1237 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 02 2019