The End of Wilderness

General Discussion
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Quote:

http://www.wildernesssurfboards.com/history2.shtml

Benefit B-B- QUE at Wilderness Surfboards Due to the recent city crackdown on the “blighted” areas in the city, Wilderness has to “rehab” the shop in order to comply with city code regulations. Therefore, Wilderness is planning a benefit rehab bbq to help collect funds to restore the building. SAME PLACE, OLD FRIENDS, GREAT PARTY June 5, 2004 Time 10am

[=1][ 4]1. Mystery band[/][/]

2. Bring your used surfboards to sell

3. Commerative "Save Wilderness T-shirts avaiable

4. Bring your wallet!!!

5. Stay tuned for updated info

SAVE WILDERNESS

Wilderness Surfboards would like to thank everyone who participated in the benefit bbq on june 5, 2004 for their support of the shop. Unfortunately, alot of friends and supporters were not able to make it to the event because of the gaviota fire. our appreciation goes out to the firefighters, both county and hotshot crews for doing such a remarkable job in controlling the fire.

On completion of the rehab and final permitting for the shop, wilderness will throw another party, to catch all the stragglers and usual suspects. stay tuned and many thanks!!!

http://www.fuel.tv/…/view/2049?type=Blog

A Southern California surf shop haunted by the deepest roots of George Greenough’s genius is shutting its doors for good. Santa Barbara’s Wilderness Surfboards, founded in 1966 by Greenough and Michael Cundith, must make way for the almighty automobile as Caltrans attempts to breakup congestion along Highway 101. The shop sits in the path of a new southbound off-ramp that has been on paper for years.

Wilderness owner Bob Duncan, who bought the business from Greenough and Cundith in 1970, has been fighting with Caltrans over relocation costs. The lengthy legal battle came to close last week as the judge’s gavel sounded the death knell for the gloriously dilapidated surf shanty.

Wilderness shares prestige as one of Santa Barbara’s earliest surf shops with those run by Renny Yater and the late John Bradbury. In some circles, Greenough is considered the spark that ignited the short-board revolution.

Until the bitter end, the shop stayed true to its beginnings as an off-the-radar shaping room and hangout with a reputation for top-of-the-line boards and outrageous holiday blowouts. For the past seven years, another plus has been the eight-foot-deep custom pool tucked away behind the shop. The fast, kidney-shaped bowl was built by hand (and without a permit) by Wilderness locals, who sold surfboards and recycled beer cans to pay for the concrete, tiles, and pool coping. Along with the shop, the Wilderness Bowl will die beneath the bulldozer blade of so-called progress.

Rest in peace, Wilderness.

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what a drag- lo siento santa barbara! keep the faith and persevere.

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big bummer triple time!! a significant piece of history gone…

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Bob always kept the true spirit of that shop going. Some fun party’s had over the years and some good boards,by Cundith, Richie West, Danny Hazard, Bob Duncan and more . When Tim the wood carver was there I saw a nice slab of wood in the racks with all the stock boards and asked if Tim could make me a Table out of it , my wife and I watched as Tim hand drilled and shaped some legs for it, no powertools or glue. Im lookin at it right now 32 yrs later in the livingroom, one of my prized pieces.

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Wonder if Mike Cundith or George know ?

That is a damm shame.

Mike is shaping some fine retro-ish creations under the Wilderness label in Byron.

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Good memories guys.

I remember glassing a board for Stan Donovan in the Wilderness shop. Richie West was leaving for Australia soon and I might have gotten the job glassing there had I not freaked out Cudith cause I way overfilled the bucket from the drum pump. He wasn’t keen on me wasting his resin! Ha! About 25 years later Richie stopped in to see me at my shop here in Hawaii. Always great to see old friends. Was a special moment!

Among other things… got to watch Greenough create his fiberglass rope unidirectional fin for his latest Velo of the era. Watched Tim create innumerable wood sculptures. Had plenty of fun basking in the classic surf shop soul that existed there. Pretty special place really. And the design trend emanating from Wilderness was a stark contrast to the designs coming out of Yater and Bradbury’s shops. That reminds me… what ever happened to Pugsly?

Thanks for stirring the memories eastpac!

