Howzit Herb, Russel Surfboards on PC in New Port Bch only has boards and his hats and tees, I can't remember seeing any leashes or wax even. What I think I missed he most in the late years was the smell of resin in the shops since they weren't allowed to mae boards on the premises any longer. The 50's and 60's were totally different and I remember sitting around with Walt and Nancy talking story after surfing. Aloha,Kokua
In the late 50ʻs and early 60ʻs surf shops in Honolulu town were in the embryonic stage; the only place that sold ready made boards was Mcwayne Marine Supply at Kewalo and they were Greg Noll balsa logs imported from the mainland; Mcwayne also sold balsa and fiberglass supplies to all comers; in the late 50ʻs a few board shops began to open their doors; there was a Dave Sweet shop in Waikiki at the Hale AuAu parking lot and there was a Con Shop on Kalakaua Ave mauka of Kapiolani Blvd.; both shops never lasted too long; some time in the early 60ʻs Interisland Surfboards in Kakaʻako began to produce quality craft under the guidance of Mickey Lake; I think Sparky shaped and Joe Kitchens glassed; there was no wax, clothes or other surf gear; just board production; Bob Shephard was also building high quality balsa boards in a ramshakle shop somewhere in the slums of Kakaʻako; during this era balsa was king and Noll and Velsey were making nice product; surf clothing was still 20years down the road; no wax,leashes or trunks; custom surf shorts could be ordered from Takeʻs in Waikiki or M. Niʻi in Waianae; got those and you was stylinʻ; these were the earliest years, no leashes and no crowds; fast forward to ʻ64 and foam boards are everywhere and the happening shop was Surfline on Piʻikoi selling many different brands and the first few offerings from surf clothing companies and in the ware house behind the shop,Gerry and Chris Green and their apprentices were carving out state of the art wave craft and pushing the short board movement…OK gang, pau the history lesson for today…I gotta go clean yard and make boards…see ya soon!!!
Hooo!
In the 70s I spent a lot of time hanging at the Rich Parr (later Iggy's) shop on Queen Street. Blanks and boards in the 20x20 first floor, one cabinet of fins, wax, resin and a few other things, later one stand for wetsuits and a few shirts. Boards shaped and glassed upstairs, sold for $100-$135. Lois and Marcy helping customers, Lynne Boyer came in for a bit here and there, Bobby Owens from time to time, later Harold behind the counter.
Dave Ronk's shop was cool, come in and see one cabinet separating you and everyone from the five glassing racks behind it. "I'll help you as soon as I finish laminating this". Dave eventually became a cop, died in the line of duty.
LIghtning Bolt and Brewer on Kapiolani always had lots of other stuff, as did the Weber shop on Piikoi.
Anyone remember the Green Room out in IV. I was just a tiny grom but scored a Sims taperkicker and used boards and still remember all the great smells and killer pictures. Still have a real shop in the goodland out in Goleta “surf country”. Where they fix/shape boards in the back w/ window to see shop.
Howzit Honolulu, I did some glassing for Rich and his upstairs factory was a nightmare to work in since he had cheese cloth over the windows to keep the dust out but it kept the air out also and I think I lost about 5 lbs of water just from sweating. After about 2 weeks I had him all caught up and tol him I was out of there and boy was he bummed but I just told him I was miserable working under those conditions. Aloha,Kokua
In Santa Barbara we had a few true surfshops. Most locals and anyone driving along the freeway would remember the Yater shop on the hill in Summerland with the White Owl shop down lower on the main strip. Ike was still around in those days too. Doug Roth was in Goleta. Wilderness was in the old Ice House off Cabrillo Blvd. Those were 60’s shops.
By 1970 I had opened Bahne/William Dennis Shop on Tecolote Street in old town Goleta. Yater had moved to Gray Avenue, Wilderness wasin the old woodcutters house next to the freeway. Zog had Wave Delineation out on Airport property. Chuck Vinson had the “Thought” shop on Anacapa Street right near the courthouse.
Owl had moved to Carrillo Street and was sellng boards and O’neill Wetsuits but had really become a clothing store. I know this all too well as I worked at Surf n Wear from '72 thru '79 and Jeff and I would have debates over the importance of having surfboards as the headliner. I was for them (shaping the Owl label) he said “any decent carpenter can make a good board”.
