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 this town since the early 1940s. Wherever we go, people blow past me, and head toward that trademark Panama hat, ready to embrace the brilliant figure beneath it.
And so it was when Carl’s wife, Denise, fine ocean artist Wade Koniakowsky and I entered La Jolla Historical Society’s nook downtown to view John Durant’s magnificent show: “La Jolla Surf: Culture, Art, Craft.”
The guest list itself was worthy of an exhibit. I hadn’t been 5 feet before I was warmly greeted by 1982 Women’s World Surfing champion Debbie Melville Beacham. The tall, slender man ahead of me in line turned around to reveal that he was legendary surf lens Jeff Divine. Divine, as all who know him realize, is a gentleman, forever kind and expansive in conversation.
Lesser known but highly talented photog Don Balch made the rounds. Pipeline underground star, the mighty Joe Roper and his daughter Samantha moved among the crowd while constantly being stopped for selfies. Surf/skate legend Henry Hester; Windansea’s unofficial mayor, George Taylor; shaper to the star Rusty Preisendorfer and Andy Warhol’s favorite board builder, Tim Bessell, graced the flood.
Friends of Windansea super-chargers Jim Neri and Melinda Merryweather; Mara Cranic Laws and her surf star husband, Alf Laws; OG Mike Burner; Windansea Surf Club’s first female president, Marnie Cheney, and our master of ceremonies, John Durant, were there to witness miracles in wood, foam and canvas.
The boards included an immaculate Carl Ekstrom asymmetrical from the early ’60s, a Bear Mirandon experiment proving surfboards are indeed art, a beautiful Caster single fin and an early Mike Hynson down railer. While all are worthy of the nostalgia they evoke, the centerpiece of the show is a priceless Bob Simmons slot board.
Hand-crafted by Simmons himself, one of surfing’s few geniuses, this was the last board he ever rode. A then-young teenager, Ekstrom cuts through the years like a drawknife, offering an in-depth description of that huge day at Windansea on Sept. 26, 1954, when Simmons died in the ocean.
Classic photos and artwork by some of the world’s top surf photographers and surf artists are displayed along with the surfboards.
Being an excellent and longtime surfer, a top photographer, an explorer, historian and intellectual makes John Durant uniquely qualified to present such a show. Durant, who does nothing by half measures, laid into this highly complex undertaking like a Barry Kanaiaupuni Sunset Beach bottom turn.
You can see the results of John Durant’s efforts yourself by visiting La Jolla Historical Society at 780 Prospect Street. The free show is open through May 25, Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.
Like surfing itself, this is a highly satisfying experience.
