It’s safe to say North Jersey filmmakers Sal Librizzi and Corey Frank have a lot of hometown support. On Thursday, August 22, the co-producers of HOMETOWN HYPE: North Jersey spent the majority of their night accepting hugs, high fives, and props from the local surfers and friends who made up a capacity crowd at Point Pleasant’s Broadway Bar and Grill. They’d shown up in force to see the world premiere of the new HOMETOWN HYPE short film featuring the likes of Sam Hammer, Charles Mencel, Cole Deveney, and Brendan Tighe, to name a few.
The filmmakers both grew up in the area and their love for it showed in simple conversations about the North Jersey surf scene just as much as in their final film. In fact, the entire night was a love fest for the local community and their stretch of coast. As somebody with a sixth sense for missing Atlantic swells and storms for years — often by as little as a few hours — it was refreshing to kick back for a night and hear them all break down the perfect recipe of conditions that light the place up. People weren’t shy in letting me know what I need to look for if I come back for a winter swell.
‘When do you fly back to California?” Sam Hammer asked me at one point after sharing some highlights from a few days earlier.
“Saturday morning,” I told him.
“Yeah, you’re not going to get any waves. Again.”
The moral of the story here, of course, ran parallel to a point made in Sal and Corey’s film: North Jersey is either painfully slow when it comes to waves or there are world-class tubes to be jumped on when the place turns on. And a beautiful thing about the local crew here is they all seemingly work together when those waves come though, sometimes for as little as a few hours.
So in the end, it wasn’t all that surprising to see a couple hundred people gather behind a local watering hole, crack open a few White Claws, and celebrate their hometown.
“It’s just a really special place, you’d be crazy not to notice,” Sal told us. “Every individual beach town around here has its own flavor but all come together for the perfect cocktail that is the Jersey Shore. The only constant is change, but given the impact that surfing in this area has made on so many people, it’s a world of its own that we all love dearly.”
Editor’s Note: Entry is free to the next events, but space is limited! Register to attend at the links below, and learn more about The Inertia’s HOMETOWN HYPE presented by White Claw here.
8/30: Outer Banks, NC at Outer Banks Brewing Station | RSVP HERE
9/5: St. Petersburg, FL at The Floridian Social | RSVP HERE
