There’s a massive structure going up down the street from my house. Multiple levels, strong concrete walls and an ominous presence where there was once nothing. I’ve been waiting weeks for the use of this new building to reveal itself — hopeful for something interesting or useful to the community. A movie theater. Museum. Library. Open air farmers market. Brewery? Who am I kidding? It’s none of those. The new monstrosity in town revealed itself this week and it is a storage complex. A place to keep excess junk and memories in sad, dark, well-ventilated rooms for a monthly fee.

Now, I definitely spend too much time thinking about the effects of nostalgia on the “right now” and storage units make me think about it even more. My own garage houses its fair share of memories and trinkets that instigate warm thoughts and funny stories. I will say though, my wife is an expert curator and keeps our garage feeling more vintage boutique than hoarder’s paradise. I think that’s the key. Expert curation.

During the creation of some videos for a project celebrating Reef’s 40 Year Anniversary as a brand we’ve unearthed and organized a lot of their history: hard drives, POP, ephemera, advertisements, stories and memories from a brand that’s been around and done a lot over the last four decades. We also helped them highlight the good and throw out what they didn’t need to be reminded of. There were a few failed attempts along the way, but every good archive needs a great curator and every brand needs a few failures — shows you’re pushing it. Over the course of a few months this room full of “junk” and a nightmare for the facilities manager is now a vault of inspiration and what should give anyone at Reef a pretty good idea of where to start tomorrow. Let the gas hit the flame.

I honestly think this project could fuel a renaissance in surf culture overall. We need to be reminded how pure and enthusiastic we were in getting to today. During this relatively short time remembering the brand’s 40 year past, we got Michael Cukr to say, “Man, I haven't thought about Reef in so long and seeing all this got me psyched,” inspired and built a new IB x Reef product collaboration (out during US Open 2024) and reestablished an enthusiasm for the brand’s DNA that I honestly don’t think was there before this project — no one dared look in that archive closet! Might find a Miss Reef calendar! Or a bikini contest photo! Ahhhh! Hell, maybe Miss Reef will make a comeback. Can women be modern and sexy at the same time they’re taking over at Pipeline? If anyone can figure it out, surfing can.

We’re one of the rare cultures that can look back and see that what got us here had nothing to do with analytics. We are not the Oakland A’s and most of us are here because we love it that much. Don’t look back in anger because our storage units are museums full of radical living by icons who trailblazed the way using endless enthusiasm, irreverence and passion. Dig through them enough and we’ll get through tomorrow just fine. And if we need space to keep anything, I know just the place. I’ll drive the Uhaul.—Travis Ferré

[Above Photo: Lisa Anderson, remembering at Reef this week]