
At Ocean Beach Surf and Skate, local skaters can now roll day or night, rain or shine. The Ocean Beach-lifestyle shop recently completed an expansion that includes an indoor halfpipe — the only one in the area. “It has been pretty cool on rainy days. It’s not a total loss anymore — people can come in and skate,” said store owner Rodger Caldwell. “We’re open until late, and a lot of times — at the end of the night — there’s people skating and we just stay open.” The halfpipe is part of the store’s expansion in October to fill all of the 7,000 square feet at its location on 4976 Newport Ave. Ocean Beach Surf and Skate moved to that location from 4881 Newport Ave. in January, occupying half of the building prior to the expansion. “There were different plans that were supposed to happen in there but they all kind of fell through and eventually we were able to get the entire building,” Caldwell said. “It allows for unlimited potential. In the whole history of the business, the space has always been sort of cramped and this is a spot we can really develop.” The inside halfpipe is open to the public and accompanies a portable outdoor skate park in the store’s parking lot. Caldwell said he got the idea for an indoor skate facility a few years ago. “For a while, we had a little skate ramp inside the newer space and ultimately it got pushed to the outside, and we had a quarterpipe in the driveway right outside the old skate shop,” Caldwell said. “That’s what made it a place to hang out. Kids were always hanging out there and good skaters came by, too.” Inside its new digs, Ocean Beach Surf and Skate now has a surf cafe serving sandwiches and smoothies, a yoga and personal-training studio and an expanded retail area. The store offers fitness classes to go along with surf and skate clinics and camps already in place. “The studio opens us up to take any kind of a student who takes lessons with us and we can offer them strength training to help them skate or surf better,” Caldwell said. “There’s just a good synergy between the retail and the lessons and the services that we do.” Ocean Beach Surf and Skate has been in the community since 1999. Caldwell said the idea of synergy — the sum adding up to be greater than the whole of its parts — is what has allowed Ocean Beach Surf and Skate to keep growing in a tough economy. “It’s about people working together and cooperating,” Caldwell said. “All the other tenants in here are very synergistic. There’s a really strong synergy and we can all enhance each other’s business. It’s about synergy and synergizing with other businesses.” Ocean Beach Surf and Skate is located at 4976 Newport Ave. in Ocean Beach. For more information, visit www.obsurfand-skate.com. “It’s a good place to hang out, have a snack, watch some skating and shop,” Caldwell said. “We’re just trying to do the best we can and create something that meets a broad audience and that people will enjoy.”
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