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Aloha Bill, I saw Pug at one of John Bradburys fund raisers, he was doin the one man band thing guitar, drums and harmonica, it was great!!. I think he spends more time in Oregon and Nor Cal these days. Man could that guy surf good or what, great SB style. Bill remember when Andreini bought Richies VW van, that thing couldnt top 50mph!! and we had to rope it into 4th gear, good times.

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A sad day to see that place finally get shut down…

We’ve known it was coming for the past few years but kept hoping the guys would get to hold on to it for just a little bit longer.

Epic parties. The skate bowl was always a big hit!

A lot of history in that place. Hopefully someone’s had the presence of mind to grab the old Wilderness sign off the porch roof at the very least…

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Quote:

A sad day to see that place finally get shut down…

We’ve known it was coming for the past few years but kept hoping the guys would get to hold on to it for just a little bit longer.

Epic parties. The skate bowl was always a big hit!

A lot of history in that place. Hopefully someone’s had the presence of mind to grab the old Wilderness sign off the porch roof at the very least…

People should realize that Bob is still shaping. The fight for this location seems to have been in the Lawyers hands for a while. I think Wilderness had hoped, at least, for relocation help from Cal Trans.

I would have also wished the City of Santa Barbara would have paid more attention to this rich history. But then, the City Council fat asses don’t surf, or give much credence to the rich surf history here. My guess is there will be some kind of tacky red tile roofed, towered, multi-storied condo project slated there next to the freeway.

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as decendants of the beachcombing tribes

los Indios de las playas california

will like water throough sand

aquire and hold the line

or keep the faith in an

ongoing fashion.

had cal trans or politico-involvement

at all been involved it would taint the result.

having litigaitors snapping at the waters edge

was flirting with compromising elements

and could have spelt disaster of a kind.

as in the old adage the king is dead long live the king.

this wonderus nebulous entity that has passed

opens the door for the next nexus of surf-soul mana.

it is not the physical existence that makes the impact,

but in fact the energies of many converging on the geography

that morphs the geology into an enigma and a home for tribal

traditions to carry on.

the next place is probobly already functioning.

the invisible quality-quantity

is essential to the mystique.

change is inevitible

we are but the observers of change

what we chose to believe was truth

in our youth has changed

many times over now

thet we is growed.

…ambrose…

sure is glassy today

whales spouting like crazy

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Quote:

as decendants of the beachcombing tribes

los Indios de las playas california

will like water throough sand

aquire and hold the line

or keep the faith in an

ongoing fashion

'Tis truth, 'tis truth…while it makes one weary to think the last refuges for the surf tribes may wind up further away from the beach, it is better to be in the shade of the mighty oaks and sycamores than the puny office buildings and hi-density urban dwellings. Maybe Bob can get some re-establishment coin by lending the “Wilderness” name to the follow-on atrocity, sort of a “peace offering”, a sly way of looking every direction at once…both memorial and guidepost for those who know the story.

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Aloha Bill, I saw Pug at one of John Bradburys fund raisers, he was doin the one man band thing guitar, drums and harmonica, it was great!!. I think he spends more time in Oregon and Nor Cal these days. Man could that guy surf good or what, great SB style.

That’s good to hear Kirk! An original character, sounds like he still is.

Bill remember when Andreini bought Richies VW van, that thing couldnt top 50mph!! and we had to rope it into 4th gear, good times.

I remember Richyie’s van. I didn’t know Andrini eventually bought it. I didn’t know Mark till about 73 when I met you and Mark when I was helping Merrick. I think at that time Mark had a Volvo. Great stories are built around surf cars. Comes natural I guess cause surfers always seem to have cars with some questionable quality issues.

Do you remember Marks ranch boat that he wasn’t using until I lit a fire under his butt? Man we had some great adventures in that thing! Oh, the stories yet to tell…

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There’s a bitter irony here. I went to look at the Wilderness website link and noticed at the bottom of the page it reads…“site under construction”. Just when the shop is about to be likewise.

The photo of the tubed surfer and the Wilderness logo would look brilliant on the back of a t-shirt if it isn’t already.

Save the Wilderness! Wilderness lost…Wilderness found.

