Who couldn’t use a vacation right now? From natural disasters and crashing economies to global pandemics, the world is clearly ending. If there were ever a time to escape to a remote island, this year is surely it.

Well, we hear Blondie Beach is wonderful this time of year. Or any time of year, really.

“We wanted to have this destination, a place where everyone is welcome,” said Blondie Beach co-founder Brice Waller. “You know when you come to Blondie Beach, you’re going to have a great time.”

And it’s way less expensive to get to than any other tropical locale on the map, though you won’t find it on Kayak or Hopper.

“People keep asking me where Blondie Beach is and that’s the best part,” Waller continued. “Blondie Beach is wherever we’re at. You’re at Blondie Beach right now.”

Waller and his longtime friend Errol Chatham, who you may know from Odd Future activities like Loiter Squad or his show on Vice with Jasper Dolphin, started Blondie Beach a few years ago when they began DJing together at The Kibitz Room on Fairfax.

Kibitz is a small dive bar attached to the side of Canter’s, a 24-hour Jewish deli, and known for some legendary rock acts gracing its stage back in the day. It’s also the place where all the Fairfax kids go once they’re done working their shift at one of the streetwear shops on the block.

Just a short block away from The Hundreds Los Angeles where the two hung out frequently, it became a ritual to end the day (and start the night) at Kibitz. Once they got on the bill and began to curate their own night at the bar they’d been regulars at for years, Blondie Beach Records was born.

But like many of the iconic rock bands that had graced that stage before them, they quickly outgrew Kibitz, routinely packing 300 people into a venue that is only allowed to hold a third of that. That’s when they knew. Blondie Beach was a thing.

And that thing began to evolve. No longer did Brice and Errol just want to be one of the DJs on the bill. They wanted to create complete experiences start to finish, curate their own parties, and change the vibe of LA nightlife forever.

Enter Justin Esposito, an LA transplant from Northern Virginia that didn’t take long to fit right in. Esposito, or FREEJBOOSIE as he’s more frequently known, had been working at Round Two in Virginia before transferring to their Los Angeles location so he could further pursue his music career. Boosie met Errol and Brice separately, but eventually, the three of them connected the dots.

Esposito is a classically trained Jazz musician and plays the stand-up bass, which isn’t something you normally see at the bar. If the nine-foot-tall bass didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, Boosie’s wild hair and boisterous laugh certainly make him easy to spot in a crowd. Waller and Chatham realized Boosie could add an element of live instrumentation to Blondie Beach’s parties that would separate their sets from the competition once and for all, ushering in a new era of nightlife in one of the biggest party cities in the world. The FREEJBOOSIE Jazz Trio would come on after Brice and Errol’s DJ set and slow down the evening, playing originals and an eclectic mix of covers like A$AP Rocky’s “LSD” and Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” with a ‘70s jazz flair that intrigued partygoers and kept them coming back for more.

The addition of Boosie to the Blondie Beach roster not only gave them a unique element that other DJ outfits couldn’t duplicate but also meant they could be Blondie Beach Records for real, and not just in name. Now, they were making music instead of just playing it.

From dive bar DJs to a full-fledged record label and publishing house, Blondie Beach Records has put out two original projects in the last year: one from The Trio and another from Nathan Foley, who plays guitar in the Jazz Trio and had been working on a solo project for years. Next up from the indie label is a side project from J Boosie called Valley Doll, which infuses surf rock, synth-wave, and a dash of stylistic ‘80s pop vibes into a badass collection of songs that isn’t really like anything else you’ll hear right now. There is no better soundtrack for your drive from the city to the coast, so open your windows and crank it.

Though Waller and Chatham had been part of The Hundreds for years, hanging around on the block and spending countless hours at RSWD, the relationship became much more official after Brice took over the marketing department at The Hundreds a couple of years ago. Waller brought new ideas and a new approach to the team, allowing the streetwear stalwart to engage with its community in a host of new ways.

Not long after Brice began leading the marketing efforts at The Hundreds, he brought Esposito along as a marketing assistant. Now, J Boosie also hosts Greatest Hits, a show on The Hundreds TV that focuses on the brand’s vast vintage archive, while Brice co-hosts the action-packed gaming podcast Night Terrors, further proving these guys can really do anything they want… really well.

And that versatility is what has given them the confidence to branch out into other ventures far outside the party realm. When the pandemic hit and shut down nightlife and pretty much everything else on Earth, Blondie Beach had some decisions to make. With bars and clubs closing for the foreseeable future, how would they continue making their mark? They tapped into that community they had spent years building to figure it out.

The crew pivoted to digital DJ sets, streaming across all platforms and bringing the party to peoples’ phones, as well as non-music ventures. In the face of continued racial injustices across the country, Waller and longtime friend and fellow The Hundreds team member Carlos Avalos launched My-ism, a platform built to connect and communicate, where people convene to share ideas, grievances, and stories that have touched them deeply in this volatile climate. My-ism and their weekly Community Public Forum have answered the question of what happens when the social media posts stop. They are keeping the conversation going and giving people the confidence to speak out and demand justice. My-ism’s recently released zine focused on that very community, sourcing art, poetry, and a vast array of other conscious thoughts to fill the pages and raise money for organizations like Self Help Graphics and BAJI. It’s sold out now, but more issues are on the way and you’ll be mad you didn’t collect them all later.

“Partying is cool and that’s been really great for us,” said Waller. “But as we grow into men, our community, mental health, and how we take care of ourselves is becoming much more important to us.”

“We want to create more opportunities for the community to get together, from all walks of life, and not just at night. We want to work with the city, we want to work on charitable projects, moving more in that way. It’s simple evolution.”

That component of inclusion is immediately apparent in the design of their The Hundreds collaboration, depicting that euphoric locale of Blondie Beach with a wide range of people relaxing on it. The art is inspired by the anime that Waller and Chatham grew up obsessed with, but they wanted to see it done with people of all races. They wanted to see what a Blondie Beach party would look like in the style of animation they grew up loving, and this collection has brought that vision to life thanks to art by Secret Heart.

So, while all of The Hundreds collaborations mean a lot to us on the team, this one is even more special, the culmination of years of work and development, the recognition of a decade’s worth of grind. It’s truly a Fairfax success story, the likes of which we probably haven’t seen since Ben and Bobby themselves, just a few kids from the block who had a dream and kept pushing until they made it happen, building a community along the way and letting everyone participate.