Studio Visit: Surfboard Shaper Paul Surf

At Rockaway Beach, owner Paul Schmidt crafts boards that can be put to use just a few feet away

Inside of his shipping container studio at Marina 59 in Rockaway Beach, New York, Paul Schmidt crafts surfboards for friends and first-timers under the moniker Paul Surf. The process, which can takes upward of an entire day, demands precision and artistic prowess. For Schmidt, the desire to create things stems from seeing his dad do so too. “My father owned a construction company when I …

The Creative Class is Growing in Smaller Cities

Using data from the US Census American Community Survey, CityLab’s Richard Florida and economist Todd Gabe tracked the growth of the creative class across the country. Popular belief assumes that talent is concentrated in bigger cities (NYC, LA, SF) but data actually supports the opposite. In fact, the aforementioned cities have experienced the slowest growth since 2005. Instead, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids …

BANKS: Sawzall

From BANKS’ latest album, iii (out now on Harvest Records), “Sawzall” is a delicate dreampop tune that floats along delicately until it bellows into industrial drum-heavy and autotune-drenched electronics—with ’80s-era harps sprinkled on top. Despite all these elements at play, careful attention should be paid to BANKS’ elastic vocals, as the lyrics tell an emotional tale of love, loss and guilt.