E's Surf Report

My first board looked like one of those. It was a 9'10 Reef with a big fat skeg. The thing weighed 35 lbs. I used to carry the board on my head, but it hurt so I used a folded up towel as a cushion. I only weighed about 125 lbs in 1969. Actually, I wrestled at 115. Boy, that was a lot of lbs ago.

Pedro Point on sunday morning was surfed by 2 rippers. First time id ever seen that point surfed let alone shredded to pieces like that. The lefts were at least head high and breaking all the way from way outside, some reaching the boat docks. Disbelief and i know im not the only one who saw it.......id just like to meet one of those 2 pimps. Good on ya for that session.

No wetties! Those old timers are true hardcore surfers.

I'm with anon, those old timers are tough!

sweet shots of pedro! BRRRR! still looks like the same wave though..thanks tamborjim

good surfing too

There's your solution to crowding; ban wetsuits! Great pictures. Was the bottom really different? How so?

ha! first thing that struck me was the lack of rubber too!

keep the pics coming, sweet respite from the land of deadlines and injuries.

SICK PICS...

Fun pics! Which reminds me...isn't the water supposed to be flippin' freezing by now? Where are my ice cream headaches? Spooky.

Vagueness just incites others to ad details.

just wondering about the constant currents at ocean beach. they seem mostly southbound, but plenty of northbound as well. what generates them and why so consistently? i grew up surfing salmon creek in bodega bay where there is a lot of current, but not like here. any insight appreciated.

Very, very cool old shots of Pedro. Thanks! In those days wetsuits for surfers were still uncommon and good for little more than keeping the wind-chill off your back.
In '69 I still had not surfed anywhere north of Rincon. To us kids who grew up surfing in Southern California, Santa Cruz was the far north and Steamer Lane was a serious "big wave" spot. Anywhere north of that was practically off the map to us - mysto, big, cold and scarey.
I remember the first time I saw Pedro during a hitchhike to SF, Easter Week, 1970. Coming out of the eucalyptus grove just north of the cove in the back of a flatbed full of hippies who picked us up in Big Sur, I was blown away at how beautiful the set up was - but couldn't believe that anyone would actually surf in that cold, cold water! Goes to show, sometimes you can't even imagine how your life might turn out!

currents at ocean beach? hmmm.....good question.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the beaches proximity to the 1000000000000 million trillions of gallons of water moving in and out of the golden date 4 times per day....

i'm sure there's more to explain the currents, but it's my understanding that they are due in large part to tides moving in and out of the bay which in turn move a lot of water along ocean beach...

i haven't been surfing in so long now... ugh.

betcha some changes are coming to the dress code of the marina and russian hill.

always thought they looked like fags anyway

http://www.thephatphree.com/features.asp?SectionID=11&StoryID=239&LayoutType

Pimpin' Marge's artwork for your self serving dotcommmiemeans. Why post this image? Do you have a right to? Do you know anything about it? In what context? You need to clarify and credit it immediately.
You are pathetica.

Not as much as an art fag as BVB. "I know 'Marge'" whos pimping who, retard. surf culture bullshit.

is this person's artwork a secret spot that no one is allowed to appreciate?
that piece is so cool and i know nothing about it. wasn't able to learn about it from following the link. so why don't you enlighten us instead of ranting, mr. masters?

No ....only the 12 people that surfed Ocean Beach in the 70's is allowed to appreciate this art, or the life-size hoola dancers.

Wait! Who WAS here in the 70's???

Great shot of the SC surf club. My grandfather was poker and partying buddies with many of those guys. G-Pops didn't like the surf so much, too cold before wetsuits he said.

Those pics confirm one thing: that wave never really was that great for shortboarding. Those pics are sweet though. Love the dude in the cowboy hat chilling in the crowd.

No surf for a few days with the rain. In our free time, let's exploit something that deserves to be exploited......Not something that doesn't!

Fuck, bvb is an idiot.

