Life with Jarod Taber
Life with Jarod Taber
Meet our friend, Jarod Taber, one of Los Angeles’ finest. Jarod’s a director, gallery owner and creative director. In other words: a man of our times. Nowadays, he likes to refer to what does as creative consulting. Whatever the wording, he’s got taste. We called him up one recent morning, just before he went down to his gallery, Authorized Dealer Gallery, to chat about surfing, getting older, morning tunes and his favorite movie set in L.A. (Our main takeaway from the conversation: We’ve got to find an empty highway to walk on!).
Text by Oliver Bodh Larsen, Photos by Aaron Bengochea
You surf in the morning. How early do you go?
I’ll pack the car the night before, and then typically, I’ll be up at 5 a.m. I normally surf with Rob, my partner at the gallery, and maybe one or two other dudes. We meet at the surf spot at 5:45-6 a.m., almost before the sun rises, and then be in the water as it’s coming up. I keep a pretty tight schedule, so I have to get out by 7:45-8 a.m. to make it back to the east side and get things going with work. I grew up skateboarding and skated in New York, I had a little crew there. When I moved to L.A., I wanted to change things up a bit. And, like, it’s an addictive habit.
What’s so addictive about it that you willingly get up at 5 and drive across town?
Yeah, I know, it’s pretty unhinged! I don’t know, man. There’s something about getting in that cold water in the morning. I call it a skin feel. I don’t surf to be incredibly good or surf big waves or whatever. There’s just something so refreshing about getting up early. Also, it becomes accompanied to getting into bed a little earlier. Tucking in with a little cup of tea, a little book. There’s been times where I’ve been partying until, you know, midnight and I’m like: I’m gonna go surf in the morning and then the repercussions of waking up at 5 … Thinking I can turn it around and work a full day …
Those days are over.
Those days are over, my friend!
How old are you, if I may ask?
I’m 34, just about to turn 35. How old are you?
I’m 31.
Nice! Ripe. 31’s a great age.
Jarod wears Another Sweater 5.0, Night Sky Navy (see more) & Another Jeans 3.0, Used Blue Marble (see more) & Rob wears Another Shirt 3.0, Charcoal Stripe (see more) & Another Jeans 3.0, Brown (see more).
It’s pretty good. But I also feel what you’re getting at, like it’s getting harder doing everything at once.
Totally! You have to reserve the energy and identify: What do I wanna put my energy into? Who do I wanna put my energy into? But it’s good. It’s a good filter!
Jarod, do you listen to anything going back and forth to the ocean?
Yeah, my wife makes fun of me. She’s like: What is this drone music you’re constantly listening to? But I listen to so many people talk and I communicate with so many people throughout my day. So, a lot of jazz and ambient. But I also love listening to The NTS Breakfast Show with Flo. It’s actually where I get most of my music that I listen to on Spotify. She’s the best. Highly recommend it.
What’s your favorite movie that is set in L.A.?
I’d say ‘The Long Goodbye’. It’s an amazing kind of L.A. detective story. There’s a very famous building in it where the detective lives, and you can still drive over to Hollywood to see it. It’s really cool. It’s a fun one. You know, it’s very much of that time of film. The dialogue’s a bit broken. But God, it’s such a good movie.
What was your most recent act of rebellion?
It’s funny you bring this up because I actually have a very recent one. This is such a mid-level of rebellion compared to what I’ve done in the past, but there’s a part of the Highway 1 that is now closed off because there are mudslides. You can drive up to a certain point, and there are all these signs that say: No walking! Do not enter! Danger! And I was like, man, this is such a dangerous road to bike or walk normally. This is an amazing opportunity to walk like a massive stretch of the Highway 1 because there are no cars on it. So, I forced my wife to go walk down the middle of it with me. I didn’t make it very far because she made me turn back, but we got a couple of football fields down.
Did it feel good?
Oh, it was amazing, dude! It was like a once in a lifetime opportunity. They’re gonna fix that road and then all of a sudden you’re never going to be able to do that again.
Jarod wears Another Sweater 2.0, Grey Melange (