Text by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro. Photographs by Sierra Sullivan, Tom Servais (top, bottom)
Flipping through Surfer Magazine goes something like this: blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, shocking lime green, blue, blue, blue.
There in each issue, jumping out from Surfer’s sea of epic waves and countless board short ads, is a rusty but glowing, chartreuse 1972 VW camper van, the icon and motorized doppleganger of Curious Gabe, Gabe Sullivan, who, every month, poses to ten complete strangers the kind of existential questions you’d expect to be asked in the pages of The Atlantic Monthly or in a dorm room at 1 a.m. Questions like, Does surfing improve with age? Would you rather be an East- or West-Coast surfer? And, a real brain scrambler, What’s worse—being a hoser or a poser?
The queries are always filtered through the prism of the mother ocean, but Sullivan tackles more topical subjects, too. How green are you? What’s your take on sustainable surfboards? And which presidential candidate would you rather paddle out with? (Best answer: “Bush, so I could snake him.” Creepiest: “Hillary Clinton. She might look good in a bathing suit.”)
The Curious Gabe column has run in Surfer for almost 11 years. Each one features headshots of the ten respondents and a snapshot of Gabe, the bus, or Gabe and the bus. The age range is huge, with groms and long-time AARP members puzzling over the questions. Both sexes are represented and there’s almost always eye candy in the form of a hot dude and cute girl.
Photographs by Gabe Sullivan
Sullivan, 36, finds his people on beaches, boardwalks, and streets, often traveling by the impossible to overlook bus as he works on assignment as a freelance writer, photographer, and model. The answers can be silly, or deep, but over time Gabe’s body of work has revealed a kind of people’s philosophy that is uniquely fun to read and compelling to ponder. And as isn’t always the case with surfers or surfing, Curious makes you think.
Gabe lives just a few miles away from me in Laguna Beach, but I caught up with him via email and Skype in Bali, where he’s currently doing, um, wave research.
When did you start Curious?
July 30th will mark 11 years. Since I started, there was only one issue of Surfer that didn't have a Curious Gabe column. It was around December 2000 when I interviewed people on the North Shore of Oahu. I asked what it takes to get a wave at Pipeline—a spot known for its viciously protective pecking order. Several of the people I interviewed were professional surfers, including Rob Machado, who won the Pipe Masters that year. The editor of Surfer was Sam George and he chose not to run the column because he felt I interviewed too many pros and not enough regular "civilian" surfers.
Where did the idea come from?
I first did a similar column for a 'zine I ran called R.age—that's capital "R" dot "age"—while working at Rusty, where I managed their advertising creative. I'd interview a bunch of kids while snowboarding—asking
where they think snow comes from. A couple of years later, while working as a contributing editor at Surfer, I was inspired by a similar format article in Details magazine. The Details piece wasn't about board sports, but it had portrait photos and interviews with people on the street asking what their favorite summer song was. At the time, Surfer was doing a theme issue that posed the question: Is now the best time to be a surfer? I called then editor Steve Hawk and pitched the idea of going down to the beach and interviewing surfers on the topic. Hawk gave me the green light and that was the first Curious Gabe column.
How many have you done?
Well, let's see. 10 years and 8 months equals, hold on, I need a calculator for this, 10 years and 8 months equals 128 months, minus one for the column that never ran, equals 127 columns.
How many people have you interviewed?
On average I interview about 15 people per month. Okay, back to the calculator, 127 columns times 15 people equals… about 1,905 people total. My only regret is not being more diligent about getting each person's email address. It would've been fun to keep in better touch with everyone I've interviewed and invite them to the Curious Gabe retrospective movie and book launch party we're planning. Maybe some of those 1,905 alumni will be reading this interview, if so feel free to email me an RSVP: curiousgabe@mac.com. The date is TBD.
What have you learned about people? About surfing?
I've learned not to judge people on appearances. Sometimes the most average and unassuming person will come up with the most brilliant response. I've learned that surfers get excited about the chance to get into Surfer. Even though most dream of getting a cover or spread, being in my column still fulfills a dream for some who otherwise would probably never have a chance to appear in the magazine. I've also been especially fascinated with the evolution of surf-speak. I've learned the most ubiquitous bit of surf lingo is 'yew.' It's pronounced like a high pitched 'you' with a shorter 'o' part. It's not so much a word, but more of a hoot, and expresses recognition of a fellow surfer scoring a great wave. 
What's your favorite question?
Hmm, out of 128 questions, just off the top of my head, maybe: 'Do you pee in your wetsuit?' I remember I got some funny answers while conducting the interviews in Malibu. One guy said he loves to pee in his suit before paddling out and let it collect inside the lower leg of his wetsuit, then kick it on his friends. Another favorite was conceived by former Surfer art director, Tim McCaig: 'Would you rather surf every wave perfectly, or surf perfect waves forever?' I asked the question down in Baja and remember people were really perplexed by that one.
What's your favorite response?