Hey Malibu Bob, please say hi to Marge for me and tell her I like that piece.

those photos are SWEET. thanks to the sender.
i assume that the storm from '69 was the big wednesday
monster swell that hit the whole pacific in 1969?
and if indeed that lovely turgid little cove broke
differently then how? it would be nice to know.

for example they dredged at masonboro inlet when
i was in high school and college. the army corps of
idiots (er—engineers) dredged sand and pumped it
on the beach to stem erosion and killed one break
(sandbar) and made two new ones. it also affected
the rip into the inlet. which...

currents at OB? seriously to whoever asked that do
your HOMEWORK. this is the sort of topographical
knowledge that can help prevent serious situations
with respect to when one chooses to surf and where.

i offer the above respectfully. don't get all pissed.

can i get a phoentic spelling of dotcommiemeans, please?

i think that painting was done by Margaret Kilgallen. It's entitled "Linda Mar." Here's some info
http://www.paulsonpress.com/Kilgallen/Kilgallen_LindaMar.html

70s....

Doc Renneker was here (UCSF Sch Med 76), and he and some of his med school buddies still live on the great highway

Bill Hickey moved to his Great Highway house from Pedro in 72 or 73, evicted in 2004 after over 30 years of rent control.

Wise surf shop, Domond Lee shaping, PeeWee glassing. George Orbelian worked there in the 70s before writing Essential Surfing. Bob himself shaped until about 73. Original Wise shapes are still seen from time to time.

Kdalle moved here in 76. Locals still resent him. ;)

Jim Holt appeared in National Geographic surfing at FORT POINT, its a cool picture, taken in the 70s.

The movie "City Slickers" came out in 72 or 73, a San Francisco surf movie starring the locals, but especially standout Steve Pfeiffer who later got married had kids and thereafter wasn't seen at the beach much.

And, actually, a surprising number of others. Many of the peeps in my age range were here but not surfing until the 80s.

------------------------------------------

570 BILLION gallons of water go through the gate in an average tide change, with peak currents close to 4 knots at the gate, and 0.5-1 knot at the beach. Big tide changes can double that with over a trillion gallons of water going through the gate.

oh oh oh oh oh pick me Mr Kotter!

Go B-stah. Where do you come up with all that stuff?

Also, Ron Palillo starred as Horseshack on the sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.

Blakestah,
Is PeeWee's name also Bill? Also goes by Bomber Bill? Or is that Bill Hickey? I met him in GLand in '91 with Hawaii 'Doc.' I see him every now and then... last time at Wise. He was disappointed it was only 1.5x-2xOH at GLand. I wasn't!
Nice guy, very low profile.

PeeWee == Bill Bergerson, a long, long-time outer bar charger.

Did he make it?

Did he make it?

Did he make it?

no he didn't no he didn't no he didn't

no he didn't no he didn't no he didn't

Aha! Thx!

It is unfortunate so much history of SF surfing will be lost to future generations as no one has taken the time to chronicle it. Wise has tons of old photos but doesn't even display them at his shop.Remember the piers, the fun house, the mass congregation of conga players, smell of ganja hoovering the wall, motorcycle races on Great Highway, Beach Chalet brawls etc etc

you guys are killing me

i think that painting was done by Margaret Kilgallen. It's entitled "Linda Mar." Here's some info
http://www.paulsonpress.com/Kilgallen/Kilgallen_LindaMar.html

yep, that is right. Margaret was an artist who lived here in the city and enjoyed surfing Linda Mar & Rockaway and other longboard spots up and down the California coast. Originally from the East Coast she was drawn to SF to make her mark as
an artist which she did in spades. Circumstances here enabled her to learn to surf and the experience inevitably made it into her work. A wonderful and kind person to the core she has influenced many in both life and death. Tragically she was a victim of cancer and passed away several years ago.

Margaret is a part of a San Francisco that sometimes seems to be largely gone for many reasons, none of them as simple as "elucidated" on this board. I was heartened to see her lithograph on the site today, although would have been happier had it been credited. That individuals here would begrudge others' viewing of this work is incredible.

I urge all here to look at her and others' work of the time not as "cool Mission School" drawing and painting but as evidence of what might be done with dedication and concern for completing the pictures in one's mind with no reason other than it is a heap of fun and necessary to maintain a modicum of sanity in tumultous times.

Bring back the waves!

