SUNDAY EDITION: Woody Lovell Is The Only Black Surfer In The Room

What comes to mind when you think of surfing? Do you think about the brown-skinned Polynesians, Africans and Peruvians who started this sport? Or is what comes to mind, the overwhelmingly white and upper middle class surfers that you see on surfing magazine covers or in the media? Paddle out in Malibu, Trestles or Rockaway and you’re likely to find a mostly homogenous pack of white people surfing on expensive boards, wearing expensive gear in areas with a high cost of living.

Surfers tend to be independent, small business Republican types and surfing for them is all about fun and love and spirituality. They want to keep politics out of it, until a surf spot is threatened, that is. Today we have with us, Woody Lovell, founder and owner of The Barbershop Club and host of the podcast, The Barber And His Therapist. Woody has been surfing more than two decades and is the subject of a full-length article in Surfer’s Path magazine which led to the creation of the yet-to-be-released, surf documentary, Fish Out Of Water.

Ymca https://www.ymca.net/ 

 “Asshole, a theory” James Aaron

 The Barber and his Therapist

The Barber Shop Club

 Black surfers association

Instagram: @woodylovell, @thebarbershopclub 

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