Beach Culture | Lost LA | Season 3, Episode 3 | KCET

[@lesasawahata4652]

i am so touched by this! born in santa monica in 1957, remember POP, and now I live in The Netherlands...no one here will really understand what it was like to grow up on a (not very crowded) beach, watching surfers, body surfing, simply existing in that glorious salt-smelling beach space...THANK YOU.

[@clarkewi]

I moved to West LA as a 7 year old boy in 1958 from Florida. We took a family outing to the newly opened Pacific Ocean Park or POP. I ran into the ocean and was shocked by how cold the water was compared to Florida. But I went on to learn to surf at Malibu and later Santa Cruz. Now I live in Taranaki, New Zealand and surfing is huge here with a California like surf culture. Amazing to have seen it all go down. Now I'm an old man.

[@clarkewi]

We even have a pro surfer from Taranaki named Paige Hareb. On the tour for over 10 years. A veteran who has travelled the world.

[@gstrdms]

OG

[@alexmacdonald258]

We both are: I started surfing around 12 years old, born in `48, grew up just above San Francisco where it's seriously cold! but you know, I can't just spring to my feet on a board anymore, but I still shred on a bodyboard. We don't stop doing stuff because we get old: we get old because we stop doing stuff.

[@davidanderson8469]

I attended Bruce's self narrated Endless Summer in San Diego at Hoover High School. It was mesmerizing. Bruce's sense of humor, the unreal waves, humor and the music sends chills down my arms to this day. many surfers will relate that the day after a surf movie it's always lousy. Thanks Bruce!!

[@massiahgrom]

Surfing is transendent . There is something so incredible about it . There's nothing else like it . Both zen and dangerous together .

[@AlleyTrashBoards]

Born and bread in so cal and surfing is a way of life for me and I couldn’t see my life without it. My grandfather surfed, my dad, my brothers, and now I’m teaching my kid.

[@michellerosebrown]

God bless you. Plan to do the same when I marry a man from so cal make it a tradition. 🤙🏾

[@elizabethharris6050]

My uncle, Dave Gilman, had a sporting goods shop in the Sleepy Hollow district of Laguna Beach, CA. In the 1940's, he made wooden surfboards with hollow areas inside to lighten them and drain holes to get rid of the water that filled the cavity. I remember the smells of planed wood and the various varnishes and stains. I remember the husky blond kids who could actually lift these solid big boards. This film gives a lot of history and was a joy to watch.

[@prettypic444]

My uncles were surfers and high schoolers in the 70s. the school had to create a "surf team" and a 0 period "surf PE" because there were so many kids skipping their morning classes to surf. both were still there when I went in the 2010s!

[@partridgepear]

We went surfing before school back in the 60s when I went to Mission Bay High School. The high school was very sports oriented and let us surfers have first period gym so that we could shower before our other classes. There was one other girl (she swam to class across the bay) because she was training for the Olympics (I think her parents brought her school work to school for her) and I was the only other female. MBHS was a GREAT high school.

[@rotano]

Props to this series for being balanced presenting both the men and women of our LA history

[@thegentleorchestra]

Love ❤️ this one I’ve been surfing since 78 at a young age still this day I surf every day

[@believeinyourself7511]

I lived in Southern California for 30 years. I love swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

[@partridgepear]

I started surfing in 1958. I was the only girl in the area back then, but about a year later other females had started surfing. This was in Pacific Beach. I started at the end of the Mission Beach Wall. I started making surfing trunks for the guys since I was still in school and didn't have a job. I made Mike seven pairs of corduroy trunks for Endless Summer. The design was from a pair of German Lederhosen that he brought me to copy. I saw a couple pair that I made in the above post. Soon after Endless Summer went big time (it didn't start out that way) people noticed Mike's trunks andhis idea of the design and Jantzen came out with a similar design with the Lederhosen type pockets in the front, but a little shorter. They were also corduroy and they called them "walking shorts." You still see similar designs to this day, many, many years later. I was still in high school when I made Mike his trunks and now I'm getting close to being 80! But surfing is something you never forget and I am so glad I had that period in my life to remember.

