Ran across this cool article on Leroy Grannis. Nice group of shots… not ones you normally see in the surf media?
Enjoy… Brian.
Great shots. Grannie was the best.
Thanks for posting that.
Hermosa strand shot with girl in Bikini…I recognize the home there…anyone know what street that was?
roger
Awesome link. Thanks for sharing. Like a trip down memory lane.
Leroy was the coolest. When I lived down in Carlsbad, I surfed a lot at Tamarack. Leroy was a local there. Got to surf with him a bunch, and heard lots of cool stories about the history of surfing from someone who saw it all. Classic! He surfed well into his old age. Classic face forward style. His images are timeless.
RIP Leroy!
Really enjoyed that trip!
Most, if not all, of those pics are in the Grannis book published by Taschen. Not sure if it’s still in print, though.
If you’re on Facebook, there’s a Grannis fans/tribute page
This is the cover of the book. It didn’t quite fit on my scanner.
Thanks for memories. The guns under the arms of the guys at the world contest are superb.
The cover image I posted is from the finals of the 1969 Duke contest at Sunset.
L to R: Joey Cabell, Eddie Aikau, Billy Hamilton, Fred Hemmings, Gordo Barreda, Paul Strauch, Jr. , Mike Doyle, Rolf Aurness, Felipe Pomar
Sometime in the lste 60’s or very early 70’s an old guy with a water camera and a girl came out to Shark Country and the guy would take off along side of the girl and get shots of her as she dropped down into the wave. He had what looked like a wooden box water housing. Years later I saw shots of Leroy Grannis and realized it may have been him shooting the photos.
It wasn’t a spectacular day or anything, probably terrible surf. Very few people in the water, but I’ll never forget seeing that older guy with a camera riding along side a girl taking her picture. Probably a summer day because we were always down at the beach house and in the water all day back then.
Classic Granny story Shark
LeRoy’s images make me cry for my times…
Like Bud Browne he knew what/when he saw something special – and he caught it.
Like Bud, his photography did not editorialise or promote, he only documented.
The 1960’s zipped past so fast it seems they almost were a blink or a flicker.
I was so young and naïve I never realized how wonderful the people in those surfing days were.
After hang gliding and sailboard days (Maui was a ‘North Shore’ type experience with great people) as good as they were, I figured I should never meet the same kind of people again as LeRoy throws up in his images.
LeRoy’s library was massive –I am sure we have seen only a fraction of his archive published.
LeRoy had a soft touch and was revered by all ages – he was broadly tolerant – I only heard/saw him draw the line on one person, Dora. He was quick to call BS on Dora.
LeRoy personally introduced me to mid ‘60s California surf culture and many of it’s greatest exponents.
His images will do that for people who have never met him, for as long as they are published.
Barry were did you Live around 1975/76 I was living on Redwood Ave LeRoy was right around the corner and Tom Morey was just a few Blocks away.
Hi Midget, I can only imagine how wonderful it was to be a surfer in the early days. I have friends who quit surfing in the early 70’s and I never could understand why. They’d say they used to surf places with no one out, or with just a couple others, and didn’t like the crowds.
Looking back to when I started and some of the great times I had. I have a better understanding of how you can walk away from surfing. It’s so different these days, so crowded, no unwritten rules like when I was younger, so many greedy, selfish surfers.
Midget I hope you get someone to do a really detailed biography. You have a lot to tell us, and I hope your story gets documented, the whole story, especially surfboard designs.
The first shot looks a lot like Dora.
And for me the Aikau Ohana just strikes a nerve.
Clyde and Eddie and a fine family, legends.
Could be wrong but, it sure looks like the classic style of Kealoha Kaiau from Kahuku - one of three North Shore Hawaiians us Aussies (18 of us) met in 1961/62 - the other two were Henry Preece and Tiger Espere.
Kealoha mowed the grass beside the Kam Highway in the mornings and would surf Sunset or Waimea with us in the afternoons - we would stop and tell him where we were to surf.
The North Shore was very lonely then, so it was great to see Kealoha’s smiling face in the line up - likewise we got to know Tiger in his Sunset Beach days.
Weekdays (Febuary) it was so lonely that I would sit for hours waiting for another surfer to turn up at Sunset - the rip was always there to remind you of your mortality.
This was well before Ben Aipa and Eddie made their presence felt - and of course they were standouts too - as you would see in LeRoy’s archive.
Midget
“Could be wrong but, it sure looks like the classic style of Kealoha Kaiau”
Naw mate, me would never doubt you! (short bow), me’s 62 started in 63 with “Bernard” and Bobby Brown my hero’s.
The shot reminded me of Da Cats style and me thought those were the “ride the wild” surf trunks and board, WRONG!
Love the surfers name! Classic style indeed!
Loney in the line up isn’t as nice as it sounds now, eh?
Blessings to you and yours!
Grannis used a Calypso waterproof camera as his first rig for shooting water shots. He bought one in 1963. It was designed by Jacques Cousteau and later became the Nikonos. Cousteau sold the patent to Nikon.
This is one of his first water shots. Henry Ford at 22nd St, Hermosa
This is Granny’s own truck
Sammy - ------ thanks for the Pics. I’m lucky enought to have that Pic of Henry that he autographed for me. He was always at the Hobie contest and Allen’s auctions. Great guy. Lots of good stories. Lowel
