A Timeless Day: The San Diego Story

One of the pillars of First Light Surf Club is our enduring love for San Diego–its beauty and its people. That's why we're so excited we got the chance to spotlight San Diego native Charlie Madruga, founder of bespoke travel agency A Timeless Day. For Charlie, curating a San Diego lifestyle isn't just his profession, it is his lineage, with family roots tracing back to our beloved city for generations.

At First Light Surf Club, we were grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with A Timeless Day for a photoshoot to promote our Spring Collection earlier this year. On the job, we got to know Charlie and his team, and can safely say their energy for what they do is as clear as their passion for our city. 

With a few friends putting together an innocent ad on Airbnb to show travelers around the city, A Timeless Day's beginnings are humble, yet grounded in genuine recognition for a city that has given all of us so much. This isn't just the story of a local touring agency, its a story of community and heart–something truly San Diegan.

Q: Can you give us a brief introduction? 

Charlie: Hey! I’m Charlie Madruga. I’m a San Diego native and founder of A Timeless Day——a bespoke travel agency that set out to change the way that people visit and experience our hometown. We host coastal day trips in our restored fleet of vintage Volkswagens, curate beach bonfire parties for guests and throw celebrations around town. We recently have been getting into some fun creative agency type stuff as  well, which has been super rad. I went to St. Augustine and then kept it local and went to USD.  

Early on I realized San Diego was a pretty tough spot to leave. It’s been super rewarding and special to share San Diego with travelers from all over the world. Besides that, I’m a writer, die hard Padres fan, and live with my girlfriend in South Park. We love to  travel whenever we’re able to score some downtime.  

Q: Take us through your ideal day in San Diego.

Charlie: My ideal day in San Diego is pretty synonymous to the template of the original Timeless Day experience. It’d probably be a clear day in late September or October. Warm sun, cool water, super quiet out during the day.  

It’d consist of a lot of time outside with friends or family: Torrey Pines beach hike, dive in the water, maybe crack open a book on  the beach, then cruise along La Jolla. Stop and grab tacos. Try to hop on the basketball court or tennis court with the boys. Then probably just chill and watch the Pads if they’re on in the evening. Just a day that feels fulfilling and carefree, enjoying it with my favorite people around.  

Q: As a 4th-generation San Diegan with over a century of family roots here, how has your family’s history in San Diego shaped your perspective on the city today?

Charlie: I’ve always felt super fortunate to have grown up here. I honestly just showed up on day one in the most beautiful city on earth, so I have my family to thank deeply for that. 

My great-grandfather was a Portuguese fisherman in Point Loma  dating back to the 1920s. His story reads more like a feature film. He started designing and building tuna boats as a teenager in the 1930s, captained his own ships in WWII when they were commissioned by the Navy, then after the war he came back and eventually built and  captained the world’s largest commercial fishing vessel at the time. Just an all-around legend that I’ve truly been inspired by. To have been close with my great-grandmother and to have had those century-old stories and deeply-rooted traditions passed down is something that I’ll always cherish.  

It’s so wild to have heard stories of the city from their childhoods, and to have grown up in the same neighborhood. It feels sometimes like there’s a guiding light leading me to follow in their footsteps. My family has always been huge on hosting big gatherings,  celebrating the cuisine of my Portuguese and Mexican backgrounds, and welcoming everyone into our coastal lifestyle——all of which have naturally become ethos of A Timeless Day.  

Q: Tell us how A Timeless Day began. What inspires you to share San Diego with others?

Charlie: I had graduated from USD and quite honestly just couldn’t envision having a “real job”——being in an office all day seemed like a  death sentence to my youth——so my friend and I thought of what we’d do if we had one day in San Diego, and then started offering it as a day trip for guests to join us for $35 on Airbnb Experiences. We were  floored when the first guests actually booked. It was a solo-traveler from Shanghai, a solo-traveler from Lebanon, and us in my 2008 Toyota  Prius. An entire day of us exploring the coastline, going to our favorite food spots, swimming at our favorite hidden little beaches, watching the sunset——just living like we would if we had one day left in our hometown. We all were legitimate friends by the end of the day (shout out Nora and Theresa!)  

Then my friend and I just kept doing it that whole summer, and  called it A Timeless Day. When a day on the job consisted of swimming, tacos and Mr. Frosties with new friends, we knew we were cooked on getting “real jobs” so we just made A Timeless Day our real job. 

Behind it all though, is the innate love that we have for our  city and the hope to revitalize human connection by spending an  authentic day together. A day that is filled with laughter, a lightness of being and all of the beauty that San Diego represents. The memories and friendships that we’ve made with our guests is my  favorite part and really does feel special in this day and age.  

Q: Tell us about the name, “A Timeless Day.” How did you come up with it, and what does it mean to you?

