Surf’s up!
Growing up a Malibu kid in the 1950s meant long summer days on the beach, cruising down Pacific Coast Highway and taking up a new summer craze — surfing.
The excerpt below is from Chapter 28 of Malibu local Pete Haynes’ book “1950s Malibu: Growing Up In Paradise.”
Going into the summer of 1955 was really an experience for my sister and me.
I had just finished my first year at Santa Monica High School and I bought my very first car, a 1950 green Ford two-door.
Prior to getting the Ford, my dad would let me drive the family car, which was a 1950 green Oldsmobile convertible…
…That summer, the Morrises hired me as their lifeguard at Paradise Cove and also hired my sister, Linda, to work in the rental shop where she would rent surf mats, umbrellas and sell some food.
While guarding there, I became interested in surfing for the first time. I called a couple of buddies and inquired about which surfboards were best and which would be best for me…
…Just down the beach from Paradise Cove towards Point Dume was the local surf spot, Little Dume.
It was there where I learned to surf. The great thing about learning at Little Dume is that the waves are very slow in forming. Even a beginner, like me, could catch one and ride it to the beach with little effort. Standing up on the board while riding a wave was very easy at Little Dume.
As I got better and better at riding the waves at Little Dume, it was time to venture out from the easy stuff and give other spots a try.
Surfing those days was not very popular and some of the spots that my surfing buddies, Jimmy Joto and Jim McHenry, would travel to were often void of surfers…
…I can say that my surfing buddies and I experienced the best of the best surfing, because there were so few people at any of these popular surfing spots. Numerous times we would have these spots all to ourselves.
