Warhol is Watching

I found myself in interesting territory this morning. I was wearing a neon vest holding a traffic sign and directing traffic as two massive shipping containers were unloaded by an 18-wheeler into the parking lot of the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach. During the 20 minute ordeal (yeah, for me wearing a neon vest standing in traffic was an ordeal) I was honked at, yelled at and glared at. And I did it all for you.

Next Thursday and Friday is the third annual (how did we do that?!) Inherent Bummer x 805 Factory by the Sea party — which is myself and Brandon Guilmette’s attempt at reviving a sterile, often horrifying surf contest scene that takes place in the town we grew up in. We do it because we really love surfing, music, surf vids, art and (at times) our hometown, so creating this bird feeder of the surf arts for locals and visitors during the US Open of Surfing is our duty.

This year we stacked the lineup with sick bands (Love Fiend, Self Improvement, Bondo, bloom, Your Favorite Color) and surf movies including a new Kai Neville edit called “Supplement”, as well as his the underground Epokhe hit Vacuum — which will be played loud so that epic soundtrack fills the air of Surf City. There’s also a new Ezekiel Lau part from AVVA, a Kalani Rivero part, a Beachhead vid with Ian Crane and tons more we’re adding daily.

We’ll also be celebrating 40 years of Reef with the release of a new IB x Reef collab Fanning Slide and Machado may stop by cuz we’re bros now. There will be beer, installations and free tacos. Yeah, we are redefining happy hour as 805’s “Beer Thirty” and drinks are on us. We even got some Weird Tea and water for those who don’t imbibe the beer.

In addition to all that, we’ll have Banzai Bowls and Sur Coffee to rev up our interview subjects for an all-new season of “Reel Talk.” Don’t let my neon vest wearing be in vain. Come down and let’s show ‘em what a Factory by the Sea looks like. Warhol is watching.—Travis Ferré

[Artwork by: Trevor Barton]