New York City clothing brand LOLA, despite having only made its appearance on the scene in 2004, has been over 15 years in the making, as a product of core members and designers Emmett Shine, James Cruickshank, and Alexander Young— childhood friends born and bred in Southampton, New York. Having started out as scraggly teenage skateboarders plagued by boredom, passing the time in makeshift skate parks (from which their moniker evolved), the current twenty-somethings now have a line of shirts and skate decks that sell at boutiques like Charlotte Ronson and Bodega, sported by the likes of celebs from Jay-Z to Lindsay Lohan.

The constantly-expanding lifestyle brand has since grown to a solid collective— including models Suzanne Diaz and Amanda Shine, musicians DJ Vibe and Max Barbaria, and a handful of other multi-genre artists— and even have a recently-established agency, Gin Lane Media, that offers creative consulting to clientele like Rocawear and SeamlessWeb.

With the tourists quickly emptying out of the popular summer vacation destination, psychoPEDIA spoke with Shine— who recently completed a portraiture photography exhibition called Hamptons’ Youth held in Bridgehampton— to get a dose of the local scenery of his often misunderstood hometown:

How is Southampton unlike the image outsiders have?
It’s a small community comparable to Indiana– not what you’d think of as Long Island, removed from the reality of “normal” American life.

Who are the real local community?
There’s a native American reservation in the town–- like the Wild West, with 10-year olds running around in stolen cars and living in dilapidated homes. There’s a huge migrant worker population, from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. There’s an area called North Sea and Springs with extremely dense woods, where all the kids have monster trucks with confederate flags and listen to Lynard Skynard. Then you have Puritan farmers who’ve been there since the 1600s—whose land is amongst the most valuable in the world. We also have a substantial ocean community—a ton of surfers. It’s a rag tag motley crew of races and nationalities. All the places are segregated, but when you grow up there, you’re in small classes where everyone’s friends with everyone.

What’s the most underrated aspect of the area?
The natural beauty— because these places have been stereotyped for the social aspects. There’s a reason Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock are out there painting. The pure white light that the East End gets in the winter months is bar none the best for that kind of painting. And Sag Harbor is where a whole population of influential thinkers and artists would write and hang out during the ‘70s.

How did the LOLA collective emerge out of this community?
While everyone was in organized sports, we were skateboarding all over the place when we were 10 yrs old– the equivalent of pink-haired punks in Stepford Wives Land. There were no movie centers, nothing to do, because it caters to an older, affluent summer community that wants peace and quiet in their secondary home. We organized, went to the mayor’s office, and brokered a deal to get a skating area on the outskirts of the village. The abandoned plot of land was called Lola Prentice Memorial Park. And in ’94, what just started and reshaping the landscape, is zoning laws opened up in Southampton, allowing a boom in construction. We went and stole wood from sites and built up a whole skate park from scratch.

Did the Hamptons environment foster your go-getter attitudes?
I think that DIY-mentality of LOLA, in the grander scheme, probably stems from our parents not forcing us to do anything— a laissez-faire type of upbringing. Growing up was like Lord of the Flies—10 guys who hung out every day and night and figured out things on our own.

What are the best skate parks now?
Out there, you find an abandoned house and it becomes the defacto skate spot. Everyone follows suit, and it gets quarantined off. There’s a skate park in Hampton Bay, a multi-million dollar rec center, in direct response to what we put forth. When they shut down Lola, it was a compromise that the town made.

How is the emerging surf scene?
Usually summers aren’t that good for waves. In the wintertime, the waves are really big, so there’s a strong localized surf community. Everyone knows in Montauk, Turtle Cove and Ditch Planes are amongst the five best in the Eastern coast of America. Also, The Bathing Corporation, W Scott Cameron Beach, Sag, and Flies—where nasty flies will eat the shit out of you.

Favorite feeding gounds?
When we were younger, we used to go to IGA and A&P and steal sodas and boxes of crackers and eat them for an entire day, or put our money together and get 20 cheeseburgers from McDonalds. Now, we’re a little more cultured, so it’s fun to explore the nice restaurants. The East End has amazing places to eat— especially Gosman's.

Stores where LOLA’s gang would shop?
We had a store there 2 summers ago, a partnership with Blue & Cream. This summer, these kids started up their own store, L.A.B.L.. And Flying Point is a cool surf shop that we’re doing some marketing stuff with.

Best place to chill during the day?
Southampton Cultural Center, out in the rooftop.

As a small community unto yourselves, do you feel LOLA has had it’s own impact on the town?
We started up with no seed money, and what I’m most proud of is that it’s given a voice to local kids in the Hamptons to pursue their dreams, other than working for dad’s construction company or marrying a high-school sweetheart. We’ve kind of bucked that trend and opened the gates. I go back now, and there are 10 crews with their own T-shirt or skateboard companies. Stuff you would see in London, Toyko, and L.A. is in the Hamptons now.

Best thing about being able to go back home as a retreat from the city?
To be able to say, I live in the city and go out to the Hamptons, is a pretty desirable sentence. I know what’s good about it, and can keep myself protected from the craze it shouldn’t be. The sky is clean and quiet, and the birds are chirping.

~Leann Peterson