Gage Crismond is the poster child for taking lemons and making lemonade.

In 2021, Gage and his friends were verbally abused in the water at Manhattan Beach Pier by an old, racist surfer asshole. But rather than leave the beach (or paddle to El Porto as the old wanker suggested), Gage and his friends organised a paddle-out at Manhattan Beach Pier to promote inclusivity in surf. Lemons—lemonade. The Black Sand Peace Paddle is now a thing of legend, and Gage has since furthered the cause with the formation of the Ebony Beach Club with his friend, Brick. Besides being a surfer, Gage is also a photographer, creative director and dancer. Some people just do it all.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Go outside, stretch, do breathing exercises, manifest what I wanna do for the day, and just ease my mind. That’s the first thing I do when I wake up.

You grew up in Holly, Michigan. How do you think it has influenced where you’re at today?
I am from Holly, and it’s a very small town on the east side of Michigan. That influenced me so much – I’ve carried it along with me my entire life, even coming here [to LA]. My fashion, how I view the world, how I treat people… a lot of that comes from my small-town upbringing. I grew up kind of on a farm, hunting and fishing with my grandfather all the time, so yeah, I feel like I have a really unique background when it comes to being a creative here in LA.

What’s one project you’ve worked on that you’re most proud of?
A project that I’m most proud of, I’d have to say, is Ebony Beach Club, the brand that I started with my friend Brick. It’s been super amazing, it’s taken over this whole year for us, and we’re very excited to see what’s going on for the future.

What are your hopes for the future of the club?
As far as its future, I’m most excited for the education we will be bringing to the forefront of the business and in general. I really think that the way we’re going about running our business and being a POC business is going to be different. We’re just trying to push the community forward and make it community-focused, and I feel like that’s a very rare thing these days. Many people do things for full-on success, especially with the hard times that we’re in, but we have this opportunity to be successful and to present so much opportunity for the people around us and our friends.

What was the last thing you read, saw, or listened to that inspired you?
The Kanye West documentary for sure, I’m sure a lot of people would say the same. Super, super amazing.

You’re also a really talented photographer—what subject matter do you want to explore more with in the future?
Yeah, I shoot photos as well; I’m a photographer. My favourite subject matter is definitely lifestyle, documentary type of work. I say that loosely because I like to shoot everything—I do portraits and landscapes as well—but I think my favourite thing is just being in the moment with people, places, or things and capturing an essence or a mood around it. Something I really want to shoot in the future is war photography, a lot more taboo and deep topics, and also work with magazines and be able to share my photos and article space with amazing writers as well. That would be a dream of mine.

What’s another talent people might not know you have?
A hidden talent about myself… I have two that are kind of cool, I think. I can tattoo. I just started, so I’m newer, but I can tattoo, and I really enjoy doing it. Also, I grew up with my mother doing nails, so I was taught from a young age how to do nails, and I have all the stuff for it—the gel and all the different polishes. I planned to do that in LA, but I never got around to doing it.

What does the world need more of in 2022?
Patience, I believe. So many things are going on; so much stuff is really tense right now. I feel like the only way for it to be solved is, no matter how we go about solving it, it needs to be treated with tenderness and patience, and care.