How ‘Eastern Surf Magazine’ Put The Right Coast On The Map
Back in 1991 there was a thriving surf scene on the east coast, yet not many outside the local scene knew how good it was. Then Tom Dugan and Richard Meseroll came around and put the entire region on the map with Eastern Surf Magazine. To this day it’s still pumping out quality right coast surf content although it’s no longer a secret that on it’s day the East is as good as anywhere.
Saturdays (not-‘surf’) NYC chatted to Tom and Richard about the last 26 or so years of east coast surfing and building a magazine.
Sample:
You guys have been at this for a long time, and ESM has really been the staple magazine for the East Coast.
td: We’re in our 23rd year right now. Mez and I are what we call “lifers.” It’s funny, there are photographers who get into it, and they go out and buy $30,000 worth of equipment, but then two years later, they turn around and sell all of it. For us, it’s a passion and it’s given us a great outlet to do the things we want to do—the travel, the girls, the essays. Last year, Mez spearheaded our “Faces of Foam Guide,” which I think is one of the best things we’ve ever done. We tried to cover all the shapers up and down the East Coast.
I remember seeing that.
td: That was a huge task—coordinating the times and places, finding them, all that.
Has the magazine changed a lot over the years?
td: It has. From the start until today, it’s basically night and day. But I think the constant has always been the talented people that we’ve had here at the magazine. Our first editor, Matt Walker, has always been here right up until this day. And you always need good photographers. Without the visuals, you don’t have a magazine. Being two photographers ourselves, a lot of the other photographers look up to us and they want to be part of it.
rm: The digital revolution was crazy, man. If you were to tell me that all of this was going to happen when we started the magazine—that we were going to have the technology we have in our hands today—I would’ve said that you were tripping. Digital has impacted our business in so many ways. Mostly positive, I think.
Click over to SATURDAYS NYC for the feature on Eastern Surf Magazine w/ its founders
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