Carnitas Ties: Gnarhunters
As the relentless tradition of the gift giving season is upon us I offer the following review of one of my favorite all time companies, Gnarhunters.
If you happen to have a son, daughter, husband, wife, friend, boss, or any such label of homie who enjoys the occasional shred on both the concrete and the salt water and could give a fuck less about the current rankings of the next tweeny internet super star who can punt a 540 then we have a plug for you…. Gnarhunters.
Gnarhunters is the brain child of Elissa Steamer… skateboarder, surfer, eternal hunter of all that is gnar. I first learned of Elissa in 1996 when I finally got copy of Toy Machine’s “Welcome to Hell.” A few of my friends had made it to the premier at La Paloma Theater that year and recounted tales of absolute chaos and one of the heaviest skate videos ever. I had just returned from a long stint in Australia and was finally able to grab a copy at K5 and watch it. Mind blown. I still have my worn out VHS copy that suffered continual rewind stress… the ‘vert button’ never used once.
Elissa’s part in the video stood strong along the parts of Brian Anderson, Jaime Thomas, and the rest of the Toy Machine team, eventually leading to her professional career as skateboarding’s first female pro. Twenty years later Elissa is still disrupting the norm up in SF with her friends moving forward on the project of Gnarhunters. Collaborating on decks, apparel, wax combs, and beach towels.
So how does this even relate to a site about Encinitas? Well, as I stated earlier Gnarhunters is one of my favorites and I never intended this blog to only be about eggy old guy rants. Plus the Gnarhunters team includes Encinitas lifer, Danny Dicola and two Aussie legends who have called Leucadia home for decades, Matt Mumford and Chad Bartie. So, here is my simple plug to our handful of readers. Check out the links below to Gnarhunter’s site and even follow them on instagram. If the vibe fits with you or someone in your life then relay that info to one of the several iterations of St. Nick at your local strip mall. I’m looking forward to a few new shirts under the tree…