I'll keep trickling my old SF, SC shots through e. I can't figure how to post photos here. Just sent some tasty pier shots he should put up tomorrow. I have lots of shots from late '60s early 70's I but I don't want to bore the young bloods who look down on us original dinosaurs. Jimmie Holt is the keeper of the flame, rips at Sharp, has the whole history in his garage museum. Great guy. I'll keep the Tica shots coming if thats ok. tamborjim

My life is miserable. I want to kill myself. Ooh, let's get online and show people how miserable I am!! I want to kill myself. I wish I had friends. I hate myself.

Saw Jim Holt surf a few times. He is one of the few people for whom I would go to the beach just to watch him surf. At Slopfest last year on his first wave, a sloppy head high wave, he popped a headstand on the drop, did the entire drop and bottom turn in the headstand, before popping down and running to the nose. In near closeout beachbreak. Not many around can work a longboard like Jim.

I like the history of SF surfing, I've talked about it with Jim and Bill Hickey and Bob Wise and Kdalle and Doc and some of his med school buddies and others...little by little you can see some of what used to be surfing SF, but I doubt I'll ever get the complete picture that those who were here have. But I'll always be interested to listen....

tamborjim - boring young bloods is the DUTY of original dinosaurs. Please, keep the pics and stories comin'!
Thanks,
Jimmie (NOT Holt)

Tamborjim, please send as many photos as you are willing....

Me being one of the "younger" lads (not that young), I love to see the old shots and hear the old stories of those growing up and surfing around here. "The FUCKING bell was over 1000 lbs. Some guy came down with a torch and stole the fucking brass bell....How do you move a 1000 lb. brass bell?" Times were much different then to say the least. I, for one, respect much of the older generation which I know very little about around here. Why wouldn't you? Every day each of us don a rubber outfit created (or marketed better) by Jack O'Neill in our very backyard. Without the invention of the wetsuit, would surfing be popular in our little slice of the world? Me thinks no!

Share the old stoke and educate us younger generation if you are willing. For many of us, WE DON'T KNOW what it was like back in the day. If we had, maybe things would be more respectful in the water around here.

On another note, I like the "Linda Mar" art but it reminds me of someone that surfs Linda Mar often that has an extremely loud mouth and is really annoying. I hate to draw a relation to the 2 but I can't help it.

Rising young artist Margaret Kilgallen dead at 33

BY JOHN SANFORD

The artist Margaret Kilgallen, a recent Stanford graduate whose work has enlivened building exteriors in San Francisco and has been featured in galleries across the country, died June 26 of complications from breast cancer. She was 33.

A native of Washington, D.C., Kilgallen grew up in Kensington, Md. She earned a bachelor's degree in studio art and printmaking at Colorado College before moving to San Francisco, where she was living at the time of her death.

She received a Master of Fine Arts degree June 17 from Stanford. Here, she held a fellowship supported by members of the Cantor Center for Visual Arts and the E. Eric and Elizabeth D. Johnson Fellowship in Studio Art during her first and second academic years, respectively.

Kilgallen's work, which draws on elements of folk art, tramp art and mural painting, has at once a cartoon-like innocence and slight, ironic tang. Her subjects include hobos, alcoholics, carnies and surfer women (Kilgallen was an avid wave rider), portrayed in muted colors. In addition, working as a book conservator at the San Francisco Public Library ­ a job she left in 1997 ­ allowed her to study type fonts and styles, and words and letters figure prominently in her art. She was also an accomplished banjo player.

"Margaret Kilgallen was a remarkably gifted and courageous young woman. Her life is an inspiration to those of us fortunate to have known her," said Kristina Branch, associate professor of art.

Art Professor David Hannah described Kilgallen as a "vital member of her peer group, admired for both her work and her personality."

"She was shy, sweet, quirky, with an infectious sense of mirth, strongly supportive of others, and in possession of all the requisite muscles of a tough, determined artist," Hannah said.

He said her painting installations were increasingly in demand. "Margaret had an impressive gift, which she developed with individuality and verve. She was courageous in addressing the world she inhabited, accepting this subject matter as given, and creating a deeply affecting social art," he said. "The large installation in Philadelphia [at the Institute of Contemporary Art] is a masterful realization of all that Margaret was as an artist. A huge, sprawling work, yet not disjointed, visually powerful, with her magical narrative, terrific color and design, and with the incredible sense of scale that she was capable of when she went all out, no stops. She could really do it, and she did it here. This is a major achievement. ...

