One month after Blank Monday – December 5, 2005, a day that continues to live in infamy and generate volumes of rumor – Harold Walker, Gary Linden and the increasing labor force at Walker Foam are beginning to get a handle on the future.
The abrupt closure of Clark Foam generated many questions, and one of the biggest had to do with the volume of blanks they produced a year. That number was a mystery even to Harold Walker, who has been involved in commercial blank production since 1959, and even longer than Gordon Clark: “I figured Clark was doing 500 blanks a day,” Walker said. “But I was way off.”
At the Walker Foam plant in Wilmington you can see the Palos Verdes Peninsula off in the distance, but beyond that was another mountain –a mountain of potential business of a scale that shocked Harold Walker: “Clark made his decision in December which was our slowest month anyway,” Walker said. “But since then we have I would say we have tripled our work force and tripled our production. These guys came in that we hired from Clark and they said he was doing more than twice my estimate. As many as 1200 blanks a day. That is amazing and now we know what we are faced with. We are gearing up to produce 1200 blanks a day and we have it in the works right now. We’re going for it and we are gearing up two other facilities to support the operation here in Wilmington. We are moving the entire mixing process out of the LA Basin and we have an operation producing blanks in China that will be shipping soon.”
Among the many rumors swirling around the Clark closure is that he was pursued by an ambitious employee of Orange County Haz Mat and there are serious closed indictments against Clark and his company. Harold Walker is too busy to find out if those rumors are true, but the first move he is making is to move the mixing of toxic chemicals out of the Los Angeles Basin: “You know, back during the Korean war guys sniffed TDI to simulate asthma and get out of the draft,” Walker said. “It’s nasty stuff and the LA Basin doesn’t need it, so the first thing we are doing is moving the mixing operation out of here. It was okay when we were small, but it’s a whole different ballgame now. I have a guy out in the desert right now talking to city managers about locating a plant out there, and we plan to be doing our mixing out there in the middle of nowhere as soon as possible.”
Harold Walker has a guy out in the desert setting up a plant, but he also has a guy in the plant in Wilmington, which is anything but deserted. Gary Linden has taken a permanent position as General Manager of Walker Foam, and he is the busiest man in the surf industry. Linden’s relationship with Walker goes back to 1990, when Walker began making blanks again after a 17-year absence. “When Harold started blowing blanks Donald Takayama gave me one and I shaped a board for myself and it rode better,” Linden said. “It was stronger and I thought: ‘This is great. I’ll buy a little bit of Walker Foam for my custom orders and my team riders and I’ll keep on Clark Foam.” I had it on the rockers for the machine and stuff and things were rolling and it was good. But when I did that, Clark Foam didn’t deliver a couple of big orders that I was depending on, and then I was blacklisted completely from the San Diego supplier. Well I don’t like being pushed around and I thought Walker Foam was better, so I figured, ‘Well I will do business with someone I like.’”
As General Manager, Linden is responsible for just about everything: Hiring new foamers and stringer-benders, answering the endless phone calls and dealing with clients old and new who range from scared to apologetic to angry: “A lot of people are coming in here, telling Harold Walker the industry owes him an apology,” Linden said, but Harold is brushing it off: “We aren’t holding any grudges. We’re just happy and smiling here, trying to fill orders and make it work.”
Looking off into the future, Walker sees a more open market in the days after Clark: “I don’t want all of the market. I don’t think the industry should fall for the same thing twice and have one supplier. I don’t want the responsibility of Walker Foam failing and then the industry going, ‘Oh gee were screwed.’ So we welcome one competitor and we would like to keep them relatively small compared to us so that… because we want security and we have grandiose ideas.”
Gary Linden, Harold Walker and the daily-growing Walker Foam team are doing their best to meet the demands of a California shaping industry who are starting to see the supply of post-apocalypse blanks dwindle.
“By the end of the first week of January we will be up to 200 blanks a day,” Walker said, both wearily and proudly. “That is going to put a little stop in the panic locally. We can’t do anything on the East Coast or Hawaii, but there are blanks in Hawaii and more going I think and I think there is some inventory on the East Coast. We plan to double our production to 400 to 500 a day, and we have tentative deals going, sources of supply we have worked with for an additional 800 a day.”
Walker is staying close-lipped about China, but parking is getting scarce along that side street of Wilmington as more and more shapers are learning what Joe Bark, Gene Cooper, Gary Linden, Hap Jacobs, Donald Takayama and Gordie have known going back to 1959: Walker Foam shapes nice. “I sold Greg Saurtich some blanks and he called me and said, ‘Hey this stuff is great! I just shaped the 6’ 4” and it’s better than any of the Clark molds.’” Linden said. “Well I’ve known that all along, and now people are going to have a chance to see for themselves.”
Walker Foam are still asking those looking for blanks to send a fax to the factory and not call, so Gary and Harold can spend less time pacing up and down the street on their cell phones, and more time producing blanks.
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Walker Foam fax: 310-513-1630