Kyle Kennelly

We have a very exciting announcement… Daydream is opening its second location. When: 2026 Where: Chigasaki, Japan There has always been an invisible thread between Daydream and Japan, something felt more than seen. It’s been less of a plan and more of a current we stepped into, letting it guide us wherever it wanted us to drift. Our first magazine feature was in Blue, a Japanese surf magazine, back in 2016. Somehow the story traveled overseas before it reached much of California. Since then, we’ve appeared in a dozen more Japanese publications, each one deepening a bond that began showing up inside the shop itself. Over the years, we’ve met so many incredible surfers visiting from Japan on their California pilgrimages. Our surfboard membership program was especially loved by our friends from abroad. Once, we watched an LAX taxi drop off a Japanese couple, luggage and all, and their first stop in the U.S. was Daydream to pick out their boards. As this connection grew, so did our understanding of how special Japan is. Two years ago, we moved all of Daydream’s apparel production there, inspired by the craftsmanship, textiles, and care that go into every step. We’ve hosted pop-ups in Tokyo and Shonan, curated demos, and spent time with the people who are now our Daydream Japan team. We aren’t Japanese. And while Japan has drawn inspiration from California surf culture, we never want that to overshadow Japan’s own rich surf history, which we deeply respect. Our hope is to honor both cultures, letting them meet, mix, and inspire each other. On our most recent trip, a friend told us something that stayed with us: “Japan isn’t Tokyo or Shonan or Miyazaki or Chiba or Kyoto or Osaka. Japan is all of these places together, and all of their cultures layered into one.” So that’s our intention with Daydream Japan: to deepen the existing bond between California and Japan, to create a space where surf cultures co-inspire, and to honor the artists and thinkers who have felt this cross-Pacific pull, like Dave Brubeck, Charles and Ray Eames, and Northern California artist Tom Killion. Follow along as Daydream Japan comes to life. @daydream_japan_

On this day 9 years ago we opened our doors to Daydream for the very first time! Becca and I are so grateful for our community that has allowed Daydream to grow into the shop it is today. We are just two people that believe in a vision and diligently work hard at making it happen. We’ve been independent since day one, no investors, no wealthy family, no seed money, just a wonderful group of friends that have lifted us up through the best and the worst of times. If you have ever been to our shop or supported from afar, we thank you for getting us to this monumental milestone. We are also so grateful for the wonderful team we’ve assembled at our shop, many of us have been working together for years. We have such a talented and dedicated crew that curate a truly special experience in our Newport Beach warehouse on a daily basis. With gratitude, Kyle & Becca PS: We have some very exciting news to share with everyone later this week on where you can find our next shop… can anyone guess?

UC Berkeley days when surfing meant walking from campus to BART, BARTing from Berkeley to San Francisco, hopping on the N train to the Outer Sunset, and picking my board up at my friend Jesse’s house. Becca was going to USF at the time so oftentimes there was one more stop on the way to link up. Jesse was my shepherd for learning how to surf in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, I’m forever indebted to that dude with the dreadlocks. It didn’t matter if it was storm surf or pumping, I was just so grateful to be in the water. 🎞️ @michaelcukr archive circa 2011

It’s our anniversary today! Celebrating two years of marriage with this one. I love you @rebecca_elise , I love doing life with you.

If you haven’t met our partners at the nonprofit Seatrees, we’d like to introduce you to them as our allies in reforesting the ocean. We are excited to join them as their first surf shop partners. In doing so, we are making a commitment to plant a seatree for every surfboard purchased from Daydream Surf Shop! We had the pleasure of teaming up with the Seatrees crew and Sustainable Surf to test drive some truly unique surfboards for this Field Notes. Together we hosted an event at Daydream discussing the new materials that shapers have been working with around the world to construct surfboards that perform well while striving for a lower environmental impact than the current materials used in the surfboard industry today. This event was titled the Surfboard Sustainability Symposium which was preceded by this surf session testing out a quiver of six different boards that explore alternative materials in an effort to build a sustainable surfboard. Each board in this quiver was unique in the ways they approached the use of alternative materials, some in ways you probably have never seen before. We have a detailed rundown of the boards featured in this short film on our blog, give each one a follow if you’re not following them already: @missinglinkmfg @verduresurf @funner.surf @locus_surfboards @bosinysurf @jonessurfboards Film by @daydreamsurfshop @sustainsurf Editor & Cinematographer: @josh_walker Surfers: @zorro_del_mar , @maverick_manne_ , @kyhull Surfboards: @missinglinkmfg , @verduresurf , @funner.surf , @locus_surfboards , @bosinysurf , @jonessurfboards @agavebrothersranch Producer: @kyhull & Michael Stewart