"We are saddened by this most tragic story. Margaret was a friend to so many, a wonderful, enchanting spirit whose absence will continue to haunt."

Kilgallen painted a great number of murals around San Francisco, but most have been painted over. Her work has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum, the John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco and the Drawing Room at the Drawing Center in New York, among other venues.

Her work is now on view through July 29 in "East Meets West," an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.

Kilgallen is survived by her husband, artist Barry McGee; a daughter, Asha, who was born on June 7; her parents, Dena and James Kilgallen; two sisters, Lil Kilgallen and Marianne Sullivan; and a brother, Jamie Kilgallen.

Donations can be made to the Asha Kilgallen-McGee Fund, Bayview Bank, 443 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94114 (ATTN: Mark Harris).

Barry McGee, the husband of the late Margaret Kilgallen, paints a reproduction of Pine, one of her previously created pieces.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kilgallen/

"Tamborjim, please send as many photos as you are willing...."

x2

There are still a few of us T Rexes in the water. Pummel us with some old school fotos and give the kids a taste of what we use to have before mass crowds.

I didn't think it was possible after all the crappy, crowded days- but here it is

Fall 2004- Weekday lindy perfection with 1 guy out! I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't been there myself!

Great posts today, good quality information on Margaret and classic pics...

without history you have no point of reference.

learn it. tell it. be it.

as for posting pics without credit?
there is a difference between sharing and ripping off.
i for one think that sharing pics on a "web log" is fine.
i for one on the other hand think that creating a whole "school" of art that bites heavily on 3 local artist's (twist, killgallen, johanson) style is a big rip off.

this brings me back to my first point.
without history you have no frame of reference.

open eyes, open minds, surf, skate, segway, work, draw, write. but most importantly have fun.

i'm just glad i got to enjoy her work and learn a little more. i'm so ignorant about art, really.
but, man, i like her style. she really captures something. even knowing nothing about her, viewing that piece changed my day. sorry i never got to surf with her. or maybe i did and never knew it. anyway, hope she's enjoying the eternal barrel and thank god for people with talent.

improvisation for inspiration for improvisation for inspiration.

And it ain't "surf art" either, BV-Bone head.

she was so rad! one in a trillion.

Margarate's artwork is tight! I actually posted that first image after doing a google image search for "linda mar." Thanks to everyone for all the info and additional photos of her stuff.. I'd heard about her tragic death through being a Barry McGee fan. Her art rocks. The two ladies above are stylin'.

again...awesome stuff today. i just got sidetracked for an hour following marge's work. i had no idea she was married to mcgee. that guy has done a TON of stuff; including many, many skate graphics and the murals that you saw if you ever went to the justice league on divisadero.

the old lindy photos are great too. hopefully we can all learn a few things about the early days....friendship, respect, generosity, etc....

also, i'd love to see that old film 'City Slickers' that blakstah mentions. i've still got a bad taste in my mouth from 'San Franpsycho'

and keep the old shots coming please nothing makes me more stoked. curren shots, hot chicks and good art shots are great too. thanks for the cool words about kilgallen, anon. super inspiring, that girl.

yeah! and more bagel art!! post some of your new stuff Bagel, or send them to E to post with the intro blurb.

just chimin' in with my $0.02. nothin' new to add, but wanted to put down my vote for more SF history....and, hopefully, more sweet, old school pics! adds a whole dimension to the breaks around here in a way that enriches one's experience.

speaking of coffin bottom turns, the white helmeted longboarder (i think his name is sean) did a siiiick one on saturday

art SUCKS

post more pics of drill presses, flanges and roof trusses

ah shucks thanks bf..i have to update that thing and pay earthlink..having a show in july though ill post the info..

