Our History
Ciao and Welcome to Scooters Bellissimo. Scooters Bellissimo was birthed in 1997 as we travelled to Rome for the first time. My wife and I stayed in Trastevere, a very old part of Rome with cobblestone streets and vintage scooters everywhere. I had been a scooterist since the 80s and was very passionate about everything Vespa and Lambretta but had no idea how a trip to Italy would really affect me. Everywhere in the streets of Rome, we would hear “Bellissimo” this and “Bellissimo” that. Scooter Bellissimo was a common phrase meaning very beautiful scooter so it just stuck with us.
At that time, we were already operating a small home scooter shop called Vesbretta Scooter Spares supplying scooters, parts, and service to the local scooter community in California.
My Son and I riding through Castropol, Spain on Lambretta. Note these are original paint Eibar Lambrettas from 1962 and 1964
Soon we opened a large retail store in Pasadena on Colorado Route 66 and had five employees. At the height of our retail days we were servicing 350 scooters every year. We had many of our scooters featured in blockbuster films and commercials. With the late 90s introducing the Internet to us, it showed us a different way to do business. After selling a numerous scooters out of state I realized the customers never once stepped foot in my store so why was I paying all the overhead.
From a retail store we built a 1500 square-foot workshop (7 car garage) behind my house in Monrovia and we moved the business home. I have never looked back nor have I ever wanted another retail brick and mortar store. We are still a tax paying member of the franchise tax board and operate everything as a normal business should. We keep somewhat normal business hours but primarily work by appointment. We still offer mobile service TO-YOUR-DOOR in all of the Los Angeles area which we have been doing for over 24 years.
After such a long run we still love what we do and ride scooters almost every day. In fact we just returned from England where we attended many different scooter related events. My Son and I also rode Lambrettas through England, Spain and Portugal in 2017. We believe the best is still yet to come and we plan on attending Isle of Man next year. Point being, we are scooterist through and through and it runs in our blood even down to every nut and bolt of these classic Italian beauties.
In closing, please reach out and say hello and if you’re in town feel free to come by the shop for a nice jingle on the scoots
– Mark
