Interviews

Favourite Fives : Russ Gater

Russ Gater is the man behind one of our favourite clothing brands in recent years, Heritage Research. He’s now dividing his time between a number of smaller projects which are all loosely based around his keen eye for ace sportswear and clothing with a history. We’ll keep schtum on the details for now although there might be a few hints within Russ’s favourite five.

Item of Clothing

Early 70’s Beach Boys T Shirt

Tour t shirts from the 60s and 70s are getting increasingly hard to find as the shirts were worn and worn by fans and thrown away. I found this early 70’s BB tee with the Brother Records logo in LA at a Redondo Beach market which was cool, I’ve got a lot of vintage BB t shirts in my collection but I love the simplicity of the Brother Native American logo (plus its printed on a Collegiate Pacific blank, my favourite athletic gear supplier from that era).

Book

Travels with Charley – John Steinbeck

Steinbecks greatest work, a travelogue across America from Maine to California during the early 1960’s encapsulates all of the cultural changes the nation was feeling at the time. Humourous, sceptical and anarchic, Steinbeck moves through large cities and the wilderness reporting on individuals he meets and the state of the nation itself. I’ve bought so many copies of this book because I either wear them out or give them away, everyone should read this at least once.

Music

Pacific Ocean Blue – Dennis Wilson

Its impossible to describe this record in a few sentences. The songwriting and musicianship are second to none, eclipsing Brian Wilson’s work easily, the record ventures into unchartered musical territory by blending Blues, Gospel, New Orleans Jazz and Hawaiian Folk into a contemporary (for 1977) sound that put P.O.B on all of the critics best record lists. This copy is a hard to find promo, sent out to DJ’s on the records release in 77 accompanied by a hand written note from Dennis.

Art

10′ 2″ Simmons style Pig Longboard

I’d asked friend and longtime collaborator John Isaac of Squire to make me a new board and given him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. The result was a board so beautiful its never seen the sea! I just couldn’t risk getting it dinged or even putting wax on it, instead it hangs on our lounge wall. Its a work of art displaying true English craftsmanship with a piece of 1950’s Eames fabric glassed under about 2″ of Volan with Hot Rod style pin lines on the reverse. I’m sure it surfs even better than it looks but I’m not willing to chance it!

Something else

1950’s Buddy Lee Doll

A great piece of Americana, Buddy Lee dolls were made by the H. D. Lee Company Inc. (Lee Jeans) originally from 1920-1962 as an advertising in-store display doll wearing Lee clothing. Made from rigid plastic the dolls would crack and break so they’re quite collectable now, there were a variety of versions including Buddy dressed as a cowboy, Coke deliveryman, Railroad worker and gas station attendant.

Mark Smith

I had pizza for tea.

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