On the subject of shops, aynbody recall the name Tommy “Cannonball” Lee; he gained fame as a bigwave kamakazi pilot when he suffered the cannonball wipe out at Waimea Bay, captured on film, and shown to screaming audiences on 3 coasts; it was truly awe inspiring!!!; anyway, in the early 60ʻs he decides to open a surfshop in Waikiki, just off Kalakaua Ave on Hobron; he chose a ramshakle ,old house and hardly did anything to fix it up and opened doors for business; I was pretty young then, maybe 14, and this “surf shop” was something of a thrill and a good place to hang out; the shop never sold shit, and turned out to be a hang out for the boys and sort of a sore spot in the neighborhood when the surf crew started partying and making trouble; why he opend a surfshop weʻll never know; it wasnʻt a front for anything; illigal substances were still 15years down the road; but it was fun while it lasted, maybe 6months tops when funds ran out and the law put pressure on poor Tommy; yep…the little shop of horrors but part of the surfshop history of Honolulu…a hui hou
here's a link to balsabill's: http://www.balsabill.com/shop2.htm
I remember that one. I bought these shirts from BK back then. Lost the red one just last Summer. It was one of my all time favorites.
Nonsense. By 1963, there were all sorts of surf trunks. Some from small mom’n’pop operations like Katin and Birdwell, and others such Hobie’s own line, Jantzen, Catalina, etc. Birdwell’s has been in business since 1961. They are the longest running continuous advertiser in Surfer Mag.
Some shops didn’t sell trunks because they were only interested in selling boards and didn’t want to deal with the retail clothing aspect.
Where I live, there are three supposed surf shops. Only one is owned by people who can surf. The others are owned by a woman who used to be a salesperson at a surf/skate store, and a rich kid who got a surf shop bought by his mom one year after he got his first board. I patronize none of them. I get most of my stuff mail order (wet suits, Birdwells, leashes). Boards come directly from a shaper, and wax is obtained from a friend with a connection at Zog’s.
surfers supplies in ocean city nj
First shop I ever went to was Hobie in Honolulu around 1964 or so.They sold boards and Tshirts ( I got a Tshirt). My Old Man had taken me there on my birthday.Phil Edwards was in the store.
Phil had some kind of ratted out old car that he couldn’t get cranked. My old man was a good mechanic and had a tool box in our family car. He and Phil got under the hood and got it running. I was 15 years old and stoked as hell.
My first new board was a Chuck Vinson 6’ 10" round pin. It had a glassed on mahogony plywood fin, and blue rail bands, & I bought it off the rack in O’neills, must have been 1980 or 81, and I was 14. I loved that board & rode it in everything from 1’ on up. 280 rings a bell! I’m pretty sure that was the price - I got a huge stack of wax with it. I was so stoked to have a new stick, I can remember from the first wave it felt so smooth. That board felt unique - at that point it was all about twin fins, and riding a single fin was almost kind of kooky to some of the young groms (my peers!), but that board went unreal - you could ride anything with it, and trimming it forward felt like you were flying. I also think that was the first year that O’neills moved from their older location about a block up the street. The new shop at the time seemed kind of disco - compared to the old one, but in retrospect, it was bitchen! I loved the smell of new neoprene in there - to me that’s the smell of “let’s go surfing”. One time, my mom took me in there & bought me a new suit - instantly making her the raddest mom ever!!!
back in the 70s i use to drive up to the oneill shop twice a year to buy custom wetsuits.
they were made on the premises.
herb
I would LOVE a custom-made wetsuit!!
Aleeda suits Huntington Bch. So. Cal. They will make whatever you want and not that expensive. You can get a VERY NICE Custom fit for less than a Patagonia or Matuse suit off the rack.
“My first new board was a Chuck Vinson 6’ 10” round pin…must have been 1980 or 81"
nothing better then a “magic” board, which tend to be few and far apart…Chuck made me one in 79’, a 6’8 single wing RP single fin that rode everything just…magically.
the day it broke in half was a sad one…
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I would LOVE a custom-made wetsuit!!
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Surf & Sea in Ocean Beach, down San Diego way. Bought my first short sleeve top there, in Dec. 1958! They are still in business. New owners, but still doing their thing. Over the years I had three sleeveless Farmer Johns made for me. Pricey back in the day. Don't know about them now.
