Soulriders: A wild ride for Santa Rosa

For those in Santa Rosa with a penchant for skating, surfing, hot-rod cars and music, despair no more. Soulriders opened three months ago at 404 Mendocino Ave., and the store caters to a combination of all of the above.

On Aug. 15, the shop’s grand-opening party was attended by three legendary skaters, passers-by, friends, colleagues and even local celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

The hand-painted sign out front is just one part of the charm. Inside, the walls are lined with boards, along with a collection of records and retro-chic clothing, including classic cultural icons like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s character Rat Fink. For the grand opening, the employees offered up free hot dogs, sodas and discounts storewide, while Sift employees brought over cupcakes from next door.

Soulriders is co-owned by Kurt and Angela Hurley, but it’s not their first rodeo. Kurt Hurley is well known as the previous owner of the Brotherhood Skate Shop, as well as being a pro skater himself. He skated professionally from 1978 to 1980, and again in the late 1990s. He has been in the X-Games and Gravity Games, focusing more on downhill skateboarding as time went by. In 2008, he sold Brotherhood and moved to Mexico with his family for a few years.

To Hurley, Soulriders is “a celebration of the history of skateboarding, surfing, hot rods and music, and how they’re connected.”

Angela Hurley started working on classic-car restoration when she was about 15. “I grew up with old cars, and actually bought Kurt a ’53 Buick Special for his birthday one year, and we’ve had cars ever since,” she said. “We love to work on them and have fun with them, We try to play a big part in the hot-rod and classic-car community, doing all of the shows and such, usually with our own booth.”

In addition, Angela Hurley longboards and surfs. The clothing selection process for the store is quite particular. “We were really specific about what we wanted to select,” she said. “It had to have good quality-we try to have everything that is American-made-and easy-care. We wanted to have the latest and greatest, softest material, and then stuff that nobody else is going to have. A lot of the brands that we carry, we actually know the owners, surf with the owners.”

Skateboarders Dave Hackett, Ron Allen and Steve Steadham, all pros from the 1970s, sat at the autograph table. All are friends of Kurt’s and agreed to stop by for the event.

Hackett, from Malibu, has a number of achievements to his name, including winning the 1975 Amateur World Title for slalom racing. He is the oldest person to successfully navigate Tony Hawk’s “Loop of Death.” Like Kurt Hurley, he also continues to skate almost every day. “I say almost, because now that I’m in the upper echelons of human aging, I have to give my body a rest,” he said. “But when I skateboard, I really feel timeless.”

Ron Allen, from Albany, still skates every day as well. “I can’t stop,” he said. “I don’t know what else I would do if I didn’t skate, I would probably be weird.” He used to have a skateboard company called Energy, and Kurt Hurley was one of his customers.

Steve Steadham, from Las Vegas, Nev., had a company called Steadham Designs, which Allen used to skate for. He participated in the X-Games seven times. In his spare time, he makes and sells coffee.

Chef Guy Fieri is a big fan of Kurt’s. “This is the second coming of the Kurt, y’know,” he said. “If you’ve lived in Santa Rosa in the last 25 years, then you know the reputation of Kurt Hurley. He was the one that really cemented skate and surf in Northern California. I think this store is great, especially so close to downtown. This will be nice for people who are visiting Sonoma County as well as people who live here.”

Fieri had one complaint, though: “I want more Hurley historical,” he said. “You’ve gotta see his stuff. This dude surfed it all, he skated it all - he has been there and done that. You’ve got to understand that he’s doing so much more for the hot-rod culture, skate culture, surf culture, all this kinda stuff. He brings all this to people, and that’s a big deal.”

The Hurleys’ daughter, Bethany, works at the shop as well. “I grew up in hot-rod culture and everything,” she said. “It’s really refreshing; there’s not another store like this in Santa Rosa. A lot of people really enjoy that. We’re all from here, but we moved down to Southern California and now we’re back.”

Business has been good so far. “It has definitely been a surprise, in a good way,” Kurt Hurley said. “I’m thankful.”

In terms of the future, he has plans.

“We’re going to definitely bring more cool people to this town,” he said.

Soulriders is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5. The store can be reached at 978-3810.