Ocean Gear was founded when local shaper Eric Zucker opened his first shop in the heart of downtown Manhattan Beach, July of 1992. The shop has remained a foundation of the beach community growing substantially in size on the same block of Manhattan Avenue and settling down for the past four years at 920 Manhattan Avenue. Eric and his wife, Adi, always had a team of warm and welcoming employees that seemed more like family. Eric’s board shaping was part of the performance movement, helping young surfers elevate their skills and appreciation of the sport. Eric not only shaped boards but helped build the foundation and talents of many of the young surfers we read about in magazines today. He continues to shape for professionals and amateurs alike and you can see what he is up to by visiting him at www.ezsurfboards.com.

In the summer of 2004, the Zucker’s sold Ocean Gear to the Arnage Group, Inc., a local Manhattan Beach company founded by CEO and President, Adrian Vaughan. Adrian has been a local to Manhattan Beach since 1992 and was a steady customer at Ocean Gear for many years. His experience in the surf/skate/snow industries and degrees in Business Management (B.S., UNLV, 1992) and Marketing (B.A., UNR, 1994) have given a new breath of life into the beach city surf shop. Chris Ioimo, a Manhattan native and graduate of Mira Costa High School has rejoined Ocean Gear as the Manager after earning his degree in Communications from San Diego State University. Chris brought in former co-worker, Sara Maciorowski, to assist with merchandising and buying and she has quickly been adopted as the ‘new’ local…from Washington state.

Since Eric and Adi have moved on to the next chapter of their lives, Ocean Gear continues to carry the highest quality equipment featuring boards from JC Hawaii, Surf Prescriptions, and of course, Eric Zucker. You can go out into the water on any given day and see an abundance of Ocean Gear boards stretching from San Diego to Santa Cruz. Ocean Gear not only caters to the more advanced surfers, but also to those just beginning! They have the great fortune of being able to introduce more and more people to the ocean and the surfing experience with their rapidly growing rentals and lesson programs. Ocean Gear is not only a purveyor of fine surfing equipment, but also skateboarding, recently expanding their supply of decks and accessories to over 100 boards with plenty of additional equipment and expertise for the novice to the pro.