The new issue of Indoek brings America's oldest city to life

St. Augustine is America’s oldest city. Tucked away on the northeastern tip of Florida, St. Augustine is more specifically the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the contiguous United States. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish conquistador, willed it into being back in 1565. 452 years on, and surf-mad publication Indoek have celebrated all that’s good about St. Augustine with the second issue of its city-specific magazine. We now want to go to St. Augustine.

We asked Matt from the publication to explain the genesis of Indoek and the answer was a little knottier than any of us expected: “To provide some back story and context: Indoek has taken many forms over the years; it’s been a creative and surf culture blog, a purveyor of weekly mixtapes, maker of random product collaborations, photo and video content creators, a book author, publisher, magazine maker, art show curator and host, a place to celebrate our friends and peers doing cool stuff, and it’s been a constant work-in-progress.” Deep breath, Matt, deep breath. “That said, it has always been a home for the personal/passion projects of my design studio, ITAL/C — founded by Ron Thompson and myself.”

At ITAL/C", Matt and Ron work with the likes of Patagonia, Facebook, Google, Reebok, but also startups and local restaurants. Between projects, the pair spends time creating projects under the guise of Indoek. Every issue of the large-scale publication will, Matt says, focus on a different town or city, each of which is rife with stories of how creative personalities throughout the ages have affected the community.

This second issue of the magazine is absolutely stuffed with content about a city that’s never been a hub for UK tourists like the Disney towns of Orlando or Kissimmee. Alongside guides for finding “the best damn fish sammich in town” — a Floridian culinary staple, it seems — an in-depth look at furniture designers Rachel Grant and Andrew Deming, a love letter to the golden age of St. Augustine surfing, a gorgeously creepy set of photos of the gators who seem to roam around the city, and an illustrated history of the place, you’ll find an assembly of vintage postcards, a profile of local artist Ty Williams, and a rather interesting chat with a clam farmer.

Matt believes that his team “did our best to capture the essence of what we find so special about St. Augustine, but you can’t just do a one-off printed piece and expect it to be the definitive authority on everything cool in a town — especially one with as much historical significance as St. Augustine."

There’s no getting away from the fact that this second issue of Indoek is a gorgeous thing. Given Matt and Ron’s dayjob that shouldn’t be surprising — both are designers — but we were still knocked for six by just how good it looks, with a fantastic blend of photography, typography, and the kind of double page spreads that have us drooling.

So, cheers to Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the Indoek team, and every single inhabitant of St. Augustine — may your city always be so creative.