It’s @rebecca_elise ’s BIRTHDAY!!! The coolest woman I’ve ever met. Love you so much. Cheers to more beach walks, fantastic meals, and quality time with loved ones (dogs included).

Case Study 06 @ford_archbold is now LIVE! Link in bio Cruise by Ford’s opening reception of PSYCHOID tomorrow - Saturday, January 11th 5-8pm featuring recent paintings, drawings, and sculptures. We’ll have some large scale oil paintings that don’t fit in our gallery scattered throughout the shop for tomorrow night only so make sure to cruise in for this psycho art attack. Live music from the Tim Ditty Jazztet, free bevs, so much art! Thank you to everyone who made this Case Study film happen! Editor, DP: @josh_walker.26 Additional Cinematography: @metal_neck @zasb Writer and Producer: @kyhull

Another great trip to Japan is in the books! It was great seeing old friends and making new ones. We had the pleasure of doing two demos with really fun surf. For the first demo, we partnered up with @ridesurfandsport who brought a van full of beautiful boards and positive energy to the day. For the second demo @deadkooksshonan brought a spread of surfboards to add to the @grantnoble_ demos we brought from California. Here’s @grantnoblesurfboards Homesick in action. Special thanks to @eichan_murata from @deadkooksshonan for documenting! 📹

Wow, has it already been one year since this barn burner? Happy one year anniversary of marriage to the love of my life @rebecca_elise ! The most impressive woman I’ve ever met. Cheers to dancing through this beautiful world together and making each other’s dreams come true.

Happy Mother’s Day to the best pug mom! I love you both to the end of the universe and back 💘 📸 circa 2016

I’m so jazzed to be featured in this surf film, Return to Zero, currently touring through California and making its next stop at our surf shop @daydreamsurfshop this Saturday. Most surf films are about... well not much other than surfing, which is totally cool and captivating for someone like me who is inspired by the art of surfing. But it’s so nice when good surfing is coupled with an interesting concept... it would be like going to a ballet and just appreciating the dance vs beautiful dancing coupled with a creative story. Filmmaker Amado Stachenfeld put many unique components into this film, the first being that we are all surfing the same board... but it’s not the same for every person. It’s an old Hobie D fin that was gasping for its last breath decades ago (amazing boards that should also be loved and ridden until they die) then reshaped into three other boards, one after another: a longboard, midlength, and fish. The symbolism here points to repurposing resources that already exist and learning how we can work with less unnecessary production in favor of using what we already have with more creativity. It also shines a light on the unique metaphysical string of experiences that can change the “feeling” of a surfboard or any other thing for that matter. Why do some things or even people feel important or unique or you just feel a connection to them? The film also highlights the birth, life, death, reincarnation cycle of a physical thing and reminds me that we too share a similar bond with one another in that there is a line of connectivity and shared experiences that we need to be reminded of. In the stress of daily life, bills, bad news, pain, etc. these are the symbolic reminders that even small positive interactions we are able to put out into the world in our own unique ways can ripple out into the cosm of our interconnected shared experience here. Zero. Nothing. No self. Incredible score by @gregoryrogove , I’ve just been playing the film as background music while I work lately, can’t get enough of the music 🙏🏼

Birthday girl! I love you so much! Can’t believe I got to watch you turn another year older at midnight this morning under the stars in West Marin. Last year is going to be a big one to top, here’s some scenes: Becca being bow girl in Mallorca Portocoloum We got married!!!! Planes, trains, and automobiles - the countries may change but we are always slapping bones - Becca smiling victoriously in Montreal One of our swims across the channel from Bolinas to Stinson in the Summer Leather working factory in Japan Becca gifted a new dog leash in Miyazaki Osaka at night Sunsets and beach walks never get old with you NYE Life couldn’t be better with you! So excited to see what this year brings! 💕