WAVE ARCADE is based in North County San Diego, California.
Ethan Orenstein started the project in 2015 with the goal of sharing artwork, surf projects, and stories with the world.
True to our nature of expanding our experiences, experimentation in and out of the water, and enjoyment of life and our natural environments, WAVE ARCADE will always continue to evolve, but will always stay true to the basic principle of increasing stoke and celebrating the ocean.
Thanks for being a part of it!
The WAVE ARCADE Project is the creation of me, Ethan Orenstein.
I continue to expand the project from Encinitas, California (North County San Diego).
You can learn more about me here.
It’s a simple tagline, but it does a good job at getting down to the core of WAVE ARCADE.
Expanding your experiences in and out of the water will help you grow as a surfer and as a human being.
Change is the only constant. Experimentation with surf equipment, materials, different approaches, and new ideas is a key component to expanding your experiences.
And whatever you do, you’ve got to remember to enjoy yourself, those around you, and the places where you spend your time.
WAVE ARCADE wants to share those values through the artwork and stories you’ll find here.
America's National Park Service is known worldwide for protecting, preserving, and celebrating our public lands and historical places. This is due in large part to the agencies, individuals, and visitors that cherish these places.
But if you've ever visited one of these places or seen some of the artwork depicting them, it has probably made an impact on you - the same way the ocean can make an impact on you the more time you spend with it.
In the 1930s, the WPA was created to help provide jobs during the Great Depression. Some of those jobs were focused on art and cultural projects.
One of those projects commissioned artists based in Berkeley, California to create posters for the National Parks system, which was just about 20 years old at that time.
Many of the original posters were pretty much lost to time, until being discovered by chance by Doug Leen while working as a park ranger in the 70s.
Those original posters, and the contemporary ones created by Leen's own Ranger Doug Enterprises, capture a bold, unique, and timeless style that matches the places they represent.
I figured our beaches and surf spots deserved the same treatment.
Every poster in the WAVE ARCADE WPA series is a spot I've surfed, driven past, or dreamed about.
By 2025, after 10 years of the WAVE ARCADE project, the series grew to 50+ California surf spots imagined in the iconic WPA National Parks style.
Today, I continue to expand the project to more California spots and beyond.
If there's a spot you'd like to see featured in the collection, let me know!