Jan 30, 201209:42 AM

A Guide to the South Bay Surf and Action Sports Scene

A (short) History of Stoke

 

Surfing, much like Hollywood, traffic and plastic surgery, is synonymous with Los Angeles. It’s an important part of this city’s culture and—dare I say it—even its history. For instance, back in the early 1900s, surfing had a hand in shaping the development of the South Bay.

 

Henry E. Huntington was having a bit of trouble getting anyone to ride his Los Angeles-Redondo rail line, and he was looking for a way to boost ticket sales. After reading Jack London’s accounts of surfing in Hawaii, he contacted Irish-Hawaiian surfer George Freeth and hired him to put on “surfing demonstrations” at Redondo Beach. The ploy worked; hundreds of people gathered on a regular basis to watch Freeth surf, and he ended up becoming the world’s first professional surfer.

 

Trains and ticket sales aside, Freeth’s biggest contribution to Los Angeles was teaching dozens of young Angelenos (mostly boys) how to surf and shape their own boards. Over the next few decades, the sport began to grow in popularity.

 

In 1949, Dale Velzy opened the first surf shop in Manhattan Beach. In the early 50s, a Santa Monica surfer named Bud Browne debuted the first surf flick (Hawaiian Surfing Movies). Around that same time, Dive N’ Surf in Redondo Beach is credited (along with Jack O’ Neill’s surf shop in San Francisco) with manufacturing and selling the first surfing wetsuits. Fast-forward to the 21^st century, and Los Angeles boasts a population of roughly 250,000 surfers and is recognized as the birthplace of modern surf culture.*

 

Keep in mind, what I just discussed was a condensed version of the surf history of LA; I didn’t even touch on music, literature or even Hollywood’s impact (i.e. Gidget and the slew of other surf-exploitation flicks). But, that little history lesson should give you an idea concerning the relationship that LA and surfing share—it’s easy to see that they’re pretty committed to one another.

 

So, if surfing is part of LA’s greater culture and image, it isn’t that much of reach to argue that other surf-influenced “action sports” (like skateboarding or snowboarding) are just as important too.

 

That’s where this blog comes in: it’ll serve as my way of involving you all in the LA action sports community. Together, we’ll explore its culture, characteristics and history—and no, you won’t even have to wear a helmet.

 

Southbay magazine welcomes Stefan as a regular blog contributor. Check back for his next edition of "Catching Air."

 

*Warshaw, Matt. The Encyclopedia of Surfing. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003. Print.