There are a lot of great surfing museums around, but none quite like the Surfing Heritage and Cultural Center. It is like a surfing museum on steroids.
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From a collection of historical surfboards to a library of surfing literature to a collection of surfing-related art, it features just about every thing you can imagine that has to do with the history and culture of surfing.
It has also been a meeting place for very cool events and presentations. I like to call it “The Home of the Stoke.”
For the past couple of decades, SHACC has lived in a building in the hills up behind San Clemente in an industrial area. It was really cool, but not all that easy to find and kinda out of your way unless you were going there specifically.
In other words, there was not much walk-through traffic. Hence, it has not been frequented by the general public all that much and not nearly enough by the average surfing community. It has deserved much more.
Thanks to the tireless and generous effort of founders Dick Metz and Spencer Croul, along with board members such as Jeff Alter, Mark Christy, Greg MacGillivary, Paul Naude and more, SHACC is reopening in a big, beautiful building in downtown Laguna Beach, just up from the beach. The opening date is not set yet, but will be sometime this summer.
On June 20, they had what was called a “Hard Hat Social.” It was kinda the official unofficial pre-opening check-out party invitational. I was stoked to be invited and able to be there. What a cool event.
The room was teeming with pure “stoke.” Even though the museum is not finished yet, you could see that this is going to be a very special place for the surfing world. Truly a cultural center.
And it’s right where anybody and everybody can get to easily.
I will talk more about all the cool stuff closer to the actual opening. Right now, I wanna tell you about the party and all the ultra coolsters and coolettes that were on hand. I got to see friends whom I had not seen since Lincoln was in office.
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Almost the entire Surfer magazine staff from when I worked there (1976 to 1986) was on hand. Steve and Debbee Pezman, Jim Kempton, Paul Holmes, Tom Servais and Mark “Cubby” Samuels. Even Ira Opper, who produced the “Surfer Magazine for T.V.” show on ESPN was there. We could have had a staff meeting. Mark Samuels is also now working at SHACC, helping them put it all together.
I got to sit and talk with the great Joyce Hoffman for a little while; that was very cool. We both came up in the HOBIE surfboards family back in the 1960s.
Joyce won everything there was to win many times — total dominance of women’s surfing at that time. Her family is legendary. Her father, Walter Hoffman, and uncle, Flippy Hoffman, were pioneer big wave riders in the 1950s and ’60s. Her sister Dibi is married to Herbie Fletcher, and they have produced three of the best, and most radical, young surfers to come along: Christian, Nathan and Greyson.
Randy Rarrick was on hand, not only a great surfer but a huge part of the growth of pro surfing competitions and one of the foremost surfboard historians on the planet. “Baby Dave” and Pua (Surfline Hawaii) Rochlen were there. So was Greg MacGillivary, surf movie icon and Mr. IMAX, not to mention one of the coolest dudes ever in the sport.
In the crowd were Jericho Popler and her daughter; Craig Lockwood, a Laguna Beach local and paddleboard legend; Allan Seymour, another legend and producer of the early surf auctions; Brad Gerlach and Chris Mauro, surf gods; and our own Laylan Connelly. L.J. Richards, one of the greatest surfers ever, was there. I love seeing L.J., he is always stoked and happy. He is older than me and it kinda bugs me that he is in like perfect shape — dude needs to eat some donuts and get with the program.
Speaking of being in too good of condition, the great Shaun Tomson was there, too. Another one of those forever smiling and stoked dudes. I still remember when he first showed up at the world championship in 1972 when he was like 13 or something; it was at the very end of my pro surfing competitive years and I remember thinking, “There is the future right there.” And he proved me right. Always good to see Shaun.
Plus, the man himself, Dick Metz. This guy goes down as the ultimate miracle of manhood. He is 96 years old, looks maybe 56 and acts and lives like he is 26. The dude rides motorcycles in the mountains, is a total chick magnet still, and never sits down or stops smiling. When I was 15, I used to sleep on his couch when I would arrive in Hawaii to surf; he owned the HOBIE shop in Honolulu back then. We have been pals ever since. I wanna be him when I grow up.
There were a lot more, but I am out of space. Stay tuned for more SHACC news later this summer.