Surf’s up on the hill

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Malibu resident John Mazza contributed his surfboard collection to be displayed at the Reel Sessions surf culture festival, taking place at Pepperdine University's Payson Library Thursday through Saturday. Ben Marcus / TMT

Pepperdine University hosts surf culture festival.

By Ben Marcus / Special to The Malibu Times

The surf is going to be way up this week as Pepperdine University Libraries host “Reel Sessions,” a three-day exhibit of surfboards, woodies, surf bands and surf icons arranged around a schedule of 12 surf movies that will be a “Celebration of Surf Cinema Spanning 60 Years.”

Each of the 12 movies will be hosted by an important surf culture figure, and there will be a raffle to raise money and interest for the Pepperdine University Libraries Malibu Collection, which will detail Malibu history by land and sea and become a multifaceted research resource for students, faculty and the general public.

Pepperdine University enjoys a million dollar view into the surf line at Surfrider Beach, which has been the background for such movies as “Gidget” and “Big Wednesday.”

“Here we are, perched on a bluff overlooking one of the world’s great point breaks, a legendary place, and having a surf film festival just makes a lot of sense,” said Jerry Derloshon, the director of public relations and news at the university. “For a lifelong surfer like me, the festival is a tribute to the wave riders, filmmakers and surf musicians who made surfing as much of a lifestyle as it is a sport.”

The idea for the surf culture weekend came from Mark Roosa, dean of Pepperdine Libraries. Roosa worked for the Library of Congress from 1998 to 2004 and then headed west when Pepperdine hired him in 2004. Roosa is responsible for directing library activities on the Malibu campus and at satellite locations around Los Angeles. “Our goal is to provide insight into Malibu’s formative years and subsequent development as a beach and recreational destination, a magnet for writers, musicians, and others drawn to this ‘sun kissed’ corner of Los Angeles,” Roosa said in a “Reel Sessions” press release. “The collection will chronicle through letters, photographs, books, films, interviews, memorabilia and secondary sources the history and development of Malibu during a time of unprecedented change and transformation.”

The title for the weekend “Reel Sessions” came from Pepperdine Librarian Sarah Gilman and Pepperdine staff member Jill Brunner. Gilman, who according to Roosa, “has been the driving force behind planning and coordinating this event,” enlisted the help of Pepperdine students Riley Jamison and Brunner to create the Reel Sessions art.

Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner has been surfing Malibu since the ’60s, and has recently published a book about surf wax. Wagner will introduce Bud Browne’s “Surfing in the ’50s” and he will be joined by local surfboard and surf culture collectors John Zambetti, John Mazza and Flip Cuddy.

Kathy “Gidget” Zuckerman’s influence goes back to the summer of 1957, when her summer adventures on the beach at Malibu inspired her father to write a coming of age novel called “Gidget.” The success of that book inspired a major Columbia motion picture in 1959, which in turn lit the fuse of the surf culture explosion of the 1960s.

Music was a part of the surf culture of the ’60s, and the musical representatives are Randy Nauert, an original member of The Challengers surf band, and Gaston Georis, who composed the theme for “Endless Summer” as a member of The Sandals. Georis will speak before the showing of “The Endless Summer,” along with The Surfer’s Journal publisher Steve Pezman, and Nauert will introduce the ’70s classic “Five Summer Stories.”

Denny Aaberg has been surfing Malibu since the ’50s and his experiences were the foundation for the 1978 movie “Big Wednesday,” which is almost universally regarded as the best of the Hollywood-generated “waxploitation” movies. Aaberg will be on hand to introduce the movie, which he co-wrote with John Milius.

Some of the first surfers along the California and Hawaiian coasts are still out there and a few are featured in David L Brown’s documentary “Surfing for Life,” about Gen LXX surfers. Mickey Mu-oz, who is a testimony to the eternal youth properties of surfing, is one. Mu-oz doubled for Sandra Dee in “Gidget” in 1959 and he was also one of the stars of “Chasing Dora” in 2005. He will speak before the screening of Chasing Dora. Malibu surf collector Flip Cuddy will speak before a short film about Hawaiian surfer Eddie Aikau.

To raise money for the collection, there will be a silent auction following the screening of “Riding Giants” on Saturday night. Auction items include a 9-foot, 4-inch Weber Performer donated by Shea Weber and a classic 1940s redwood/balsa collectible made by Bud Caldwell. Jet Blue is offering three pairs of round-trip tickets to anywhere, and there will be gift certificates for dinner at Giovanni’s and Duke’s.

“Reel Sessions” takes place Thursday through Saturday. Screenings are free and open to the general public. Seating is limited. For tickets and information visit: http://library.pepperdine.edu/reelsessions/