The walls of Killer Dana Surf Shop are part retail store, part history lesson.
Photos of the famed wave of the same name that once fired off Dana Point are framed for visitors to marvel at the long-lost surf break, once considered one of the biggest and best waves on the mainland.
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Stories of the surf break lost to the creation of the Dana Point Harbor and of neighboring Doheny State Beach will be flowing on Saturday, July 11, with a presentation at the shop by former State Parks ranger Jim Serpa.
Doheny State Beach, created in 1931, is dubbed the “crown jewel of the California coast,” a place packed with beachgoers and a draw for surfers who enjoy the mellow, rolling waves.
The area was originally home to the indigenous Acjachemen people starting some 10,000 years before Western civilization changed the area.
The campground is one of the most in-demand in the State Parks system, a place set right on the sand.
Doheny had a troubled start rooted in murder and mystery, Serpa has told during talks through the years and will touch on again this weekend.
The beach’s namesake, Edward Doheny Jr., whom everyone called Ned, was killed in his Beverly Hills home in 1929 by his crazed secretary, who then killed himself.
His father, oil tycoon Edward Doheny Sr., distraught over his son’s death, didn’t want to deal with property in Capistrano Beach that Ned bought a year earlier, so he donated about 44 acres of the undeveloped land to the state in 1931.
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Serpa will also tell you that in the 30s, the beach was used to unload bootlegged liquor.
Serpa’s presentation also includes Doheny’s place in surf music and iconic figures etched into the beach’s rich history.
Another pivotal character at the beach was Edward De Quincy “Pop” Proctor, its first lifeguard in 1944.
One of the towers was named for Proctor, so the order went: Lifeguard tower number 9, 10, 11, then Pop’s. It was changed in recent years to Tower 12, now a gathering spot for some of the longtime locals dubbed the Tower 12 crew.
The beach is well known as a beginner surf spot and each year holds the Ohana Festival that spans three days and draws people from around the world.
Serpa’s collection includes images from the ’30s through the ’50s.
The presentation starts at 7 p.m. at the Killer Dana Surf Shop, 24829 Del Prado Ave.
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