Doing research on DUSTY RHODES surfboards ANY help on this shaper GREATLY appreciated! I can’t seem to find any info anywhere.
Dusty Rhodes surfboards was a private label brand sold only (to my knowledge) by Joe Simonello (RIP) at the Custom Surf Shop in Lavallette, N.J.
It was made up name.
Simo, as he was known, sold hundreds of these boards in the 1966-68 time period.
Simo told me one time that Keith Hackamack, a fireman in Hermosa Beach, was building the boards for him.
Hackamack was a great craftsman and the boards were very well built. I was somewhat familiar with him prior to the Dusty Rhodes brand since we had bought a few of his boards under his “Hack” label at Keller’s Surf Shop, also in Lavallette.
Thanks! That’s what I was looking for. I had heard that they were sold in Lavallette, makes sense mine’s a CODE 20 10’0", brought it from Beach House Classic Board Shop in Bayhead, Eric said he picked it up from a guy in Pine beach. Nice stick… nose rides like a dream…thanks BalsaBill!!!
Simo. what a pirate of a man, should have lived 300 years earlier and pillaged and pundered the 7 seas.
He sold Overlin Surfboards, Plastic Fantastic and many other labeles over the years.
Simo’s MO was to get the boards to Newark, call the Mfg. and tell them there was no F’n way he was going to pay COD, (use jersey mobster accent here)“you can just get them shipped back to you freight collect”.
He ALWAYS got the boards and then it was a dollar down and the chase was on.
The police went to the showroom once to see if the story was fact that he was holding Danny Callahan hostage to get him to build boards for Simo.
When Overlin and Fantastic told him no more boards, he sent me lables and serial numbers of boards he had bought over the years and had me repeatedly rebuild these same boards over and over “hey man, these are what I bought from you”, if the time ever came.
His wife worked at the bank he used and when a check he had written came through the bank, she “misplaced it” for several weeks before “finding” it again and processing it.
On one trip, I had to shape boards in the crudest shaping room before I could get a check for the boards I delivered.
I have to say, there was an almost love for the guy in the way he managed to “work” everyone.
I stopped at the shop to get a check and left with rolls of cloth and other board building supplies instead.
Simo in the end, along with his wife, was killed in a headon collision on Hatteras Island, N.C. after his retirement from the biz.
Classic eyewitness history from Jim and Bill. That '66-'68 period was boomtime for retailers in the US. If you weren’t
around then it’s hard to fathom just how many boards were moving and how much behind-the-scenes ‘‘activity’’ was
taking place.
Bill and Jim know. They were THERE.
Howzit Jim, The Plastic logo has been through a few owners. First it was Danny Callohan and his partner then Gary Thernagle bought it from them. Gary in turn sold it to Bob Highsmith and he lost it after the 20 years were up. Then it was posted a few years ago that Bill Fury had the name, wonder if he still has it. I can remember going to Bob's shop in HB with Gary and Gary would sell him Plastic Laminates for $10 apiece just to have money so he could feed his family. Those were strange times since we were still making boards in Costa Mesa to fund Gary and Jim Mizell's Aquatic Energy hollow board R&D. We also had a guy who had us working on fiberglass canoes but they only had a few layers of glass and were pretty shaky and definitly not safe. Aloha,Kokua
Simo actually registered the name “Plastic Fantastic” with the US Patent Office along with a bunch of other similar names. (“Fantasicks”, “Plasticks” etc). He showed me the paperwork one time when I asked him how he was getting away with the counterfits. It’s amazing that most surfboard brands never thought of registering their own name, much less their logo.
He opened a seperate store in Seaside Heights and called it Plastic Fantastic. Sold the locally made Plastic Fantastics. Highsmith and his partner Glenn Giibbons couldn’t really do anything about it.
Speaking of Plastic Fantastic, Highsmith and Gibbons owned the store in Huntington one block N of Jacks. They were making and selling David Nuuiwa’s boards. David only had to show up on Saturday morning and hang out in the store. The rest of the time he could surf or do whatever he wanted.
Glenn told me that when a kid came in, all David had to do was touch the board and the kid would buy it. He would be standing behind the kid and whispering to David, “Touch the board” and making hand motions. As soon as David touched the board, the kid bought it.
Simo Lives…in Technicolor. Previous to Dusty Rhodes, Simo also had C.U.E. Surfboards made for the shop. Who out there knows what C.U.E. stood for?
C.U.E. Custom Ultimate East
This is all good stuff. Being a West Coast guy from the '60’s I’ve aways had some knowedge of that era and it’s history out here. Knew alittle(very little) about the East. Good to here these stories. The characters, surf spots(waves) and the individuals(business, shapers, glassers etc.) and their boards are what I like most about this wonderful lifestyle. I think it his especially enriching to have a guy like Jim around out here on the West Coast. Someone who know’s first hand the early days on both Coasts who is willing to share those stories with a fortunate few on this site. Thanks Jim and Bill. Lowel
Balsa Bill, should have known you would know. My second board was a Dusty Rhodes Spider. Two off set t-band stringers and a step deck. I always look for it at swap meets, garage sales and on e-bay with no luck so far. I learned to nose ride on that board.
