Results tagged “bobbyvaughn”

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?

Is Rockaway the new Santa Cruz? While it already has a surf community, the NY Times thinks it's got the right stuff to become the East Coast surf hub now that an SC native, Bobby Vaughn, has opened his shop FTW in Rockaway Park. The paper notes that the area has "good waves, public housing projects and a growing surf culture," and Vaughn (who was a founder of the Von Dutch clothing line) thinks the "main problem with the Rockaway surf scene is that it has not embraced its inner gangster." He thinks that the model surfer "is fearless, tattooed and rides an expensive top-of-the-line surfboard decorated with gang tags." He discovered the area in 2005, after moving here following an incident where he fatally shot his friend (he claimed self defense and was found not guilty). While some locals take issue with his image, he says it's "strictly positive," and that he turned his life around and was reborn after surfing for the first time in NYC. He now wants to "show the street kids here — whether they’re surfers or kids from the projects — that they can do it too.” He'll be conducting anti-gang initiatives through surfing and skateboarding in the area.