SalVALtion!
Above is a look at Reny Yater’s old Santa Barbara Surf Shop (now under a new moniker but still featuring a nod to bygone opportunities to capitalize, a la the Billabong Pipeline Masters in Memory of Andy Irons and featuring Gerry Lopez presented by Monster Energy) in that old quonset hut where State Street meets the beach in view of Sandspit.
A generationally iconic shop, in an iconic location, featuring an iconic roster of Rincon-centric shapers and riders over the years. Even as the blades of local rippers underfoot went from Yaters, et alius, to Merricks, the place carried weight and cache. I recall them expanding to a more” pan-outdoors” approach in recent years, with more surf gear racks replaced by kayak accessories and the hottest latest metal water carrying devices upon which to affix microbrewery and “save the ___” stickers.
Now though, according to a wonderfully penned new story, they are seemingly and thoroughly saved from the long-standing economic doom ushered in by the ’08 global massacre, ALL THANKS TO VALS! Even a rad quote, more or less saying how the beginner who comes in for his first boogie board today will be swinging thru in subsequent years for his booties and step-up sled.
What maketh the surf community of this? SalVALtion?
I’m torn.
Mostly on whether to get the kayak accessory, the metal water jar, or my 1st boogie board.
let me personally apologize for snark. but c’mon, Jen? the spot in crosshairs has long been vulnerable to ultra hard surf critique, no? not unlike the entire “SB “surf scene? it’s a cute scene, no doubt. but for fucks sake, please avoid both VTA county and the Ranch as places where the advanced skilled surfer might enjoy, were he or you to be from SB county. The people south of you, particularly in a certain Oxnard neighborhood, know where the SB pros film their clips. if i lay off SB willl y’all lay off OX? yeah i believed not. a fucking clip is a clip. and it ain’t occuring at hammond’s or naples or griffs or the ranch, huh Jen?
You are very benevolent. You could have had him CANCELLED!!!
FOREVER!!!
California is funny.
The main source of VALs AND Val’s anywhere…
Has been since the 1950’s (or earlier)
Always will be……
Shows how poor the idea of US manufacturing is then
A bloody disgrace…
“It was summer and we were bored” ha haaaa
Thanks for not hating me. Sometimes I think something is funny then I think about it for a second and realize it could be construed as offensive. I’ll do better moving forward. Take care! My friends and I greatly enjoy your writing.
Sorry Jen See I wrote something I thought was funny, then I reread it and it was borderline offensive and stupid. I deleted it. I will do better next time.
Blood feud!!!
Toxic Masculinity!!!!!!
This feels uneducated or a cheap shot. ‘Cause they’ve been surviving on t-shirts and non-surf walk-ins for a really long time. That said, there are always a couple of knowledgeable folks on staff and their board selection is second to none for the aspiring pointbreak surfer. Of course, all the surfers in town go direct to shapers but someone has to have a surfshop. May as well be Roger.
Every business has to figure out how to bring in the revenue and make a profit. I’m sure there are trust funders who can subsidize hobby businesses but they lose interest and move on to the next thing. The shops in my area make more in actual profits by selling T-shirts and rack pads to non surfers than anything an actual surfer buys. Same thing really.
Lol you were looking for boogie boards? Spongebob Jenpants
How bout “salVALvation”?
Almost like salivation. Spit!
How long will surfers miss the fuckin point about what shops are for
you mean they aren’t for selling coke out the back?
BINGO!!!!!
Pretty sure any surf shop that has turned a profit in the last 25 years has catered exclusively to VAL’s. It is the only way to fund having a decent hardware selection. Revenue from Micks bottle opener sandals probably accounted for 60% of board purchases by shops for ten of those years. The rest was from bikini’s and St. Christopher necklaces.
Fuck I remember when Micks bottle sandals came out in what 2003? Never had a pair but thought it was a cool idea. BUT I think you should be able to open a bottle with whatever is around.
Agreed. It is a tool for VAL beer drinkers
Concur. Especially if you like the taste of dog shit in your beer.
Hahaha! I forgot how disgusting those things were.
Who is downvoting this shit??
Some pansy who can’t open a beer bottle without an opener? Or someone who likes dogshit smeared on the part of their beer bottle that they put their lips on?
Huli downvoted himself….
I bought a pair that I later discovered had a small aluminum pen in each of them. I realized that the pens were some kind of smoking accessories. Not really what I was looking for.
The Hurluley boffins came up with a flipflop with a wine bottle corkscrew attachment as the signature series from Mick’s stalker.
It didn’t perform all that well on the market but I’m sure you could find it on eBay from specialist collectors.
That sounds perfect for the Murfers of Byron Bay! Two of their favorite things are wine and surf. Besides linen and home decor ideas.
Upvote the should be able to pop it off on any metal or w any plastic around. Question though did folks stop buying these because the beer industry for the cool kids went to cans and twist offs?