That's my dream. To drop into a head high wave and bottom turn while doing a headstand on a longboard. I used to want nothing more than to walk on really high stilts thru the impact zone of firing Scott's Creek while wearing only my Napolean hat, but this blog has helped me set my sights higher.

speaking of olds school...Mr. Reef (aka Fernando) seems to be acquiring quite a collection of old school boards. There must be alot of coin in those orange floss photos that the Kais fancies

http://www.944.biz/sandiego/more.php?article=727

rainy brown muck lunch time fun at the h**k today

Wardo interview

Bob Carrillo

Bob Carrillo was born in Los Angeles and currently resides in San Francisco. In addition to Surf Trip, he curated SwitchStance for the SF Art Commission Gallery in 1997 and his work was featured in the show Outsider Art for Terrain Gallery in 1998. Carrillo graduated with a BA in English Literature from San Francisco State University in 1991. For the last two years he has dedicated his life to creating the most comprehensive surfing exhibit to date. To this end, he has traversed the Pacific in search of artists and surfers who embody both the "Aloha Spirit" and the original "California cool." Surf Trip brings together the best and brightest from both the surfing and contemporary art worlds.

who'spimpingwho?

Frickin' dumped rain here in SC this afternoon.

BVB (Bob Carillo) makes money off other people's art.

and surfing

thats a spicy meatball!

chris ward once punched put a friends fins at lowers ..seems mellower now..hopefully he does well on the tour for cali..

SURF TRIP
Curatorial statement

Surfers owe a great deal to the first of the Maoli kings, great ancestors of the Tahitians and Hawaiians, who, more than 2,000 years ago, paddled their wooden surfboards into the crystal clear waters of Polynesia and took off on a wave. With that single act, surfing was born.

Subsequently, during a long period of cultural repression in the South Pacific, surfers became invisible and did not re-emerge in a strong way until the 20th century, when surfing celebrities like Duke Kahanamoku turned the waters of the Hawaiian islands into a surfer's paradise.

Surfing found its way to California in 1907, via George Freeth, "the Bronze Mercury," who became one of surfing history's modern heroes. For the next 50 years Polynesia cross-pollinated with California, giving birth to the Golden Age of the surfing phenomenon. California culture transformed the surfing experience, creating a hybrid that commingled aspects of Hawaiian surf culture with trends then emerging in the popular culture of California, in particular Hollywood. The Gidget movies of the late '50s and early '60s, Frankie and Annette, the "Aloha" shirt, the "Surf Shack," the Beach Boys, all helped make surfers and surfing permanent fixtures in the American consciousness.

In the 1970s, the trend expanded, encompassing surfing magazines, skateboards, the Boogie board, the rubber mat, artificial waves in Arizona, and much more. Today, surfing continues to permeate the culture. From "wave cams" and the K-2 $50,000 Big Wave Challenge to Puka shell necklaces, surfing has embedded itself in our lives in more ways than we can imagine. It has even provided the millennium with one of the most enduring metaphors of our time—"surfing the web."

The contemporary artists and surfboard shapers presented in this show reveal in their work a newly emerging and more artistically cognizant world surfing culture. Though we are ultimately primitives of the ocean and the beach, our work in this show points to history, tradition, nature, beauty and a purity of soul.

—Bob Carrillo, Guest Curator

"The rite of passage for any surfer is to ride the waves in Hawaii, according to Surf Trip curator Bob Carrillo."

Carrillo traveled up and down the coast of California for the past two years gathering the art for Surf Trip. His goal is to "raise the level" of how people perceive surfing by eradicating the moon-doggie stereotype and presenting it as "a practice, way of life and rich source for artistic inspiration." He said the artistic community born out of surfing culture wasn't being represented. "You had many great contemporary artists that weren't being exhibited. So I wanted to create a place for that."

It's worth noting that the albeit "provacotive" nature (as in to provoke) of Jack Master's comments earlier in the day, certainly spawned some quality content.

Perhaps it takes some darkness and shadow and a sharp edge to get the lighting (the blog) to really work.

Words of Robert Hunter: "Once in a while you can catch all the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right." Funny I always liked swapping in the word 'faces' for the word 'places' when singing along with this tune.

Wayne Miyata, a surfer who appeared in the cult surfing film "The Endless Summer" and was later known among aficionados for his talent decorating surfboards, has died. He was 63.

Miyata was found dead in his bed on Monday after battling esophagus cancer, said Katherine Hatzikian, who owns Tyler Surfboards in El Segundo with her husband, Tyler.

Miyata was one of the first surfers to be filmed doing a successful "tube ride" through a large wave as it curls over. The footage, taken off Ala Moana in Oahu, Hawaii, in the early 1960s, was included in "The Endless Summer."

