Surf Shacks 012 - Strider Wasilewski

Where are you from?

I’m from Santa Monica and live in Malibu now. I’m an LA boy for life.

Where and when did you learn to surf?

I learned to surf in Santa Monica when I was 6. My brother and I would wait for people to lose their boards and ride them until they figured out we were on them! Ha ha! In 1978 leashes were just getting popular!Tell us about the mural on the gate here.

Who painted it and what is the story behind it?

It’s kind of a long story, so here’s a short version. Quiksilver was opening a store in Venice and wanted to make sure they included the community. So I asked them to commission Kevin Ancell to paint the mural. He created a masterpiece that turned out embodying my youth growing up in Santa Monica and Venice—which I had no idea about until it was up at my house… Turns out, the store closed down and I asked for the mural, and they said, "Take it!" It’s my most prized material possession. It’s so special to me; it’s hard to explain. Every day I come home and stare at it like it’s brand new and I’m seeing it for the first time.

As a born and bred Angeleno, what are your favorite things about the city?

There are too many to list. Diversity, anything and everything always right there. The madness of the city or the tranquility of the sea or mountains. Los Angeles through and through.

In what ways have you seen LA change over the years?

Change is inevitable, so to see LA evolving through different stages doesn’t surprise me. I guess the biggest change has been Venice and all the people moving in. Venice is still an amazing place, but the true grit has been scrubbed and pushed out, which kind of sucks. But as I said, things change, and maybe it will go back to gangsters and drug dealers and localized surf breaks. Ha ha, yeah right! At least a lot of good friends still live there and hold it down.

What is your favorite part of your home and why?

My favorite part of my home? Hard one, because I always wanted to have grass—a lawn! My close friends will laugh at this, but now I do! The living space feels amazing as well. But the library is magical. I find my kids in there reading or playing bones (dominos). It’s like a novelty room that grew into a creative outlet for our family. Thanks to my wifey for pushing the issue on that room! 

This article was originally published on Indoek as part of the Surf Shacks series, featuring the homes of creative surfers from coast to coast and overseas. See the full interview and photo gallery here.