Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

My Fondest Memory: Airport Beers After a week in paradise, it’s the anticipation in those pre-flight bubbles I remember

airport beers, dear youth, what youth, travel

I just got home from five days in absolute “paradise.” Clear water, boat rides, adventure, diving, nurse shark sightings, couple fun waves, good friends, dark rum and cold mini beers whenever I needed. A quick jaunt to recharge. I read some books, rode some waves, danced in the Third World discotheque, ordered foreign foods in foreign languages. Everything perfect and fun. But you know what I remember most? The fucking beer I drank at the airport before my flight.

I don’t know what it is. I love them. The anticipation in those bubbles. The eye candy and humanity in the terminal, steady-eyed and bustling by as you sip. Your own headful of what’s to come. What was. What could be. The foreign languages dance past. The slovenly humanity and the beauty in them too. The ridiculous price you must pay for these beers and how happy I am to pony up — all this blending into an enthusiasm that reveals itself as a silly grin and the happy chills running down my spine. And despite the depressing tile of LAX and all that make it a nightmare, to me, with that airport beer in hand, it is pure romance. The reward waiting for you after being fondled through security and sweating through TSA in socks…all of it just part of the journey to get to that drink, that short instant of relaxation before you board the plane and hurl yourself 35,000 feet above the ground with a pack of strangers watching movies you never thought you’d actually see, let alone cry at.

I will take them alone and with friends and I will buy yours if we are ever travel comrades.

Today, I toast to you, my airport beer. —Travis

thurston moore what youth

Thurston Moore made our ears bleed Live from the LA Art Book Fair

Thurston Moore continues his reign as the king of dissonance at the LAABF

I still haven’t seen Cluster either And it’s being made in the room next to me

I didn’t think I’d have to write that. But there it is. The morning of the premiere and I still haven’t seen the damn thing. After a week in the desert, followed by an even more dehydrated stint in the lizard den known as the What Youth editing bay, Kai and Blake are still the…

Seven missions, 16 sessions A dispatch from your guide to good waves

Hints from a good-wave magnet

Creed McTaggart what youth cluster

Dear Youth What Youth HQ during the making of Cluster

This is us on deadline.

quinn matthews what youth surfing photography

A rookie’s year on the run Dear Youth with Quinn Matthews

Quinn Matthews recaps his 2014 year on the road as a rookie.

dear youth quinn matthews what youth hawaii

Dear Youth One more Aloha from Hawaii (with Quinn Matthews)

We just had to say aloha one more time. This time Quinn Matthews says farewell to the island. It’s been exactly a year now since Quinn Matthews caught our eye with his photos from Hawaii, and this year was a stellar sophomore campaign. Always fresh, and always rad angles.

john john florence surfing hawaii what youth

Dear Youth: See Ya Hawaii 12 Photos from the North Shore

Nate Lawrence photos from the North Shore.

Quinn Matthews pipeline what youth surfing

Dear Youth Swimming at Pipe: Quinn Matthews

Editor’s Note: Every time Quinn does something (anything), it’s probably his first time. And while I think he’d swam and shot at Pipe before, these were definitely the biggest waves he’d ever swam in. Which lends for good reading, especially when you line it up with the results you see below. Quinn wrote this and…

dear youth quinn matthews what youth surfing

Dear Youth 15 photos from North Shore: Quinn Matthews

Last year it was his fresh approach in Hawaii that caught our eye. And throughout the year he’s continued to amaze and baffle us simultaneously with his awe of the world around him and ability to get the wildest shots at the least likely of times. Quinn Matthews is a shy, unassuming, extremely green but…

dear youth hawaii kenny hurtado what youth surfing

Dear Youth 15 Photos from Hawaii: Kenny Hurtado

Kenny Hurtado has always been one of our favorite photographers. Both for the purity of his photography and for his humble demeanor. He’s been over on the North Shore the past few weeks and took a very unique approach to his coverage of the most photographed place in the surf world.

dear youth hawii nate lawrence what youth

Dear Youth 15 Photos from the North Shore: Nate Lawrence

Photographing the North Shore is an interesting skill if you wanna do it right. Nate Lawrence has been on the North Shore for a few weeks now, and prior to that he’s logged well over a decade of pilgrimages each year. And somehow, each trip back he manages to surprise us with the unique and…

nate zoller what youth dear youth fiji

Dear Youth Right Place, Right Time.

I just had the best month of my life.

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.