The little shop on the corner
In 1984 Carlsbad had more local surfers than it did tourists. The road from Terra Mar south to Ponto was uncluttered by streetlights, hotels or...
Chris Ahrens
Shaun Tomson: Leader of a revolution
In the mid-1970s, the surfing world suffered from a hangover after the mid-60s “shortboard revolution” began growing stale. The leaders of the movement — Nat...
Tuesday is surf history day
My great friend Woody Ekstrom (RIP) first told me about the Tuesday morning gathering a decade or so ago. He said that many of his...
The endless ride of Dale Dobson
It doesn’t seem possible that Dale Dobson is gone. I mean, he was so strong and had such great endurance — one of the best...
If Pavlov’s dog had surfed
I am alone in the muddy water, riding waves that sane people want no part of. The lineup and the beach are both empty. Mine...
Surfing and skateboarding
Everyone who was on hand realizes that skateboarding’s birth was painful. Many credit the invention of those first rolling boards to La Jolla surfer Peter...
Surf exhibit turns the lens on La Jolla
Walking anywhere in La Jolla with Carl Ekstrom is a red carpet experience. Carl and his brothers, Woody and Bobby, have been important figures in...
Santa Ana winds once brought joy
Ever since I was a child, I have been aware that we lived in a fire zone. Still, I don’t recall there being as many...
Remembering Mike Hynson (part 2)
There’s an old photo of Mike Hynson leaning into a Haleiwa wall laying out a turn few others would have been capable of at that...
It’s Friday. Sunday’s coming.
Note: I intended concluding my tribute to Mike Hynson this week but was derailed by the passing of my dear friend Lyn O’Rourke. Lyn, as...
Remembering Mike Hynson
I don’t remember the exact photo, but I first became aware of Mike Hynson in Surfer Magazine circa 1962. It was either in a small...
That ’70s crew
I’m not sure when I first met surfboard shaper Tim Bessell, but he was not yet old enough to drive. His family, who had moved...
Where summer never ends
I don’t remember when I first heard the name Mike Hynson. It was probably a caption in Surfer Magazine, which in the ’60s was a...
Fond memories of San Onofre
I had been surfing for about a year when my sister’s boyfriend, Larry, offered to take me to San Onofre. San Onofre was open only...
Surfing on Christmas
When I was a gremmie, in the early 1960s, most people near the coast came from functional and traditional families. Christmas day was generally split...