Seventh Wave Surf Shop co-creator Robby L. checking weather conditions. Photos by Matt Cohn.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Brooks is optimistic: “I plan to surf Long Beach before I die,” she says.
Seventh Wave Surf Shop is located at 2714 E. 4th St., (562) 433-6500, seventhwavesurfshop.com
Surfing in Long Beach, 1938. From the John Lind Collection.
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