The last elaborate booth for the ASR (Action Sports Retailer) show in San Diego was packed up in August 2010. Those 15 years of slapping hands, bumping shoulders and surfing my way through crowds of longtime friends, bitter business competitors, beautiful young people, sticker-hoarding groms and bleary-eyed Midwestern business folk probably took years off my life.
Even if so, it was worth it, for where else could one witness the best skateboarders in the world, namely Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi, igniting a ramp at 11, have lunch with Laird and Kelly at noon, and overhear Zen master Hawaiian Gerry Lopez and his young apprentice, Aussie Tom Carroll, discuss the agony and ecstasy of riding Pipeline.
Of course, it all came with a price. You couldn’t tell the posers from the players without a program. As an experiment, I wore Skip Frye’s trade show badge four years in a row and discovered that few on hand knew the difference between the blond-haired San Diego surf star and his negative image, me. This case of mistaken identity caused Gonzo-squared journo Craig Stecyk to quip, “This is the only place on earth you could get away with that.”
Just when the final ashes of ASR memories were being swept into the ashcan of forgotten dreams, I received an email from my longtime friend Abraham Paskowitz. It read in part: “The CARV Expo is a trade show for action sports and outdoor lifestyle retailers, taking place in San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center from June 20-22, 2025. It’s a new event designed to bring together the industry, connect brands with retailers, and showcase the latest trends. The event aims to inspire, educate, and support authentic growth while maintaining a fun atmosphere.”
Desiring to be inspired and educated and drink in all I can from a fun atmosphere, I signed up for CARV, and find myself, with only weeks to go, waiting like a gremmie on Christmas Eve anticipating a 5’2” Rusty Quad under the tree. (CARV, by the way, means California Action Retailer + Venture.)
While I am rarely nostalgic about trade shows, CARV may prove an exception, especially since it has partnered with Surfer Magazine, whose pages first changed my life. In 1962, when a gremmie, I learned to write by studying each issue and learning terms like cutback, Island pullout and Quasimodo.
I spent hours with Dick Dale’s “Surfers’ Choice” blasting and Surfer’s pages open on the family hi-fi. In vain I attempted imitating surfers like Donald Takayama, Joey Cabell and Phil Edwards. While this proved possible on the living room floor, it was impossible when attempting to apply those skills to the waves at Huntington Pier that weekend.
Touch, examine, experience CARV. A note from your doctor or surfing 6-foot Trestles with nobody out are the only acceptable excuses for not attending.
Many thanks to Abraham for inviting me to CARV. I plan on attending all three days. I’ll see you when I’m looking at you.
To learn more about CARV, check out: https://www.carvexpo.com/
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Please observe a moment of silence for one of surfing’s greatest filmmakers, Jack McCoy. McCoy, who recently passed away in his adopted home of Australia, will long be remembered for his groundbreaking Billabong hits like “Bunyip Dreaming” and “The Green Iguana” along with the independently produced “A Deeper Shade of Blue.”