[@MrNurserob]

I kept looking for The Beach Boys… Can’t very well discuss Southern California surf culture without them.

[@sayitwithhellhounds]

They're mentioned at the top of the video. They were not representative of legitimate surf culture and were basically done with surf music by 1964.

[@YungShark]

Love this series

[@stenbak88]

Growing up in Laguna Beach I never feel comfortable when I’m to far away from the ocean

[@kdm71291]

Duke also visited here in Ventura, at some point.......a lot of surf and other history here! A former friend of mine, who is no longer with us, sadly,...is the son of the founder of Eaton Surfboards down towards san Diego.

[@davidanderson8469]

I remember Mike towing his sailplane through OB.

[@williamhiles7404]

Surfs Up when storms come rolling in. We would ditch school and go surfing in winter in our wetsuits. Yeah, we were wayward. Hahahah. LedHed Steven 🎶 🎸 🎹 🎸 🎶

[@averydavis4050]

One of his surfboards have a swaztika on it. Was that Hilter’s surfboard.

[@finnmcginn9931]

Joyce Hoffman is the aunt of surf legends Christian and Nathan Fletcher, i think?

[@davidanderson8469]

Joyce told me that if you make the drop at Sunset the hard work's over. Nice lady.

[@lindawoody8501]

Although my late father was in his youth and young adult years, an expert surfer in Southern California (1920s to 1940s), he disapproved of girls surfing. I managed to briefly have a Greg Noll long board which a teenaged male admirer of mine basically almost gave me when I was 15. I was a terrible surfer! Just awful but I sure tried. I was a good strong swimmer but I never had lessons (Dad did not help) and the board was heavy for me to carry. I gave up. Dad ended up selling the board for too little money when I was in my early 20s as he did not want it in his garage. So ended my very brief surfing experience.

[@erickm25]

Anyone know the song at the end?

[@mannyromero4511]

Actually, the De Havilland Mosquito was made of different types of wood, but yes, balsa was ONE of the types amog many.

[@KentKiner-dt5rp]

Lived at beach road. Had a super surf llfe

[@banjohead66]

RIP Randy.

[@lindawoody8501]

Although my late father was in his youth and young adult years, an expert surfer in Southern California (1920s to 1940s), he disapproved of girls surfing. I managed to briefly have a Greg Noll long board which a teenaged male admirer of mine basically almost gave me when I was 15. I was a terrible surfer! Just awful but I sure tried. I was a good strong swimmer but I never had lessons (Dad did not help) and the board was heavy for me to carry. I gave up. Dad ended up selling the board for too little money when I was in my early 20s as he did not want it in his garage. So ended my very brief surfing experience. By the way, I did remember seeing 2 of Dad's redwood and balsa long boards in his shed when I was a little girl. Almost crumbling as the boards had dry rot or termites by then. Those were big boards - maybe 9-10' long.

[@partridgepear]

I was the only girl surfing in the area back in 1958. Skip Frye told me about surfing. We both lived in Bay Park and he worked at the grocery store. I had never heard of it, so I went south of Crystal Pier where he said that they surfed and I saw him standing on a board surfing. I had to do that, so I did. I was too young to drive, so I kept my board at a friend's house near the beach and took the bus to the beach. I went every chance I could and I just loved it. That was MANY years ago. It wasn't crowded back then. I bought a board that the guys thought was too small for $18. A balsa shaped by Grant Reynolds. It was just right for me.

[@egmjag]

Where in CA did surfing begin? Some say in Santa Cruz, others say Huntington Beach.

