Anyone remember true surf shops before they became clothing/department stores? And remember sales people that actually knew something about surfboards, and surfing? The Velzy shop in San Clemente, Burland Surfboards in La Jolla, and Select Surf Shop in Pacific Beach, to name a few. Well, I found another one! BIRDS SURF SHED, in San Diego. You know, the one that was on American Pickers. It is in a giant quonset hut, which really reminds me of Hawaii. The place is filled with vintage surfboards, as well as new. And perhaps the most extensive collection of Caster Surfboards in existance. It is well worth the effort visit there. It is most like the surf shops of old, that I remember.
Yah, that’s been one of the after effects of surfing becoming cool for the masses. Just like SUP’ing on a pond in Idaho. There’s a few true “surf” shops around: “Kimo’s” in Kailua, Oahu had nothing but boards when I was there last year. I would have added “Longboard Grotto” in Encinitas to the list, but I just read they shut their doors last year.
Always used to get a thrill going into Gordie’s place, saltiest guy on the coastline.
Balsa Bill Yerkes has an old-school ''true'' shop in Satellite Beach FL. Beach out the back door also.
I haven’t been there for a few years, but the Haut shop in Santa Cruz. Boards in the front. Factory out back. You go there to get a surfboard from one of the best. Mike
My favorite as a teen was ET in Hermosa Beach. The place was a cave, darkened and scented by an inverted forest of wetsuits that hung from the ceiling and brushed against your head. I loved the smell- new wetsuits, grape and 'tropical" wax, resin, skateboard grip tape. All chemicals come to think of it… a candy store to us gremmies!
There was a tiny hole in the wall in Whangamata a few years ago that had nothing but a few boards and a window looking into a shaping room, where I saw a guy shaping a board with no mask and a joint in his mouth. Heartwarming sight.
I grew up in the L.A. South Bay back when there was about 10 surfshops strung out along PCH.
Bing, Jacobs, Noll, Weber........
Back in those day surf shops were just that. You'd walk into just about every surf shop and were instantly hit by the smell of resin because only the really big time shapers had a seperate place to work. Surfboards on every wall. Maybe a rack of t shirts and some trunks but that was it for clothes. A beat up glass case full of wax, decals and patches and that was it .
For all the people down on the "valley", there still is and always was a real deal shop run by Glen Kennedy. He and Greg Liddle have (had) shops that are for boards. Glen has the requisites like wetsuits and trunks but you can also get fin boxes, cord plugs, and hand foiled fins. These guys are surfers, not retailers. There used to be a great shop in Ventura called Fins Foam and Fiberglass that was a real supplier for board makers. Too bad the Damn economy shut it down. That and Fiber/HI. moving down to Ventura. R.I.P.
Tiki Don’s. Don would be sleeping off the night before on a inflatable surf mat on the sidewalk in front of the shop… Kick the mat wake Don up he would open the door.
gordie's shop was a workhorse.
i use to go get scrapes from him to make fin rope and dingy stuff,or if i was short abit of resin,he'd kick down to me.
after a few,he'd ask if i wanted to help sand or lam boats,i usually did,and he treated me right.
but if you didn't know him and/or came into his shop jackassy...............he'd back you down like a rot/pit/cattledog mix.
my shop in l.b.c., rainbow bridge(1977-81) sold for the most part only surfboards.........ya,we had some x and y sheet,but for the most part it was surfboards for surfers.
there were alot of homegrown shops back in the days...........more so than the big deal supermarket types of today.
same goes with skateboard shops.
what it comes down to is: we out priced ourselves,got lazy,greedy,...............got soft..............now sick and soon to be a dead industry here.........in the u.s.a. .
like our shoes,clothes,tools,,,,,,,,,,,,cars,,,,,,,,,,and now our national debt. is mfg.and owned by off shore countries.
i saw this coming more than 20 years ago.
that's why i came here and did what i did.
to create/aid/support the backyarder.
not to hurt the industry,but to salvage what was save-able,and not to spawn a new form of builder...................
to make people more aware,to think,,,,,,,,,,,,a more complete and knowledgeable waterslider.
when i first came on to sways half of my responses came back with brutal attacks,and e-mails threats about me giving out industry secrets.
you can guess what i told them.
the future is here
and now.
it's a revolution..............
............hence it's name.
........it travels around for abit.........
........... stops for awhile..........
.........then starts back up and comes around in your face !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
welcome to the revolution !
herb
Carabine in wollongong is a real surf shop. If he's lamming, you can smell it, as its probably 3 feet behind the counter, and when you go in he's usually out the back. Pretty small shop, boards against the wall. I dont think there are any clothes, if so, less shirts than boards.
Ambrose’s Kapuna (I think, haven’t been able to remember 'cuz it means “spoon,”'cuz a guy gave him one years ago…),
and Dr. Dings in Hanapepe.
Here it’s close in the front, boards in the back. Not to bad though.
Aipa’s shop is just that, a place where he makes boards. Won’t find anything else there if you can find it in the first place. Cippy’s shop on Kapahulu is another with just boards, nothing else. You can find him there and talk story. Sometimes family or old friends drop by and hang. I think RV’s is that way, but it may have changed.