The native Hawaiian was known to many Southern Californians for his fine, hand-crafted surfboards. He was an expert in the old-style techniques of pinlining and glossing boards � adding color and decoration using resin.

Most mass-produced boards use airbrushing for color and designs. Miyata did it by hand.

"Glossing is kind of a lost art," Tyler Hatzikian told The Daily Breeze of Torrance. "That's why I brought Wayne into my shop, to educate me on the traditional ways of making boards."

Friends remembered Miyata as a tough guy who was a perfectionist when it came to surfboards.

"He was a Hawaiian native and he's very much represented the Hawaiian style. He was laid back but he was a tough guy," Katherine Hatzikian said.

Spelling: Provocative

e - how do you get spellcheck on this thing!!

Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places
If you look at it right.
-Robert Hunter

Good point. But I can't give BVB that much credit. If someone asked "whos that painting from" the same info would come, but without the insults. Which can be fun too, so ill give it to BVB for being an ignorant 3 year old baby with no sence of taste or style. Here's a provocative shot;

SHIT, was Kilgallen the woman who used to paint the grafitti horses all over town? Anybody? Those horses were very similar to Twists style. Loved that shit.

That was 'Reminisce' i believe. so much graffiti looks the same now.

Kilgallen did do some great store front signs for some businesses in the Tenderloin. Especially one for a little post office that was recently painted over.

Also you've probably seen some of the muni stops her and Mcgee did in the sunset.

wikid, i remember this caricature of pete wilson (ca gov.) Mcgee did off the bay bridge that was the greatest thing ever..

Bob Carrillo seems like an artsy guy with a good job. I wish I could get a job like Bob. I'm a state grad too, but the only job I can get is some lame retail position. Thanks George W. Bush, good job fucking everything up. Anyway, if Bob ever goes back to LAX I will try to snake his job. I'm angrier than Bob, because my life is a little more complicated it seems.

Hey BVB, you surf too far from the curl. That's one of my pet peeves. Too long a board maybe. No need for some sunset gun at ft. point. Try drawing more of a more vertical line too. Don't worry though, lots of people surf this way around here. Skate/surf/snowboard/kite/wind lifestyle helps too.

You're right >>>> that was 'Reminisce' I thought they may have been one and the saame...

art does serve a purpose.

be it something to look at or something to cause a riot. what was assembled by the aforementioned, started with good intent. the show was bound to happen... the idea had been brewing. it was a good show... let it be..

its funny how cheapshots are always are easier in 1's and 0's.

overall postameter score....positive...impressive on a very stormy, shitty March day...

and bagel...to answer your question from a while back: I went to the island, I got very skunked...but I took my wife so I scored anyway....and the house is the ONLY way to go...

cheers

BVB you have your facts wrong, my dear. Surfing started by the Maoli's? What is that, some kind of south pacific pasta?

Freeth didn't introduce surfing to california either -- Hawaiians did in the late 1800s.

Funny how someone (YOU) talks about aloha spirit, yet doesn't know what it is.

do you know what aloha means, BVB? Do you?

I like the photo of you "styling" at an undisclosed left. Looks like you are lifting a cement block or something -- nice crouch, cuz. Bend at the knees, not at the waist.

excellent surf-life posts today. thankyou!

Surfing started in Peru.

Whoa.. lotta posts today. Good content. Elias, true, easy to take the shots behind 1s and 0s.

you guys like wasting time? I do..
http://www.3580.com/

i've seen that thing on the red board before!!

99

...and 100

There was a British guy at Boat Docks Monday morning who was also really incredibly good. He was clapping rhythmically and singing little songs to himself for the waves to come, so I thought he was crazy.

Maybe so, but that guy was about 90 times better than I or anyone else out there at catching waves and then bending them to his will.

Bob, you need to lose about 40 lbs. in order to be considered a decent surfer. Jenny Craig is on sale at Safeway.

Give bob a break. Tom Curren bends at the waist at Rincon, its the best way to surf it according to him. P.S. He rips, not that he is my idol, because i rip too.

Bob gets no breaks.

Who is the guy on the red board?... that looks like my board.

Got any info on the shot?

Can I give myself a "duh" after re-reading?