Any rock on the ground or stick is a bottle opener fir me. Don’t use the teeth anymore. But my favorite is the seatbelt buckle. So handy while driving.
“RENNY YATER’S GENERATIONALLY ICONIC SANTA BARBARA SURF SHOP”
That’s a fucking stretch to say the least. This is Roger’s baby where they sell Yater’s, not Renny’s surf shop. And, FYI, they have been peddling kook products for 30 years at least. All that said, not a bad shop as far as surf shops go. Plenty photos to look at and old mals to stare at if that’s your thing.
Generationally iconic from the 50s-80s, “pan-0utdoorsy” since mid-90s at least. Reny’s bay remained out back till ’87, at least.
Yeah, I guess 35 years is a long time for a fly.
and yet an even longer time to revel in mid-lengthed-ness
You like mid length?
My girlfriend has never complained about my mid-length … at least not to me
like, when it’s 8-12 ft. I’ll ride up to a 7’2″ish, and if it’s any bigger I’m on the beach…But I was just riffing on your 35 years being long for a fly comment, suggesting (tho having never met nor surfed together) your kookish-ness has relegated you to that amount of time in the water mid-length-ing it without skillfull progression to shave a few inches and liters off the blade, know what I’m saying? typical internet snark delivered with typical internet ignorance of who I’m talking to, haha. i sincerely appreciate your feedback tho!
Nah, I have no idea what you are saying as I have never ridden a mid so your assumption is a bit off. The fly comment was definitely meant as a random comment that has no meaning. Much like this article.
If you are going to write for BG thicken up the skin or you might want to head over to Stab with Ashole. They delete and block comments that they see as negative or threatening, might work better for you.
Haha nice tip about thickening one’s skin, hahaha! That’s rich…
I’m at threat level absolute zero, brother, as indicated by my post above. i was just taking your piss and giving it back good naturedly and with a huge grin on my face.
the only things i was sincere about were that my “mid-length” is just my step-up and after about 12 ft I won’t be in the water, and in my appreciation of your feedback!
Good onya. At least SB is never over 12 ft so you get to enjoy everything that gets in here. Might try a mid someday but these days it would be a step-down. Too fucking old to sample anything resembling a shortboard anymore.
i am born and raised in oxnard, kid. i dwell here now. never at any point 100 yards from a beach break and a crew that’d guarantee toss your santa barbara salad. the same stretch of sand every VTA/SB pro actually comes to get clips.
and you have completely missed many points. just like me when it gets real. i miss points and pack tubs out front. ask around. use my name, mr. barrelled, and you’ll likely encounter cats who’ll tell you that i’ve been highly and fairly more barrelled than you (perhapsd?).
please do! for beachgrit’s sake! ask around about me.
as for you, you’ve totally missed more than points. you missed the fact i took the piss myself and laughed together, with you, how you’re big talking on an internet message board and i retorted with similarly retarded talk, both snarky and ignorant, and generally reliant on the good natured “aw, you’re a kook” tease. which you mistook as some sort of threat so as to tell me to thicken my skin, ahahahahahahaha! i tried to say: “my brother, you have mistaken me” and indicate that we’ve never met and never surfed and it’s all good.
but now, you wanna tango?
I PROPOSE A KOOK OFF. SEND ANY/YOU’RE BEST CLIPS IN TO CHAS. I’ll do the same. let’s have the commentariat ultimately decide???????????? are you game, is does your mid-length not fit into small clips? and PS – to preclude any sort of “I don’t Go Pro myself or have a filmer” bullshit let me say “me neither”
But I surf in a rad place with rad waves, ever gratefully, and am blessed/cursed with cameras angled upon every wave that comes thru when it’s bombing, due to the talent in the lineup (mine notwithstanding). So let’s go? Clip for clip? Or just perhaps, sans ability to comprehend what you read, just shhhhhhh a bit??
Blood feud surf off! Fuck yeah! Be better than the Chas/Ashton footage. Something besides Sharks and real estate, actual surfing challenge.
i’m fucking down
……nobody used to like the shores, it what always vta rivermouth….way back when.
I usually rode a 7’6″, the waves were good in the 80’s. Hefty even. Spring and Summer. Further south has always been trickier to figure out for me.
I stayed in sb for the winter point action mostly. Hard to drive by when its goin off and empty…dawn/sunset patrol for me.
“i am born and raised in oxnard, kid.” Ah. Its clear now. Beachgrit’s editorial screening allowed someone from the Nard to write an article about SB. That never turns out well. Nor visa versa, I might add.
The phrase “Generationally Iconic” is a tautology. Discuss.
Its nice and dark in there too….can surreptiously check out the tourist gals. I been looking/buying aused boards that come through there for….I cant remember..I think forever, although I think they were uptown earlier….Roger is a good guy, always has time for a chat if hes around.
Buy a goat-surfing rack for your SoCal beach cruiser. You won’t regret it.