I want a full, short-sleeve and short bottom suit. I can see myself in one of those get-ups!! And, price doesn't matter....not for a chick. If we look good, that's all that matters! ;)-
I bought my first suit at Santa Cruz Surf shop - I surfed (actually boogie boarded!) for a year with no suit, as it didn’t quite register that I needed one. Then, one day my friend and I noticed all the guys were wearing suits! What a revelation. We saved our money, and scheduled a time when my dad could drive us to the shop. He piled three junior high kids in his truck, and off we went. Santa Cruz Surf shop was super cool. After about an hour, we all had suits. I felt so rad - this thing was gonna be warm! - a Body Glove full suit with a metal zipper down the front. Anyone remember the mural painted in the bathroom at that shop?
Was suprised on the last couple of trips North how many shops have closed. Others have sold to new owners who after making the big investment are struggling. Was suprised to hear of one rather large shop owner selling out and moving to Tennesee. Noticed the "Girls" shop on Portola in SC was gone. Other closures up North as well. I remember counting twenty-one surf shops between Santa Maria and Paso Robles in the phone book in 2006,
Freeline, O’Neil’s, Pearson-Arrow in SC, Bob Wise up in SF…permanent fixtures over decades while the rest just roll in and out like the tide…
Right. The cool thing is that, yeah.....you can get whatever, anywhere. But, its always more meaningful to have a "story" when you acquire something that's going to be a big deal to you. Like a board or stuff like that, after all.
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Frog House in Newport yet. They are still the real deal! I’m so glad they weren’t swept away in a wave of “gentrification”. TK and Mike Beho are classic!
Two shops I have fond memories of started up right here in my home town of Pearl City, HI. Town& Country Surfboards and The Surfboard Shaping Co. started by Craig Sugihara and former Weber head shaper Harold Iggy respectively. They both were literally mom and pop shops, occupying former mom and pop grocery stores, about a mile apart on Kam. Hwy.
T&C started a couple of years before the Shaping Co. and had a tiny showroom with barely enough room to fit a few boards and a couple of accesories. The shaping and glassing room was in a shack out back. Seems like T&C was just gettting by when it got a healthy shot in the arm with the advent of the urethane skateboard wheel. They could’nt keep enough of them in stock. Board sales were greatly increased when Glen Minami was brought on as head shaper and further increased when Larry Bertelmann broke away from Ben Aipa, learned how to shape and became part of the T&C stable. From there, things snowballed after they moved to a nearby strip mall, then moving into most of Oahu’s major malls.
The Shaping Co. became quite popular when it first opened, everyone wanting to jump on the new kid in town’s bandwagon and for good cause. Harold Iggy had been Weber Surfboards head shaper and many wanted to try his beautifully sculptured wing swallow and pintails. I wish I had paid more attention when Iggy let me watch him shape my custom order. Bobby Owens had just moved to Pearl City and was moving up the junior ranks when Iggy brought him onboard. He and Lynn Boyer built their reputations riding Harolds fine foils. The SSC moved into town taking over the former Rich Parr Surfboards location when that shop closed. They stayed open a few more years, but unfortuneatly closed down. Harold went on to sucessfully design sailboards with Robbie Naish and more recently foraying into the SUP realm.
Two stories about the same shop; The old Oneill Shop on forty- first (41st) in Capitola. Wheeled into town early one morning and noticed someone opening the doors of the shop. In need of wax I stopped. The guy told me they weren't open yet. He had came down to secure the building after someone had thrown a rock thru the window and made of with a couple of new shortboards. Another time; Went for an early surf at 38th and the Hook. Afterward about 9:00 or 10:00 I decided to walk the rottweiler up forty-first and maybe stop in a few shops. When I got up to where Oneills was; A guy came up to me and asked me if I knew anyone in town who did ding repair. The guy; Mickey Dora. Though they moved to a new building a block away they have recently turned the old building into an Outlet center. Guess they felt they had to as Rip Curl and Billabong both have "outlets" on forty-first now as well. If you walk toward the ocean from the Oneill Shop you will see the Oneil International Corporate Headquarters on your right. A groupd of non-discrip wooden buildings painted grey and sporting the Oneill logo..