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Seventh Wave Surf Shop co-creator Robby L. checking weather conditions. Photos by Matt Cohn.<\/em><\/p>\n The Seventh Wave Surf Shop is a brand-new 4th Street establishment with a vibe that harkens back to a time when surfing had a very soulful aura and the smell of resin from garage-made surfboards filled the suburban Long Beach air. Local surfers of all ages will appreciate the Seventh Wave’s earthy feel.<\/p>\n Brooks, born and raised in Lynwood, fell in love with the ocean while spending summers at her grandmother’s Long Beach home. She began surfing in her teens, then took a long break from the ocean to establish her own auto repair business specializing in Volkswagens. She eventually opened Westcoast VW on 4th Street just west of Temple, and when a small storefront directly across the street became available, Brooks knew it was time to open her own surf shop as well.<\/p>\n To bring her vision to life, Debbie enlisted the help of Robby L., an accomplished Long Beach surfer and skateboarder who grew up in a post-punk and commercialized era of surfing yet connected with Brooks’ mellow aesthetic. He has applied his construction skills and creativity to quite evocative effect, employing wood salvaged from a pier, retro surfboards displayed overhead, and a video screen that shows indie surf films continuously.<\/p>\n “I stocked the store with things that cry out ‘surf’ to me,” Debbie says. Core surf-culture clothing companies like Katin are represented, as are grass-roots start-ups like Yellow Rat, which makes canvas surfing trunks exactly to ’50s specifications.<\/p>\n Seventh Wave is also a bastion of culture, currently displaying artwork by surfer\/painter Kim Hamrock and silkscreen virtuoso David Weidman. The shop will be hosting art and music events, and a partnership is in the works with the Art Theater to host surf films.<\/p>\n Brooks is well aware of the local surfing scene that existed before the breakwater was built, when Long Beach was one of the best surfing beaches in southern California.<\/p>\n Debbie looks with a hopeful eye at the possibilities of reconfiguring the Long Beach breakwater to improve water circulation, bring back some of that quality surf, and benefit the city by offering a new attraction for tourists and water people. Perhaps Long Beach will once again be mentioned in the same breath as Huntington Cliffs or Rincon Point when it comes to top-notch surfing.<\/p>\n Brooks is optimistic: “I plan to surf Long Beach before I die,” she says.<\/p>\n![\"Seventh](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Seventh_Wave_Surf_Shop_020.jpg\")
“Long Beach has great surfers, and I wanted the town to have a real surf shop,” says owner Debbie Brooks, herself an avid surfer. “It’s a rootsy, ’70’s-style shop like I remember growing up with.”<\/p>\n![\"Debbie](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Debbie_and_Robby.JPG\")
Seventh Wave carries a solid assortment of surfboards shaped by Tim Stamps: A quick look through the rack revealed long boards, short boards, swallowtails, and twin-fins. All essential surf items are available, “and we repair dings,” says Brooks.<\/p>\n
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