Some friends came by the shop one day a couple of years ago with a board that they wanted me to identify and date.
They started to take it out of the board sock and I said, “Wait”.
I felt the board through the sock down and around the rails and proceeded to tell them what it was, when it was built and even told them where the decals were and what they looked like.
I was right. Down to the placement of the decals. I didn’t know anything about the board until they showed up that morning.
Bill,
Do you happen to remember a shop in Point Pleasant located on Rt 35 just East of the railroad tracks on the left next to what is now the ARK pub? Also there was another located on Arnold ave close to Jersey Mikes Subs both were short lived as I seem to remember. Was most likely 65-69 time frame. Any ifno on these shops?
Thanks and Happy New Year!
The one on Rt 35 by the railroad tracks sold Surfboards Hawaii. They were only there a year or two.
I haven’t been up there much in the last 40 years so today’s landmarks don’t mean much to me.
There was a shop in Bayhead called the Islander that sold Hansen’s. It was ownded by a couple of brothers while they were in college. Don’t remember their names. The Islander would predate the shop mentioned above. They also had an “Islander” shop on Long Beach Island for awhile.
This would have been in the '65-68 time period.
Yes, I remember Islander the original sign survives and is now in the Beach House boardshop in Bayhead. What do you recall about a shop called RICK SHOP I think it was in Ortley Beach?? Alot has changed and landmarks have faded…in some ways it’s the same and in others it just a shame what has happened. Labor day does’nt have the same meaning as it did in the 60’s, most of the little bungalows have either been brought up for the lots and bulldozed to create something that just does’nt fit the scene or year round residents have occupied them for the most part. Lot more plastic on the beach than sea glass…
Yeah. the Rick Shop. That was Rick Dempsey. He had a shop on LBI too. Later he had a shop in Cocoa Beach called the Outfit. It was near Ron Jon’s.
There was a Del Cannon shop in Ortley for a while too. And later, Grog and Artie Henderson opened a store in that same location. 1970 or so.
The night before they opened Simo stopped by and brought them a “gift” for the store opening. When he left, he went to a phone booth and called the cops. The cops arrived and found the “gift”. So much for the store opening.
Wow, Simo was quite a guy!! Sounds like a movie could be made about that Dude!! Did Keller’s shop later become the site of Surfers Union?
Sufers Union was originally owned by Dennis Doyle it was located in a store front next to what is now Clems, a gift shop. I believe that Dennis use to surf for Kellers just prior to opening the shop. He won the U.S. Championships in '70 or '71, and then opened the shop. He sold Bahnes and Channin/Diffenderfers. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the shop next to the Ark. The Ark is still there. I use to go there for burgers, steamers and a few beers.
The shop that sold Ricks was originally located in Chadwick Beach and opened in 1970 by Dave Nagle under the name of the Hobit Hole. He was connected to the shop in Ship Bottom and occasionally we would go down there to pick up boards for him. He didn’t have a car at the time. It later moved to Normandy Beach, and then to Ocean Beach in the late '70s. There was also a shop in Seaside Park called Sticks and Rags which was later the site of Grog’s Surf Palace which opened in '71 or 72. Grog’s is now a bait and tackle shop.
Was that not Joey Roher’s shop on the south side of the rotary, Catri would know
Dennis surfed for Keller’s when I worked there. He won the Atlantic States Contest jr men’s division in 1966 on a Black Greg Noll Cat. He then switched to G&S through Keller’s and you can see him riding his HY II in my film, The Summer of '67.
The Doyle’s opened Surfer’s Union in 1970 or so.
I remember Sicks and Rags in the Grog’s location. Prior to that, in 1964 or so there was another shop in that location. It was owned by Bob Day from Miami. His nickname was “Marbles”. He drove a blue MG and had a matching blue Hobie. Chip Grady (West Coast East Surfboards) was connected with the shop too. They were there maybe one summer.
There was a shop on Pelican Island for awhile. On the South side of the road just east of the bridge. Can’t remember the name. They sold pop outs. Sharks and Tikis. It was also a teenage nightclub in the same building and they’d have surf movies. I remember Grant Rholoff showing a movie there once. Walt Phillips too.
I was gone by 1968 and only travelled through on sales trips for G&S after that.
The shop thing went like this: Keller first in 1964 after building boards in his garage for a few years. Doyle worked for Keller and then opened Surfer’s Union. Pete Poe bought Surfer’s Union. Tony Giordano worked for him and then opened Ocean Hut.
Simo opened right after Keller’s. Art Henderson worked for Simo. Art and Grog opened a store in Ortley Beach wich later became Grog’s in Seaside Park, Grog had an employee named Bill Lammers who opened his own store: Brave New World.
Joey Rohrer, hmmmm. Yes I remember something. If so she would probably have been selling Oceansides. I’ll ask Feinberg next time I see him.