It surprised me to hear that from JW, but he had had a lot of years go by and a disease that changed his views on some things.
All those SB shops had distinct individual flavors of their own. At one time I think I counted 13 shops in Carp, SB and Goleta alone. An impossible thing to happen in this day and age.
That was then, and this is now.
Ironic that Bill put this thread up. 4th of July was the last day in business for my local shop, Backdoor Boardshop, just down the hill from me. Even with all the other stuff they offered and sold beside surfboards, it was a downward spiral until they pulled the plug. They were the ones that got the skate park put into Solvang for the kids, and they were the epicenter for young people to gather for different events.
Surfshops… true surfshops will always hold a special place in my heart, just like when we gathered at Santa Barbara High School or The Lobero theater to see the newest surf movie… guys proudly wearing the Dewey Weber, Hobie, or SB Surf Club Jackets. I was a little gremmie in awe of those guys as I waited to see a personally narrated film like Cat on a Hot Foam Board, Slippery When Wet, The Endless Summer, Waterlogged, Crystal Voyager, The Fantastic Plastic Machine, Waves of Change, A Cool Wave of Color, The Golden Breed, Free Ride, Five Summer Stories, Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, Cosmic Children, Cold Lines and Natural Bridges, Evolution, The Hot Generation, and too many others to even mention…
downing’s shop with uncle george or keone behind the counter
cippy’s shop by the ala wai
chuck dent’s shop in huntington (first time i saw a full rack of blue dow foam boards)
and of course…
country surfboards in haleiwa when it was mext to “matsumoto’s” shaved ice stand
nothing better than sitting out front eating shave ice after a northshore lani’s dawn patrol session on the way back home and then wandering in to the shop to see all the dream boards you knew you could never afford.
Hey, deadshaper…
My first shortboard was a yellow-and-purple, 6’10" Thought down-railer (purchased used in 1970 from an SB shop). I was living in Ventura at the time, surfing C-Street pretty much daily. Coincidentally, my LAST shortboard (before I stopped surfing them
altogether) was a 7’4" Chuck Vinson pintail thruster (custom-shaped in
1987 at Chuck’s La Selva Beach house) that’s still up in the garage rafters. Didn’t come
full circle intentionally: it just somehow worked out that way by chance. Chuck
is/was(?) a real craftsman. Is he still shaping?
Les Wong and Stan Fuji were a presence at C-Street back in those days. Dennis’ shop was pretty much the hub of activity in town. Mike Nobel and his crew were regulars up at Stables/The Pipe. Down the coast a bit, Malcolm and Duncan Campbell were tweaking their prototype (pre-Bing) Bonzers. I can remember watching Duncan riding his way deep in 8’-10’ spitting, left barrels at Hollywood: pure poetry.
1970 was also the year they buried Stanley’s, if memory serves…
I owned both at one time. Had one with the Shaper in the back and then a huge mall store (I’m sorry to say ) One was all about surfing and the other all about money and keeping my head above water gasping for air from huge overhead. Both will keep you out of the water too much. I’m with Mike. Love Balsa Bill’s store. Nice little shop right on the beach. Blue Sky in St Augustine also. I thought Robert August had a nice one when I lived in HB also.
chuck lives in ventura and is still shaping beautiful boards. william dennis(aka ventura surf shop) was the shop. boards,wax,wetsuits, with the shaping room through a door direct from "showroom" could walk in to get some wax and hear blinky (or whomever) mowing away on a blank. pretty cool. liddle's was core as well. boards he built, fins he made, wax, eventually leashes and a couple of boardbags.
deadshaper-speaking of going to local audtitoriums, vets halls, thetaers,etc. to see latest film, how about the film "inspiration"? would love to see that one again.(heard it's in an attic of a secluded house)
"Chuck lives in ventura and is still shaping beautiful boards’
good to hear…he made me some mighty fine single fins for several years back in pre-thruster days while he was still shaping in Santa Cruz…,
“he made me some mighty fine single fins for several years back in pre-thruster days while he was still shaping in Santa Cruz”
He made me a real nice, 2+1, 9’0", squashtail longboard back then as well: he could do it all.
