I had forgotten they had grown a bit beyond socal, too....now I recall they had presence in norcal, too, think the one in Mtn View is now a Performance shop; didn't know they had expanded as far as Seattle. When I was a kid in Santa Monica Helen's was the place to go...I spent hours in that place drooling over the Schwinns and Paramounts. That was well before mountain bikes, tho...and I digress.