ROLLING REVIVAL

Interest in scooters is revving up in Orange County. The Midnight Marauders, a scooter club based in Costa Mesa, is among groups that meet weekly for evening rides to nearby cities like Long Beach, Laguna Beach and Fullerton.

“It’s really unique,” Aaron Kraten, 25, says of the club he helped organize a year ago. “It’s a fun subculture.”

While many of the club’s 15 members ride classic Vespa scooters made in the 1960s and wear the trench coats, narrow ties and longish haircuts favored by the “mods” of that period who made the scooters famous, others own newer bikes dating from the ‘80s and ‘90s and don’t particularly relate to the cultural trappings.

“It’s my only mode of transportation,” said Brett Phillips, 17, who owns a 1974 Vespa 150. “I needed a way to get around town, and I wanted to do it in style.”

Melissa Galvan, 30, says she has had a love of motor scooters for most of her life. “They’re addicting,” she said. “They’re fun to ride. It takes over your life.”