Claudia Bloom Will Make You Fall In Love With The Rockaways
We’re back with another Member Spotlight, because our members are FRIGGIN’ AWESOME and always worth bragging about!
This week, we bring you my interview with the wonderfully versatile Claudia Bloom, a Rockaways resident with one of the most interesting professions we’ve heard of. Claudia moved to the Rockaways two years ago, following a certain disenchantment with living in Manhattan, and rapidly took to making the most of her many, many media skills.
Claudia is the founder of Rock Locations, functioning as a property, location, and sometimes pickup truck representative, leveraging her charisma and many connections in the media industry to connect Rockaway owners with photographers, directors, producers, you name it. She’s also got one of the loveliest Instagram accounts we know of.
Check out our conversation below:
Your profession is a unique one, how would you characterize it?
Well I’m not a location scout, I’m the founder and owner of Rock Locations. I’m the representative for the homes and business owners in the Rockaways. It’s not like I’m hired by producers to find a motel, or a bar; I find my own locations. I’m a sort of middle-man, you can call me.
Can you provide us a little more detail on your background and how you came to do this?
The sort of motivation for starting this was twofold. I was moving to the beach and I wanted to find something that would keep me working at the beach, without commuting into the city every day.
The second part involved me asking myself what skills do I have, and how can I benefit myself and the community with them? In some ways I jumped around from profession to profession, but it’s all been in media. I’ve gone from being an actress, to casting director, to audition coach, to magazine editor, and when I started working freelance in the magazine industry — because that’s in flux — I decided to open every door: casting, acting, coaching, editing. So when I got out here, I realized my strength is networking. Casting was a really strong influence and I wanted to see if I could apply that. I knew the owners to these two spots — a surf shop and a surf bar -just by coming out to the beach, and wanted to know if they’d been shot before. They loved the idea of being repped, in particular during the off-season, but if I could bring what I could in terms of marketing and publicity, then why not? I just continued stopping by shops, bars, and restaurants, yoga studios, etc. I was meeting my community, and everyone was so lovely when I explained what I was trying to do.
No one said no, the only concern was summer, and we can just work around that. I was involved in a local community group at the time, and a few home owners came up and asked if I could rep them as well. I got featured in a local newspaper, and things started taking off from there. Of the properties I represent, about two thirds are businesses and one third are homes. Somebody even mentioned this vintage truck of his and asked me if I’d represent that. He’s also got these cool old bicycles, and a there’s also another owner with a couple of pedicabs I also now rep. I’ve gone from casting actors to casting old beat-up trucks.
Can you tell us a little more about your move to and love for the Rockaways?
Again, there were a couple of reasons. I was feeling kind of done with the Upper East Side; my connection to that neighborhood wasn’t there anymore. When my son got older, I felt distant from the connections I’d built through his schools, and a lot of my friends moved to Brooklyn or elsewhere around the city.
I started looking around Brooklyn and the East Village, areas I liked, but I just found myself outpriced, and at the same time I lost my magazine job at a national women’s magazine, with many others on the same day, so I went from full-time to freelance and I knew I had to make an adjustment.
At the same time, I’d discovered surfing later in life; I’ve always been a beach person, and relish the summer at the beach. So I started coming out to the Rockaways about five years prior to my move. Someone had mentioned it was really accessible and inexpensive, so I decided to check it out.
This was before Hurricane Sandy, and at the time it looked too urban, too noisy and crowded, lacking as much charm as I’d hoped. So after Sandy, when I saw the surf community kind of pull together to help clean it up and recover, opening new locations, renovating the boardwalk, it was amazing. It’s still an urban beach, but I felt the grittiness was a little calmer. I became friends with local business owners, joined a community to group to look for other surfers, and started considering moving here. I moved to the area in November 2015; I have a big affordable space, a roof deck, I can still commute to the city, and I’m on the beach!
How do you bridge the gap between producers and locals?
I’m open to anything — unless it’s inappropriate — so film, TV, photography, commercials, music videos. I am open to any conversation; I’d say at this point, I seem to be hearing a lot from photographers, and the homes seem to be of most interest so far. I’m pushing the businesses as much as I can; it’s tricky because they’re very specific — it may be trickier to need a wine shop, or a marina, as opposed to needing a kitchen or a bedroom. So there’s probably a wider spread for those.
Other than the truck and the bicycles, what are some of the most interesting locations you’re representing?
That’s kind of like choosing a favorite child. I really feel a connection to each one of these places. I won’t take on a location I don’t like or find attractive. It has to be something that I respond to, that others respond to. I love them all! I have this beautiful bar on the bay with amazing sunsets, or this beautiful yoga studio that’s recently renovated, with incredible natural light. I have a houseboat that’s adorable, that I can totally see a music video being shot on, with the New York skyline visible in the background.
Then there’s these amazing 1920’s beach bungalows on a beach block, with these incredible colorful renovations, surfboards, and funky, hip porches. Even the pizza shop; you walk in there, you could be anywhere, but here you’re just a block from the beach.
I also love this incredible crowded, hip, fun, arty vintage shop. I can just see it as the background to an indie flick, something full of awesome home vintage items collected by a solitary individual. The owners have an amazing eye for home items. I can go on and on because I really do love them all. Each house is different, each business is unique.You know you’re not quite in New York. I’ve got these amazing spaces, right near the city, that can do so much better budget-wise.
I’m currently in year two of the business. Year one was setting it all up — finding these spaces, working with the owners, setting up my social media. I had some interns and photographers help me, who took great pains helping me launch this. And now the calls are starting to come in and word’s getting out. I booked my first job a month ago — one of the beach bungalows did a photoshoot with a photographer for an online magazine. Everyone looked so happy, the models, the photographer.
Everyone who comes out here is blown away. Most of my friends started to come out last summer, and every one of them could not believe this place. It’s not the Hamptons, it never will be, there’s an urban environment to it. It’s an urban beach community — there’s potholes, it’s diverse, there’s a grittiness to it — but if you understand that and get that, then everyone likes it. We have a new boardwalk. I’m still exploring and learning more about the neighborhood.
What direction are you currently trying to take businesswise?
My goal is to get everyone excited about us this summer — get all these productions excited and curious about my spaces so we can set up shoots for the fall and winter. We’ll see where it goes. I’m not the first one who’s created this ‘let’s go shoot in the Rockaways.’ I’m not a pioneer necessarily, but I feel like I’m new at being a ‘rep.’ No one has claimed that yet. I can’t rep everything, but I’d love to be a small source of it.
If I’m on my bike, and I see a shoot, I stop, introduce myself, and hand out cards. Everyone’s been very receptive and would love to know more about what spaces I have here. I met a producer on the beach recently, shooting a fashion shoot, told him about what I did and he asked if I had a space for 100 people and crew? I said I could work something out. I’m excited, I’ve gotten so much positive feedback from everybody — owners, producers, scouts, and friends — and I think and hope it’ll really take off.
I had a meeting with a producer out here, she came out here a few weeks ago, had never been to Rockaways, scouting locations for a fashion company. And it was the very first day of the ferry, and I was giving her directions, and I thought A train and was like ‘wait a second, you can come by ferry!’ I picked her up at the docks, and spent two hours with her looking for homes as a holding area for a beach shoot. Drove her all around and she fell in love. If it works out, or if it doesn’t, she’ll definitely be back.