Charlie: I’ve always had a romanticized outlook on the long summer days where it feels like time stands still. The days where you forget about  the phone, where you feel untethered from technology and are inherently present in the moment. We decided to refer to those days as timeless. The kind of day that could exist in any era. I’ve always  been drawn to that kind of timelessness——whether it be in art, design, vehicles, music, fashion. It felt natural to frame those sensibilities into the scope of a company.  

There’s also a universality to “a timeless day” because everyone has their own connotation, their own itinerary of what their personal timeless day looks and feels like. I’ve noticed that to be a  connecting thread between our team and our guests who join us——we all have that spirit of creating memories and living days that are spent in the light.  

Q: You grew up on the shore break of Marine Street in “the sand and sea of San Diego.” What role have the beach and surfing played in your life, in childhood and today? 

Charlie: I grew up in Point Loma, but most of my summer days were spent exploring the coast and ending up at Marine Street with my friends and  cousins. We’d get in my older cousins old Volkswagen bus (definitely a precursor to A Timeless Day’s vision) and spend all day out in the sun and water. They were always more of the natural surfers (I played  travel baseball nonstop growing up, so my formative surfing skills definitely took a hit), but I was always out in the water with them trying to keep up. My role was always more of the documentarian——I’d take photos, make little movies, and write stories about all of it.  Being along the water and having that maritime ancestry is something that has always kept me grounded. I start to get a little weary if I  haven’t been by the water for a few days. It’s something I try to not take for granted. 

Q: What does community mean to you as a San Diego-based business, and how does it play a role in your day-to-day operations? 

Charlie: Community has been integral to the growth of A Timeless Day. We’ve been stoked to partner up with a ton of local brands, hotels, restaurants and creative people around the city. Seemingly everyone in town that we’ve been fortunate enough to meet is so inspiring, and we really believe in the rising of the collective tide. That is something  that encourages us on the daily——just the opportunity to share our city and vision alongside like-minded people.  

The shoot that we did with you guys was the perfect example. The team and I talk all the time about how rad of a day that was when we  cruised the 101 in the Karmann Ghia and the bus. Those shots are some of our all-time favorites!  

Q: How does your personal history with San Diego influence the way you craft experiences for your guests?

Charlie: I think it just reminds me to curate experiences for guests that they wouldn’t typically come up with on their own. From day one we  wanted to remove all of the stress that comes with being in a new city, and wanted it to feel like travelers were spending a day with longtime friends. Removing that level of pretension to being on a  “tour” and replacing it with an authentic experience is one of the whole reasons why I started A Timeless Day, so just keeping that sense of timelessness at the forefront is huge for us.  

Truly though, I feel like I learn just as much from our guests on every experience. We’ve met thousands of people from such a tapestry of cultural backgrounds, and it’s been incredibly unifying to make new friendships and see our hometown through their fresh lens. It reminds me to live passionately and experience the mundane with a sense of  wonderment.  

Q: What’s your personal favorite hidden gem in San Diego?

Charlie: Maybe not necessarily “hidden”, but I love the trails at Sunset Cliffs that stretch along PLNU. I try to get out there and walk those  at sunset once or twice a week, then call in an order at La Perla on Rosecrans——probably my favorite taco shop as of late. Ocho Mexican Food & Cafe in Bankers Hill is rapidly ascending the rankings as well. 

Q: How do you see A Timeless Day evolving in the next few years?

Charlie: It’s been awesome to see the evolution of ATD (the kids call it ATD sometimes) in just the last year. The addition of the vintage Volkswagens is something I’ve dreamed of since the days in my 08’  Prius. Ian, Jack and Dylan (our Timeless Day team members who are also our partners from Kombis, Kooks N’ Things) do such an amazing job on  the car restorations, so integrating the Volkswagens into the day trips, event activations and commercial/production rentals has crystalized in an awesome way. So we’re always looking to have our Timeless fleet of rides out on the town as much as possible. We’ve  designed and built a wooden photo booth for the VW buses that we’re looking to have pop up around town for people to enjoy the buses and  get cool photos taken in a timeless way.  

Most recently, we’ve done some creative agency style work: directing the campaigns and executing shoots for both Dad Grass and Strive Soda in the past couple of months. That is an avenue that feels right in line with my creative sensibilities, and doing it with our  Timeless team of friends is something that has us stoked for the future. It really feels like it’s just the start of that whole  endeavor. We’d absolutely love to do more agency style work and bring  timeless visions to life for both local and national brands.

 Q: From your perspective, what does it mean to be a “local?”

Charlie: To me, being a local is someone who appreciates San Diego by living in it to the fullest. Someone who feels fulfilled by the beauty of their city and who seeks out experiences that enrich their time here.

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To learn more about A Timeless Day, check out their website and follow along with Charlie's San Diego story here: @atimelessday.