Malibu Wall graffitti

On my next big board I want to feature a mural depicting the famous wall at Malibu.(overseas surfers like myself see this as one of the priceless icons of Surfing in USA) Therefore I know what it looks like, but can any readers give me some details of the classic examples of graffitti that have come and gone over the years?

DORA

Pretty much the same message filters up through the grafitti paint like mildew, year after year, since 1974…

Dora was a geek…! When is this cultural fixation with a world class a-hole going to end…? Little pukes growing up perpetuating the same (nonsensical) myth, guys building boards extolling a virtue that never existed, it’s no merit badge that we’re wearing. From what I hear, many that knew him didn’t dig him or agree with his antics. You get that…? If anything, he personifies surfing’s seeming inability to pick its heros properly. I got a long list if you need names. I’m hoping that in surfing’s future the mindset will mature and NOT seperate a man from his actions. Live, die, and judged by the totality of your contribution, not some microscopic focus on a man’s silly ass footwork on a 3’ crumbling Malibu wall that means nothing in the overall sceheme. Dora brought nothing to the table but perhaps the beginning of the justification of localism, a festering rot that continues to outlive one of its earliest proponents. Thanks fer nuttin Miki.

Hope you young’uns realize that what stands is NOT the ORIGINAL Malibu wall, but a recreation for the movie, Big Wednesday. Ah, Hollywood…land of illusion! (“props” to our forebears!).

Are you sure about that? It’s my understanding that the wall predates even the house, but my sources are less than reliable. I would like to know the real story about the wall.

The wall that currently stands is original.

dora lives

the fake was built at a point further north…

Dora is the anti-hero that separates surfers from other “sports”.–that he did do!!The antics were also part of the times.I saw him at malibu in 74’ with a blue board . His style was what he was about and that blast the establishment stuff was stuff we all were doing.

a rindge cowhand, “he personifies surfing’s seeming inability to pick its heros properly” lets hear it, give me names, bitch. what is this “overall sceheme” you speak of…

The wall is original but that one part to the south had to be fixed.If you can check some of the old tiles that are inlaid in the wall, some cool stuff,malibu tile works up the road at corral beach ,long time ago.To me Doras surfing speeks for its self, the other stuff is all BS.

At least Dora called crap on the surf industry and saw that the industry side of it would become the souless money grubbing thing it is today. I never bought into the whole Dora myth, but I think the Dora lives thing is simply for those who want to go surfing free of the name brands, the crowds and the hype. IF thats the case Dora Lives but for a few.

you guys are kinda like felix and oscar

My apologies! I retract (and will go hide, now). sorry for the misinformation.

Does Johnny Fain live too?

My mom says she worked with him at Kaiser Steel in Fontana (!!!) in the late '70s. She said he claimed to have no remaining interest in actually surfing. I guess wearing a bikini and a wig for a few sessions at Malibu could do that to you.

Saw Fain in a Malibu market the other day…Have never seen him in the water! Roger

A friend of mine lived in the same neighborhood as Fain in the late 90’s. Became friends with him and yes he still surfed Malibu.

Atom Tan writes: “At least Dora called crap on the surf industry and saw that the industry side of it would become the souless money grubbing thing it is today.” Just curious… wasn’t he in on virtually EVERY “Da Cat” Surfboard ad ever printed? Doesn’t his affiliation with Greg Noll and the manufacture of his own model make him a part of the surf industry? Did the fact that Greg Noll paid big $$$ to the magazine running those ads entitle Dora to some sort of preferential treatment when it came time to choose a photo or run an editorial? Didn’t he agree to sign his name to every “Da Cat” reissue put out by Greg Noll? Have some of us bought into his celebrity status merely because the magazines have chosen to portray him as cool? How many of us who bought into the celebrity even saw him surf or knew him as a person?