Issue 01
An outlet for all art, in any shape or form. The Dirtbag’s Rag is a zine rooted in creativity without pretense, shaped by the people and anyone carrying a story within them. Expression doesn’t need a label. It only needs intention. The purpose is simple: a place where raw vision is recognized, and truth and passion rise above polish. Issue 01 is ninety pages of motorcycles, climbing, food and music, told through interviews, photographs and the stories of the people who live them.
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01
An outlet for all art, in any shape or form. If one feels moved to share their vision with the world, they deserve a place where their voice can be seen.
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02
A climber and the accomplishment behind his page in the Rag, and the message he hopes it sends to anyone chasing a dream.
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03
Oakland, August 25, 2024. Traffic lights turned into a stage for wheelies, donuts and burnouts as the takeover rolled across the Bay Area. The writer rode with the riders and found what the headlines left out: families gearing up together, and a community that welcomes everyone who can keep up.
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On a Tuesday in February 2025, the Dirtbag crew sat in on the band’s practice room before a garage house show. They had been on hiatus while their guitarist studied abroad, and now the full lineup was back with songs they wrote together, ready to try them out on the Santa Cruz house show scene.
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The band started with a love of house shows and a handful of free ones that got out of hand. They talk about making shirts, stickers and pins with other artists, how their songs have shifted toward something fun to hear live, and why Santa Cruz is the right place to do it.
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06
A year and a half ago, the writer walked into a Santa Cruz dumpling spot looking for a bowl of ramen and a job. This is how one spontaneous hire turned into a spot on the line, and what a chef the same age says it takes to make it in a kitchen.
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A student-led art show in an abandoned pottery studio in the lower beach flats of Santa Cruz, and the three curators who built it around the idea of home.
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09
He photographed his climbing friends in Joshua Tree and Yosemite with no idea the pictures would become some of the most important in climbing history. A Stone Master himself, he talks about why the climbing always came first, the friends he lost along the way, and what it takes to find your own voice behind a camera.
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He shoots on a large-format 4x5 film camera, which means a long setup and nowhere to hide. He talks about seeing the people he photographs with empathy and honesty, why he thinks a photograph should raise questions instead of giving answers, and the class that shaped how he works.
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Interviewed on the road in Oakland, the LA band talks about their Southwest tour, cramming into motels and the van, the cities where the crowds are best, and a new rule for live shows and how well it’s going.
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When the fires took his house, he lost everything and had to start over. Now he runs Homegrown Surfboards, shaping boards by hand, and talks about the heroes he learned from, the lessons that came the hard way, and the comeback that keeps him trying.
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A Santa Cruz garage that began with flipping bikes in college, and the owner’s bet that now is the time to make it the real thing.
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14
A last day in Hong Kong, a tattoo shop behind a black facade, and a piece of the city to carry home.
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