I was out on a totally maxed out (size-wise) day at a NorCal beach break back in the late 80s: a rare big day when all the variables came together at this spot to produce big, pitching waves with excellent shape. Chuck was sitting w-a-a-a-ay outside on one of his single-fin, Sunset guns, picking off set waves and drawing long, casual, stylish lines.
That’s one of those days that lingers in the memory…
Honolulu,
You have me reaching into the memory banks on this one, and I could be wrong. Regarding the Weber Shop, I think it was on Ward and not Piikoi. The shop on Piikoi was Surfline was it not? That was the only shop I remember on Piikoi, although Mark Liddell had a very small shop/shaping room right off Piikoi, a little bit mauka from the old Surfline location, under the Island Energy name.
The old Brewer shop on Kapiolani, if it is the location you are referring to, was originally a Country Surfboards shop, with boards, shirts, and wax, and that was about it. Mike Turkington was gracious enough to drop off a few boards for me there, back in the day. Mike’s sister did sell some board shorts out of there. Pick the material and in a few days you could pick them up at the shop. An alternative to Take’s in those days.
Inter Island had a sales location on Kalakaua, mauka of Kapiolani, which became a Surfboards Makaha sales shop for a time. I think Aka Hemmings owned it in those days. Pretty much just boards and shirts in both of those.
At my last contact, Chuck was putting boards in Wetsand in Ventura and living on Pitas Point.
He had some melanoma that he has had to deal with a couple times. EPAC would probably be up on the latest.
When I went to manage O’neill ('80-'81) Chuck was one of the guys I gave a rack to stock. Each rack had 10 boards and I told each shaper “this is YOUR rack, you build whatever you want to represent you. Keep inventory on what is there, if stuff is selling come get another purchase order from me to fill spaces. If your stuff doesn’t sell, it’s your burden.”
The other shapers included Steve Coletta, Doug Schroedel, Joey Thomas, Mike Croteau and Michel Junod. I had an additional rack that I brought in T&C right at the beginning of summer. They had insnae airbrushes back then, high quality full color boards. I priced them at $330 to $350 which everyone local was at $280.
Some of the guys were pissed and told me “you’re crazy, these things will never sell”.
The Vals came over the hill Saturday morning and 3 were gone by noon. I hd a few extras of everyone’s stuff in theupstairs stock room. A couple more sold the next day.
The new blood brought a lot of people in and local guys boards started moving off the floor faster too.
Later I told the same guy that told me I was “nuts”… "“I did you a favor”.
I explained to him that by selling T&Cfor more I was able to raise the local shapers’ prices and gave them all a raise.
Chuck Vinson told me years later that because of what I did, he “was able to buy his house at La Selva Beach”.
"4th of July was the last day in business for my local shop, Backdoor Boardshop, just down the hill from me."
Hi Bruce -
That is unfortunate. I had the pleasure of visiting that shop, meeting Chris the sales manager, and checking out some of your boards. I loaned him one of my surf mats and after riding it at El Cap he ended up buying one for himself.
I am sorry to hear about another one biting the dust.
Well, I remember one thing.....both Velzy's and my cousin's you could SMELL from a mile away!!
“The other shapers included Steve Coletta, Doug Schroedel, Joey Thomas”
small world…starting from the mid 70’s for the next 30 years, most of my boards were shaped by Joey, then Chuck, then Steve, and then Doug…excellent shapers all who made me some great rides…was sorry to see it when Doug bailed on shaping and moved to Idaho 4 years ago…guy had serious talent…
and what a great way to showcase the shapers and minimize the ordering headaches - give them each a 10 rack bay and have them manage their respective lineup…makes way too much sense…
There are true surf shops and there are/were the ‘avante garde’, cutting edge, designer houses of surfing.
The Jeff Ho shop was one.
Although in my teens at the time, I was surely impressionable.
Haven’t ridden Shroedel or Colleta’s sticks, but had several of Joey’s shapes under West Cliff, JT and Haut logos: excellent boards. He’s still rips in the water, too.
chuck is doing fine with his skin ordeal. i see him almost daily. he still is out surfing-though wearing a lot more protection-hat,etc, when out to keep the sun off.