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Checking In On The Rockaway Surf Scene

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Breezy Point Surf Club via JGNY
Back in April Bobby Vaughn's new surf shop, FTW (Fuck the World) in Rockaway Park, was getting some press. Vaughn told the NY Times that the "main problem with the Rockaway surf scene is that it has not embraced its inner gangster." Vaughn doesn't have a pristine record, but he said he's now "strictly positive" and has turned his life around. NY Mag (who notes that "surfing in Rockaway can be incredibly unpleasant") checked in on the scene he's creating just after Memorial Day. They say that just two months after it opened, the shop is already a default hangout for local teens. "Vaughn plans to turn his surf shop into a clubhouse. He wants to build a tiki lounge in the backyard and a gym in the basement for members of his FTW crew to train on days when the surf is flat. By the end of this year, he hopes to have a team of about 25 kids. The top members will receive a salary, FTW clothing, and money to travel to some of the best surf breaks in the world." So for any of those who thought he'd be leading these kids down a dangerous path, it seems he's redeemed himself. Now let's start working on saving those cute beach houses in the area, okay?

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Comments [rss]

  • King Kong

    Yeah, its a kid's hangout because there is a couch in the back and the shop is overpriced with some mediocre products. The clothing is especially bad. I don't know anyone who shops there so the kids feel like they can make it home with no one bothering them. Plus it is next to a "non-gangster" shop. The other shop seems a better place not to get stabbed or be forced to play Wii.

  • dalahorse

    Sorry to burst your bubble Clyde, but this FTW does stand for Fuck the World.

  • chuzzlewit

    surf elsewhere.

  • Clyde

    It means for the win. Study up.

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