When Surfing Cowboys opened its doors we decided that it needed a special name. After all, nothing about the store fit into traditional categories. But why “Surfing Cowboys?” Think of surfers riding the waves, scooters riding the streets, cowboys riding the range..... these are all things that evoke a sense of freedom and spirit for living. Surfing Cowboys evolved out of a similar spirit. A spirit that was also very closely linked, for us, to California. We used to work as commercial fashion photographers. But we have also always been adventurers and travelers, loving our time on the road, on scooters, and in the surf. We eventually found ourselves traveling and picking up pieces along the way that we hoped to one day live with in our California dream home. California -- for us the word *means* freedom. It's the place where the desert meets the sea, where people come from all points on the globe, let their hair down and live the way they want to live, being who they want to be. The pieces we began collecting were eclectic but soulful, and ranged from authentic Navajo rugs and Catalina pottery, to the rarest of Hawaiiana and original vintage longboards. And while we gradually built up quite a collection, we were still working hard on the road as professional photographers and didn’t yet have our ultimate home. In 1998, we finally decided to take our photo studio on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice Beach, turn it into a store, and share this amazing collection. The stylists and photographers who had been asking us constantly for studio and prop rentals were delighted, as were the collectors who coveted our finds. A company that housed this kind of eclectic mix was not a traditional antique/vintage shop, not a surf shop, not a museum. It broke loose of all these categories. It also evolved ORGANICALLY - people used to walk into our store and think they were walking into our living room (And they were! We actually lived in the back of the store for several years.) Even today, Surfing Cowboys is a store that evokes a LIFESTYLE. Imagine yourself in a home. It’s the kind of place where you walk in door, kick off your flipflops, and smile, because everywhere around you are pieces that inspire. Think of us as the source. We're still out there collecting, but today it's on your behalf. |
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