The Kids Of Queens

In the birthplace of modern surfing, a young crop of Waikiki surfers who call themselves “The Grom Squad” are redefining Hawaiian style and taking the longboarding world by storm

- Ashtyn Douglas -Rosa

It was lunchtime on a hot August day in Waikiki and I was surrounded by a group of young longboarders—about a dozen or so teenagers with sun-bleached hair—at a mercifully-air-conditioned, if not particularly noteworthy otherwise, California Pizza Kitchen. Our long booth was covered in half-eaten pasta and sugary drinks that only an adolescent metabolism could possibly make sense of. Various conversations clashed across the table until a shout from the far end grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Oh my god, is that Justin Bieber?”

As a matter of fact, it was. The Beebs was waving at us, quite surreally, through the screen of Kelia Moniz’ iPhone.

Moniz—who is easily one of the most graceful and renowned longboarders from the south shore of Oahu, and an unofficial “auntie” to this group of kids—had FaceTimed her husband, a famous fashion photographer and apparently a close friend of Bieber’s. When the phone conversation ended about 40 seconds later, a squeal broke loose, springing from the 15-year-old girl sitting next to Moniz. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “I used to have a poster of him on my wall!” Moniz looked at me and laughed.