Probably in Hawaii when I asked my then future wife Sierra if she could remember her first wave. Her response was pretty good; she said something about learning to surf at her uncle's surf school in Western Australia. But my favorite part of her response was when she gave me her email address. I was so excited until I realized later that I'd written it down wrong and had no way of contacting her. But as fate would have it, I happened to see her again five months later at a mutual friend's place in Venice Beach, California. But it wasn't until I saw her yet another five months later on the sidewalk in Santa Monica that we went out on our first date the next evening.
Most insightful response?
I get loads of insightful responses. The challenge is condensing them down to 40 words, which is all the format allows. It's difficult when someone goes into this fantastic yet long-winded story and somehow I have to cram the best stuff into 40 measly words. For example, I recently interviewed a guy in Margaret River, Australia, and he spewed out 557 words in response to my question: 'What priority is surfing?' By necessity I've learned to be a ruthless deleter of extraneous words. The delete button is always the first thing to wear out on all my computers.
How do you pick your subjects?
It varies. If I'm on a tight deadline, I'll interview the first person I see. Other times I look for people I'd like to photograph. Sometimes I interview friends or friends of friends of friends, and so on. I've haven't had to resort to putting an ad on Craigslist yet, but that might be funny to try sometime. I could do a whole column with people from Craigslist. Maybe I could even interview Craig himself? I could ask him how he feels about being such a major accomplice in the crime of stealing the word "surf" from us actual wave riders. Not that I have anything against the Internet. In fact, I end up spending more time in front of my Mac than I do at the beach on most days.
How often do people turn you down?
It happens more often in urban areas that are far removed from surfing. For example, I once interviewed mostly non-surfers in New York City asking: "Can you name a famous surfer?" The Big Apple can be tough. Seems like people are hustling non-stop there and just flat-out worship the 'time is money' motto. A lot of people just ignored me, kept walking and probably thought I was trying to sign
them up for Greenpeace. But it's a whole different story if I go out to the beach or surf shop and start interviewing surfers. If they read Surfer and are familiar with my column, most surfers are keen to get interviewed.
Youngest responder? Oldest responder?
One time I asked all young kids mostly under age ten: "Where do waves come from?" It was probably my favorite column ever because their answers were so whimsical and imaginative. Another time I interviewed all cartoon characters, including Bart Simpson, with the question: "How would you describe your perfect wave?' I'd have to look back to see how old Bart was, but I think he's pretty young right? I mean in cartoon years, he doesn't really seem to age at all. I think of him as a perpetual 6-year-old. I contacted the writers of The Simpsons and had them respond to the question on behalf of Bart and Homer. I've also interviewed both my grandfathers, Austin and Michael, but I can't remember if they were the oldest or not.
And where do you find such photogenic people?
My wife and I work in the fashion industry so we have a big network of friends and colleagues who are quite the lookers. But I much prefer finding photogenic people outside the modeling bubble. Surfers tend to radiate this knowing, inner contentment that's hard to describe in words, but that's what I aspire to capture in my portraits. I think part of the reason I sometimes find cooperation from otherwise guarded "beautiful people" is because I don't have creepy ulterior motives. I make it clear immediately that my intentions are pure and that sets a good tone for the rest of the interview and portrait session.
Where have you been for Curious Gabe? How do you get to all those places?
I've been to Bodega Bay, California, and down the Baja peninsula with stops in Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Malibu, Hollywood, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, Oceanside, La Jolla, Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada. I got to all those places by bus. Not the public bus system, but in my green 1972 VW bus. I've also traveled via airplane and rental car to interview people in Maine, Miami, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hawaii, Mainland Mexico, Australia, London, Israel, Chile, Austria, Germany, Italy, Bermuda, Malaysia, and Indonesia. And during a trip to New Zealand I got around via bicycle. I know I'm forgetting a few places, but who actually wants to sit there and read though a long list of locations anyway?
One of the first questions people ask is, 'So, does Surfer pay your way around the world to do your column?' The magazine does help out with some of my travel expenses, but it's not like they handed me an Amex Black Card and told me to book myself on private jets and five-star luxe hotels. In fact, Surfer is lucky in a way because I usually end up in all those different locations for other work assignments, which means I'm able to piggyback my column on top of trips mostly paid for by other clients.
I guess you could say I'm somewhat of a jack-of-all-creative-trades. On any given day I could be shooting magazine editorial, writing a feature or profile piece, modeling for a catalog or advertising client, or producing video segments for the web. You'd think I'd have the art of traveling light figured out by now, but oh no. Recently, I was charged $795 by Jet Star on a flight from Sydney to Bali for excess baggage weight. The kilos really add up quick traveling with six hard drives, four cameras, three microphones, two computers and a massive, massive wad of power cords and adapters. I noticed another passenger checking in for the same flight had his suitcases open on the floor and was stuffing his jeans, shirts and whatever else he could fit up his sweater—no joke—to avoid paying overweight luggage fees, which resulted in him looking pregnant. 
What's the story with the bus—how long have you had it, where did you get it, what did you pay for it, has it broken down, etc.?
