On the first Thursday night of spring and fall months, the parking lot of Café 86 on South Jones fills with people from all over the Las Vegas Valley. But they’re not just there for the cafe’s popular Filipino-inspired pastries and drinks. They’re showing off their glossy metal steeds at the Sin City Japanese Classic Car Meet.
Its array is endless: from vintage sports cars like Nissan Skylines and Acura Integras to modern, fast luxury rides like Toyota Supras and Lexus IS 350s. The event has truly become an automotive hub for car enthusiasts — and photographers, such as 22-year-old John Villasanta.
Villasanta’s interest in shooting with cameras stemmed from using Snapchat during high school. He didn’t start fiddling with real cameras until his senior year. It remained just a hobby, until one day …
“I got laid off in 2024,” he says. “That was the big push for me to try to make something out of my photography and video.”
Villasanta’s interest in cars came from his father, a master technician, and from playing the Need for Speed game series.
To him, there’s something special about rebuilding and upkeeping older cars. Today, he modifies his own vehicles and regularly attends car meets, where he gets to combine his two passions.
The cars Villasanta photographs at meets are out of the ordinary. Whether they’re lowered to the ground, have a tuned engine, or an exhaust with a rumble that can be heard — or felt — from a mile away, each car is tailored to a unique taste. He focuses on the more detailed, less common cars. He also likes capturing shots where people are present.
“I think it’s more attractive to see,” Villasanta says. “Sure, the car is nice. But this isn’t a dealership; this is a culture.”
He says this tight-knit community has helped him to develop both his skills and his network. He’s even started to branch out his work to other types of photography such as family photos and portraits.
Villasanta believes there are misconceptions about the car community in Las Vegas. Although there can be slight similarities to movies like those in the Fast & Furious series, he differentiates the stereotypes from real life.
For instance, not all car enthusiasts want to partake in illegal racing, street takeovers, or “hooning,” a term for getting rowdy in the cars, Villansanta says.
That’s the reason Jeff Sison started the Japanese Classic Car Meet. In 2022, he was at another car meet trying to pitch his idea for an event that focuses on Japanese classic cars to a friend, when a driver interrupted by “two-stepping,” or revving their engine until the muffler started popping.
“Literally, right in front of us, we're trying to have this conversation,” Sison says. “And I was like, this is exactly why I want to do a different kind of meet.”
So, Sison gained permission from the owner of Chino Hills, California-based Café 86, who also happens to be a car guy. And the meet was founded.
People seem to be in favor of Sison’s efforts to create a safe, legal space for car fanatics. It has grown since it began in Henderson, he says, from 12 to 15 cars three years ago, to enough attendees to fill a shopping plaza parking lot today — with some spillover.
“People would DM me, just saying, ‘Oh man, I love your meet, you know, I love going over there, because it’s chill, and no one’s doing nothing stupid,’” Sison says.
Old or new, cars that pull up to JCCM turn heads, leaving people in awe … and traces of exhaust. But, Villasanta admits, a classic Japanese car simply has to exist to catch his eye.
“They don’t make them like they used to,” he says. “Not to be cliché … I mean, these cars are, like, bulletproof.”