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OMG!! Bill ( he cracksup at this story now ) the time you and Al went up to the Ranch and Marc flipped out and went in and broke his board into a hundred peice’s, ,you guys came back and I was all questions and you wouldnt tell me what happened. The old SS minow, what a death trap, too funny.

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Bob will still have boards at the Beachouse like always.

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I know where the current shop is and it’s sad to here of it closing. But when did the move take place from the old ice house shop along E. Cabrillo?

D.R.

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Well, things change, don’t they?

I’m kind of surprised it hung on as long as it has, considering the forces of Lagunafication (or Santa Demonica?) at work in SB…

But, as long as we’re tripping down memory lane, allow me to throw in my recollections: Back in the day (I hate that expression, but in this case its too apt), I could ride my bike down from the Mesa to Channel Islands (Al was always kind of a grump, but Kim was cool) and then over to Yater’s. Haakenson was in the mix, down on Santa Barbara Street, by County Lumber, and then to Bradbury’s on Gutierrez, and then to Wilderness.

I used to glass in my parent’s garage, but I hated sanding so I’d take the hot-coated boards down to Wilderness to have Bob (Duncan) sand them. “How much will it cost?” I’d ask.“Depends how it comes out” Bob would say. Usually it was 5 bucks. Bob would regale my friends and me with tales of mainland Mexico, planting seeds of future travels.

It was a trippy place, with drippy, fog-catching eucalyptus trees, Paco the guard monkey, realizing that this was once someone’s house, now the bedrooms were turned over to shaping, laminating and sanding. There were still echoes of Greenough and Cundith, Dennis B was shaping, and I still have images of hull and foiled fins and an overall rootsy, Morning of the Earth kind of vibe, which I’m glad I got to experience…(and who would’ve thought that Tim S could produce such a hah-hah-hah- hot daughter?)

At any rate, Long Live Wilderness! May its spirit never die!

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Dennis, it moved around 73 or 74 I helped Bob move with this crazy Texan Kneeboarded , Steve Todd , RIP, got murdred in El Salvador a few years later.

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Quote:
OMG!! Bill ( he cracksup at this story now ) the time you and Al went up to the Ranch and Marc flipped out and went in and broke his board into a hundred peice's, ,you guys came back and I was all questions and you wouldnt tell me what happened. The old SS minow, what a death trap, too funny.

We didn’t tell you what happened because we couldn’t figure it out ourselves! He really freaked Al and I out that day. Glad to hear Andrini has a sense of humor about that! Ha! Those were precious days, and stand out vividly in my mind. The adventures continued…

I think I have some pictures as I would usually take my camera along in its water housing. I gotta look through a bunch of slides to find them but they exist somewhere. I hope I have one of my VW loaded up with the boat on the surf racks over the surfboards. Looked like a displaced Toucan’s head hurtling down Coast Hwy. toward Gaviota! I still wonder how we managed to never flip the whole car and boat package over in the high winds up there!

Next time you see Marc ask him if he remembers us launching off the beach and getting caught in the shore break so bad that Wendy dove off the bow fully clothed to escape the ocean’s wrath! (or more likely our stupidity) Wonderful memories, Wendy and I still crack up about that one from time to time. Good memories are one of the many pleasures of being together for so long.

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Dem parties was good, but dem skate sessions was GGGGGGOOOOOOO---------OOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD

Now I only got a few of 'em, but gall-darn-almighty, dat’s good times.

Thanks to dem’s who held dem’s parties. (SP, Chili, Tony…and…)

Dat bowl was serious dookie as Cassanova would say. No time to F—

around in dat swummin pooo. Da locals have it wired tight. That ain’t

no easy shiv to skate.

Been hearin bout this problema fer years. It’s weird to hear its really

gonna happen. Official.

I gots a Wilderness 6’2 stubbish-but-not-really 2+1 Bob D. Full concave

chine-rail madness. If you’ve seen one, you know what I mean.

Thing goes like Bill BRASKI, fastest board this side’a Grass Valley,

East Yukatat Demoltonish, WA-BC.

I was hopin’ ta get one or a few more before…

                         keep hope alive

Keep Duncan Goin’