I got the bus in my sophomore year of high school, so that means I've had it for, hold on, back to the calculator… 2008 minus 1987 equals 21. I've had the bus for 21 years. Unbelievable.
I bought it from a friend of my dad. The guy was a scientist by the name of Steve Torkelson from San Francisco and allegedly he was one of the people who helped invent LSD. I've lost touch with him over the years. Hold on, I'm going to Google him and see what comes up… I just found him on LinkedIn. He is listed as a Pharmaceuticals Professional in the San Francisco bay area. Nothing though, about him being the inventor of LSD or Timothy Leary's guru. He probably leaves that part off his resume.
I paid about $2,000 for the bus in monthly payments of $200. I realized I got a great deal when I found a receipt in the glove box and discovered Torkelson spent over two grand on the custom paint job alone. Plus, mechanically and aesthetically the vehicle was in rare pristine condition.
While in college, some friends and I drove it down to Baja on one of many surf trips. Unbeknownst to us, veteran Surfer staff photographer Tom Servais took a classic photo of us driving the bus in all its pre-rust glory, down a dusty desert road. I first met Tom several years later when I became his intern at Surfer straight out of college. He cracked the whip hard on me at first, but once I survived that initial hazing period we ended up becoming good friends. It wasn't until just last year when his surf photography book came out that I saw the desert bus image for the first time. I pointed the page out to him at his book signing party and we were both blown away to discover our paths had crossed several years before we had ever met.
And yes, the bus has broken down countless times. Needless to say, I always travel with a fully stocked toolbox, lots of spare parts and my Complete Idiot's Guide to Volkswagen Repair book. Sketchy moments included tipping over on the 110 freeway in Los Angeles 
near Compton, getting stuck in the desert sands of Mexico, vandalized in Los Altos, and ravaged by surfboard thieves in Dana Point. The bus is basically being slowly eaten alive by rust from the salt-water air where I live in Laguna Beach. It's in the shop now getting its third or fourth—I've lost track—motor and transmission replaced. I'm in development on a book and film documentary box-set project about Curious Gabe and all I can say is the bus will be an integral character.
Has anything surprised or shocked you?
I'm definitely shocked that after 21 years of hard-core, surf-travel abuse, the bus is still on the road. I mean, how is that thing still running? My mechanics, Tim and Norm at Mesa West, are really heroic people. Before I found them, other shops would just laugh at me when I pulled up in the bus and refused to work on it. Every couple years, Ole Betsy—as Tim not so affectionately calls the bus—will show up comatose on a tow truck at the shop and those guys somehow coax it back to life. I've probably single-handedly put all their children and grandchildren through college with my repair bills alone.
Other than that, I'm consistently baffled by how many cool, interesting, friendly and talented people exist in this world. Meeting so many different amazing folks really restores my faith in humanity. Obviously you're going to come across the occasional unpleasant person when you interview 1,905 people, but what really stands out is the vast majority of truly inspiring, wonderful people I've met on my journeys.
Media culture tends to perpetuate celebrity worship and an infatuation with a small segment of familiar faces in society. I sometimes feel like I'm going against the grain with my work because I'm focused on this vast pool of undiscovered, yet uniquely interesting people. It may seem daunting, but every time I do interviews my batteries get recharged. I'm truly thankful for each person who has trusted me to capture the essence their thoughts and expressions in response to my topics over the years. Yew!
TURNING THE TABLES ON CURIOUS GABE
Who would you rather be, Duke Kahanamoku or Kelly Slater? Or if you could be any surfer but yourself, who would it be?
I'd rather be Duke in the time of Duke but with Kelly's surfing ability. That would be the ultimate.
To answer the second question: Laird Hamilton. Laird is a real-life superhero. He pushes the progression of surfing more than anyone. Foil-boarding wearing snowboard boots? Come on, that's the stuff of science fiction, but Laird is really out there inventing all that cool, weird, exciting stuff.
Rights or lefts? Front side or backside?
I want it all, man. I'm talking about a glassy, hollow peak peeling both ways. Just switch off going left one wave right the next. I will say that backside surfing is underrated though.
Would you rather surf lousy waves alone or perfect waves in a crowd?
How funny that you're asking me this question. It's pretty much the exact same question I posed on the Gold Coast in OZ during the WCT event at Snapper recently. Did someone I interviewed there call you and spill the beans?
I'd much rather surf uncrowded lousy waves. I just can't get into surfing with a bunch of people—especially when the waves are perfect. It's pointless, because even when you do finally get a wave, there're so many people getting in the way that you can't enjoy it—unless you don't mind running people over. I'm still holding onto the dream of perfect, uncrowded waves, though. I'm not leaving Indo till it happens--even if it takes me 3 months to find it.
Photographs courtesy Gabe Sullivan. Headshots by Gabe Sullivan. Parked van by Sierra Sullivan. Surfing by Damea Dorsey; interior van by Sierra Sullivan; van in motion by Nick Clements.
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