My friends from little kid times say there’s no money in surfboards, it’s all in the clothing. One’s family has run the BK shop in Waianae since it opened and the other is George Downing’s son. At least Downing’s shop has a lot of boards in there. The BK shop my have one if you go on the right day. Used to see BK in the Haleiwa shop across Kua Aina, but that shop is gone. You can still find George in his shop but not everyday. Just look for the truck out front.
These days with modern boards, a shop has to have leashes, wax, traction pads, fins (for boards and feet), shorts, wetsuits, magazines and boards. Then there’s the sunglasses, assorted shirts and other clothing that pays the lease or mortgage.
Used to be the surf shops were owned/run by core surfers, often shapers, who knew what they were talking about, and it was all about the boards. First shop I supported sold only surfboards, Birdwell’s, racks and O’Neil vests. Which is why they probably went out of business.
Surf shops today don’t make their $$ off of surfboards, it’s off the clothes and crap. Friend of mine with a tight little shop says he sells a $700 surfboard, he makes $60. Sells a $50 sweatshirt, makes $30. And the sweatshirts pay the rent. Surfboards in the average shop have been relegated to eye candy stacked on a back wall to imply legitimacy,
And the average $12 an hour guy/gal on the floor knows squat about boards - “Personally, I’d recommended the 6’3 RocketFlameTractor model, Dane just kills on it”.
Hat’s off to the shops that still make it about the surfboards - even if they do have the T-Shirts on sale rack out in front - the rent has got to be paid one way or the other.
You can find Keone and George Downing at their shop at least several days a week if not most days. That’s where the boards are shaped, so they’re usually in the back. A lot of the other companies get boards done at a factory, but there’s a bunch up in the old Waialua Sugar mill and you can run into the guys making the boards like Jeff Johnston just about any day. Greg Griffin’s shop used to be there, but he may have moved. Don’t expect to find wax or shorts or anything besides boards.
I think you can find Bill Barnfield working at at his shop in Haleiwa, but he also sells a lot of bikes, so his store has all kinds of stuff. I got a great deal on a grip pad couple of weeks ago.
There are still shops on the north shore that basically have just boards. Just go down towards the Haleiwa bridge.
When I started surfing, I sometimes used to hang out at Dave Sweet’s on Olympic and Con’s on Pico. Tatami mats on the floor and the reek of resin eminating from the “back room”. They didn’t even sell wetsuits (you had to order a “beaver-tail” jacket from a dive shop for about $15.00: they were about 1/4" thick and no nylon lining—rashed the b’Jesus out of your pits). Weber’s shop on Lincoln in Venice (towards what later became Marina Del Rey) was about the largest, most spiffy shop going at that time.
Clear board prices were around $100-$110. Choice of 3/4" redwood or 1-1/2" balsa stringer was standard, T-bands or multiple stringers were extra, as was color. Glassing schedule was single 20-oz./double 10 oz. with double-wrapped rails and deck patch.
All fins were glass-on and each shaper’s “D” fins had a distinct shape and/or wood lamination configuration that made his boards identifiable even when you couldn’t see the logo.
Those shops just sold boards, wax, resin, MEKP, cloth, rope and Surfer magazine. Always a poster advertising the next, up-coming Santa Monica Civic surf movie or “Surf Fair” in the window. 8X10 glossies of local guys riding the shaper’s boards and “mural-sized” shots of Hawaiian waves on the wall. You could buy a water-slide decal of their logo to stick on your car window and a current price list for 25¢ and a white, 2-color, logo T-shirt for $1.50. Many shops also sold extra-elaborate, laminated-wood fins. That was pretty much it. No clothing, not even trunks.
Went down to Dana Point in '62 or '63 to order a new, custom G&S in their shop across the street from Hobie’s (which was a tiny place housed in that converted gas station or drive-in or whatever it was). Nancy Nelson, then recent Makaha women’s champ took my order.
Look to the past… predict the immediate future.
I only started surfing in 1990, so that’s what I’ve been able to see myself…
If some surf shops in the 60’s & 70s didn’t even sell trunks, I guess it would be because that was a generic good which could be used as a bathing suit, as a short pant, as fishing clothes, etc, etc… But there was not yet the mindset of a piece of pant-wear that was exclusively for the purpose of surfing.
Therefore, when someone asked the guy at the surf shop where to buy a pair of surf trunks, the guy might have responded: “Just cut the legs off of that khaki you have on” or “The local clothing store has some short pants for $1.15 which are very cool for getting in the water”.
Today, when I have the desire for a CocaCola, I can get one at pretty much any place where there is a fridge.
In the future, if the “future ones” get a desire for a CocaCola, they could be having a very real desire for a “Surfer CocaCola”. Furthermore, they could have a desire for a “Shortboarder in the 5’6” to 5’9" range CocaCola".
The contents of the can would be irrelevant.
The American Dream gone The American Nightmare?
As someone mentioned before, “Welcome to the revolution!”
And I agree, from what I’ve learned throughout the years: Surfboard sales don’t pay the bills for a surf shop. Other shit does.
in the earlier 70s robert august was keepin' alive on ding repairs.
walter and nancy katin made trunks for surfers from boat canvas.
and i agree.............had we diversified our sales/stock, things might have turned out bigger.........better?
........depends on how you define ......better.
progress..............you got to take the bad...........with the good............as far as i know.......... there's no way around it.
for me..........if you add it all up .............it's been a hell of a thrill ride,that i wouldn't trade for anything else.
well,maybe megan fox?.........naw!
herb