I've always been a fan of small surf shops. My first 'real' job was running a little shop called Corona del Mar Beach Club back in the late 80's. I was in charge of keeping the groms in line and the wax stacked. Back in the day Bob Hurley would come by and sling his IPD boards, Uggs were just getting a start here in the states, and Mossimo was pushing these funky cow print shorts that customers bought like they were going out of style (which they did of course). Life was simple and the surf industry was barely pushing a million dollars. Then soul-less corporations like Costco and Hollister started selling their own version of 'surf' at the end of the 20th century and the surf shop started to disappear. Luckily for us, there's guys like JP St. Pierre who haven't forgotten what's surfing's all about and they opened shops like Surfy Surfy.
Located at 974 N Coast Hwy 101 in Leucadia, the original building has been around since the 20's (check out the unique facade when you're there) and it was actually the old Greyhound bus station. Now it showcases what a surf shop should be: a place to meet friends, talk about swells, scrutinize/fantasize boards, and pick up some wax. JP has been involved with north county and surfing since the 70's- first as a grom working at Sunset Surfboards (where Nitro bikes on Highway 101 currently sits) and then working for his dad Peter at the legendary Moonlight Glassing. He noticed over the years surf shops were losing their identity so he decided to open his own- Surfy Surfy- on May 1st, 2010. He also noticed shops around town closed early- so when you got off of work- you didn't have time to run to a shop to grab some wax or trunks before an evening session. You got skunked! So he's made it a point to keep the hours around 9-7 Monday to Wednesday and 9-8 Thursday-Saturday.
Community is also important to the soul of a shop so JP is opening a coffee house next door (the plan is to have a soft opening on August 29th during the Leucadia Art Walk and regular hours starting September 1st) so you can grab some coffee, check out some shapes, down a pastry, and listen to some good music. With the re-paved patio out front, it's going to be a cool place to hang with the wifey and groms.
What's really unique about Surfy Surfy is what it doesn't have; no blaring music (Hollister take note), no big multinational corpos pushing their marketing 'message' in your face, and TV's flashing clips of the latest airs for the ADD crowd. With the help of manager Summer Nelson, the shop carries some unique apparel brands (mostly independent, organic, and made in the USA) as well as an eclectic selection of shapers (in which all the boards are glassed through dad's Moonlight Glassing):
-GH (JP learned to surf on Gary's designs)
-Caster (an old family friend of the legendary boards)
-Caster (an old family friend of the legendary boards)
-Sunset Surfboards of course
-Singerland (JP likes the old school craftsman style)
-Channel Islands (Al actually went to San Dieguito High)
-Campbell Brothers (a Moonlight Glassing specialty due to the unique bonzer design)
-Campbell Brothers (a Moonlight Glassing specialty due to the unique bonzer design)
-Sakal (originally an HB shaper that got out from behind the Orange Curtain and recently relocated to Cardiff- good on ya')
-DK (an up and coming 20-something shaper)
-Mandala (shapes some really cool 'jet' tails with some unique flex characteristics)
The shop also has Dale Webster's board on display. Dale if you don't know is the legendary nor-Cal surfer who has ridden waves EVERY SINGLE DAY since 1975. That's over 13,000 days straight. Don't worry about Surfy Surfy having Dale's board and ending the streak- Dale got a new one.
Since the surf is going to be small this weekend, make it a point to get some kind of stoke back in your life and head on over to Surfy Surfy to sniff a bar of Sex Wax and talk some board design with the local crew. You can thank me later.