[@jackmorrison7379]

Joyce Hoffman is a delight to listen to. The 60's and the surf culture and Bruce Brown's film. But why is it taboo to say that scene is gone. Times and people change. New people have different life experiences. Different cultural reference points. That whole beach culture was very specific to its roots in the Pacific islanders experience with boards as transposed through suburban white kids. That whole tow headed kids at the beach all day is no longer relevant to most of today's communities in the LA Basin. I get no joy out of saying that, but that's reality.

[@davidanderson8469]

Kids are born into crowds now so it's not an issue I guess. They also have cars ,electric bikes and seemingly endless funding something I and my friends never had. What we did have was a tenth of the crowds most days. The stoke's there and the equipment is far superior. Everything's a tradeoff.

[@calihustler08]

ah to be proficient at surfing

[@Cwgrlup]

Born and raised in SoCal. Used to stay in Newport Beach (Balboa Island) every summer. Now the beaches here are dirty, crowded, and filthy oil rigs line the horizon and pollute the water. Its so bad that we rarely go near a beach here anymore. Now we have to travel to Tahiti to enjoy a beach. Even Hawaii’s been ruined by non-natives.

[@cherylnagy126]

the Endless Summer, or the endless adolescence?

[@ItsErin-R]

You've pretty much described the country of Australia.

[@profile2047]

🙄

[@davidanderson8469]

I visited Oz in your winter of 1979. No freeways, toll roads, Holden's were king, Byron was a funky hippie surf town and Noosa was still pretty easy going. The caravan parks were dirt cheap and the pub's served $0.75 schooners. Scott's Head was an idyllic little surf town and vacation home spot. Ditto for Crescent Head along with Suffolk Park in Byron. At 74 I'd never survive the grueling flight and reckon it would be unrecognizable upon arrival. The same deal for my Aussie friends that I shared my house with in 1978 in San Diego. Time marches on but I'll never forget that three months in NSW. BTW no bugs in June-August. My friends told me about the rest of the year. BTW you folks have superb surf so it's no wonder you produce so many incredible surfers.

[@cherylnagy126]

the U.S. entertainment industry rehabilitated the original unruly image of surfers, as a means towards exploiting the activity for commercial gain. With emphasis on the need for rehabilitation.

[@KentKiner-dt5rp]

Live

[@almeggs3247]

Magic? So tragic!

[@lukasleutgob4229]

Why is the one board in the museum carrying a swastika? Weird combo!

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

Probably a Buddhist symbol.

[@mrphilgrey]

Widely used prior to and outside of Nazism

[@Cwgrlup]

Used in Hinduism and Buddhism for centuries prior to Hitler stealing it and making it a symbol of evil. It’s a symbol of spirituality.

[@williamhiles7404]

It can also be found in several Missions here in California. Mission San Diego De Alcala for one. It is drawn opposite than the way Hitler displayed it on flags, etc. You can see this in Huell Howser's California Missions series. LedHed Steven 🎶 🎸 🎹 🎸 🎶 Also Navajo's, and in China. I've seen photos of Chinese nurses in 1920 wearing them on their outfits in the hospital. Again, opposite direction than the Nazis. LHS 🎶 🎸 🎹

[@massiahgrom]

Shes a Goddess !! 2:57

[@DoubleMrE]

Having been born and raised in Hawaii, and having lived in SoCal for 4 years, I can say that the crappiest beach in Hawaii is 10 times better than the best beach in California. And the surf is at least 20 times better.

[@davidanderson8469]

The North Shore looks pretty weathered nowadays. I bet you've got some great stories to tell.

[@buckskin64]

Now due to communist rule and Illegals,it’s all gone 😢😢

[@islandbirdw]

The proverbial endless summer…… Hawaiians invented it. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Californians worship it.

[@ronniedelahoussayechauvin6717]

I don’t know anything about California

[@ronniedelahoussayechauvin6717]

Broadcasting Fraud

[@jamiemoffatt50]

Waters the fountain of youth?😂😂😂more like sewerage from local toilets! Signs are up daily saying don’t swim!