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California Surf Museum
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2 reviews for California Surf Museum
I recently took my fanatical surfer of a father on a road trip to Oceanside for his 60th B-day. My mission for the day was to keep him occupied for 6 hours while my family set up his surprise party back home.
We walked into the Museum and were warmly greeted by uhh, the dude.
Anyway My Dad and the Dude talked for no-joke an hour and a half straight! About all kinds of surf history, board shapes, how Hawaii is trying to steal our surf artifacts and keep them for their own.
This dude was seriously passionate about California surf history. I was really impressed. And it is always a pleasure to meet passionate people.
Needless to say that with my ADD I listened for about 5.2 seconds and then moved onto the gift shop area. I found some pretty sweet vintage carved wood earrings from Indonesia, and some pretty interesting books, as well as your usual wave shaped ash trays and surf widow stickers.
All and all it was a pretty cool little joint. The dude informed us that they are waiting for the city to renovate a larger building down the street that will be donated to the museum, which is awesome because only about ten percent of the boards and photos are actually on display at their current location, the rest are stored in the rafters; they definitely need more space.
I just wanted to say thanks to the dude for keeping my pops occupied for a couple hours, took the wait of my shoulders! My dad was seriously like a little kid in a candy shop.
So props to you California Surf Museum!!!
Everyone should go visit, there's a lot to learn, and the dude that works there is an awesome guy as well, aaaaaaand, it's free!
But if you don't leave at least a dollar donation you will get eaten by a shark the next time you are in the ocean (that's what happened to the guy in Solana Beach last Friday, true story.)
Located on Hwy. 101 in Oceanside this museum documents all things surfing from the first sighting of a surfer to what's going on today in the current scene. You'll find original bolsa wood boards that were ridden by the great legends and Hawaiian masters including Duke Kahanamoku, the father of surfing. Of course there are tributes to other greats such as Rell Sunn, the mother of surfing a.k.a. The Queen of Makaha who sadly passed away from cancer a few years back. She was the first and only female surfer to have made the cover of Surfing Magazine. Hard to believe but true.
There are many tributes the industry professionals including one very famous man, Doc Ball considered the first surfing photographer and one of today's living legends, Tom Keck also a master at shooting surfers since the late 1950's.
There is also an entire exhibition devoted to surfing-shapers who definitely have shaped this sport in many ways.
Take a drive up or down the coast and visit this great museum. Admission is free but donations are gladly accepted. http://surfmuseum.org
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