Larchmonter Opening Surf & Skate Shop: Chasing a Dream

No News on Skate Park Front

by Judy Silberstein

(July 21, 2005) A new Larchmont skate and surf shop won’t be opening until September, but already teens were pressing their noses up against the windows to ogle the vintage boards displayed in the otherwise empty store at 126 Larchmont Avenue. Fred Tuck, a long-term boarder, Larchmont parent and soon-to-be proprietor, was inside with friends making plans for the store that has yet to be named.

TJ Park, Nick Egan, Ciaran Sleeper and Lily Goodspeed are are drawn to the vintage gear at the surf/skate shop planned to open in September on Larchmont Avenue.

“Are you selling longboards?” asked 14-year old Ciaran Sleeper, attracted by the specimen in the window. Eventually the store will be stocked with both gear and clothes appropriate to the sport.

“It’s pretty cool,” opined Nick Egan, another 14-year-old sophomore at Mamaroneck High School. “The first place for skate boards is in the mall – that’s hard to get to without a car,” said classmate Lily Goodspeed, who was looking forward to a more convenient shop.

The gear in the window is all Fred Tuck’s – some from his early days of surfing along Florida’s Reef Road and at California beaches. He’s been surfing for 37 years, most recently on Long Island. He and his four children (2 boys and 2 girls between 6 and 16) are all skaters and surfers. He’s been turning other Larchmonters on to Gilgo Beach on Long Island, a family friendly spot he calls “the birthplace of surfing on the East Coast.”

Fred Tuck displays one of the surf boards he's used over the past 37 years of riding the waves.

“I’m a dad, but I’m a kid at heart,” he confessed.

Two years ago Mr. Tuck lost his wife, Jill, when she was killed in a traffic accident in Mexico. Now he wants “to give back to the community,” he said. He wants the shop to promote a positive life style for kids and adults. He sees the place as being a “destination” for many of the same kids he’s coached on the soccer field.

Adult supporters of boarding in Larchmont were as enthusiastic as the kids. “It’s awesome,” said Gracen Fraser, one of the organizers attempting to construct a skatepark in Larchmont. (See: Larchmont Skatepark Proposal Aired at Village Board.) “This will probably be pretty successful," said Dominic Schmitt, another leader of the park proposal. “It’s not just a sport –it’s a life style,” he said, agreeing with Mr. Tuck’s view.

Meanwhile, there’s no news on the skatepark front. “Things are pretty quiet,” said Mr. Schmitt. “We hope to have more news by the end of the summer.” Officials in both the Village of Larchmont and Town of Mamaroneck had plans to visit parks in neighboring communities over the summer as they consider whether to support building a similar facility.

Mr. Tuck is a skatepark supporter, but the idea of his store predates the local effort.

“It’s something I’ve been talking about doing for many, many years,” said Mr. Tuck, who will pursue his retail venture while continuing to head his construction company, Fred Tuck and Company, Inc.

“Chase the dream is the name of the game – and that’s what I’m going to do,” he concluded.

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