The Surfer's Journal is celebrating its 25th anniversary. And they're just warming up. Still indie as ever.
The Californian surf publication from San Clemente was founded by Steve Pezman and Debbee Bradley in 1991. Their goal was to create a high-quality quarterly surf magazine with little advertising.
The whole concept was different from everything else in the market.
The Surfer's Journal assumed its purist side and wanted to reach elitist readers who were not interested in surf contests and classic action shots.
You could say The Surfer's Journal looked into the creative and artistic perspective of surfing. The editors always privileged feature articles, travel experiences, in-depth interviews, and surf art.
"From the beginning, we've reverse-engineered things. We looked at what we wanted the reader's experience to be - both tactilely as well as emotionally - then figured out how to deliver that, without even considering what it would cost," reveals Debbee Pezman.
"Now we get to leverage all we've learned and achieved, high-speed trimming - to use surfing parlance - into new, unchartered water," adds Scott Hulet, The Journal's editor for the past 17 years.
"There are vivid and surprising stories yet to be told, and heirloom-quality print remains the finest place to tell them."
Surfboard design, longboarding, high-quality surf photography, and historical stories will continue to fill the 132 pages of The Surfer's Journal.
With the magazine's unique touch and those classic "six sponsors" that never missed an issue.
The Surfer's Journal | The ID
- Founders: Steve Pezman and Debbee Bradley;
- DOB: 1991;
- Headquarters: San Clemente, California;
- Pages: 132;
- Frequency: Bi-Monthly;
- Cover Price: $16.95;
- Subscription Rate: $66 USD annually;
- Intl Subscription Rate: $108;
- Sponsors: GoPro, Hurley, Patagonia, Stance, Rainbow Sandals and Vans;