"The first use of boards was about 1912 when they used a piece of 1 by 12 board about 4 feet long and pushed off from 5 foot water. This type of board caused many accidents to the stomach area as it nose dived to the bottom causing injury...There were no surfboards on the coast except the one belonging to George Freeth of Redondo Beach and it was a very makeshift one made of several boards with cross p1eces nailed to hold it together."
An Early History of Surfing in Huntington Beach,
Delbert "Bud" Higgins, surflibrary.org
The U.S. Open of Surfing is in town and the beach is host to thousands, watching surfing competitions from bleachers, marveling at skaters defying gravity at the "skate bowl" constructed on the sand, and dancing barefoot to live music. It is a multi-million dollar event, attracting thousands to the beach, with an international following.
It's sometimes hard to imagine that the original surfers put their toes in the sand here---the original Surf City---a century ago.
Delbert "Bud" Higgins, one of Huntington Beach's first lifeguards and the city's first fire chief, recalls meeting "the Hawaiians" in the 1920s. Locals had already been playing around with boards in the surf. Hawaiian surfer George Freeth demonstrated the sport of wave-riding in 1907 at Redondo Beach and was a featured part of the 1914 re-dedication of the pier.
LEFT: Freeth arrived in Southern California in 1907 and his surfing demonstration was a highlight of the Huntington Beach pier re-dedication ceremony in 1914. Freeth's surfing demonstrations also were a popular event at the Breakers, Atlantic City, and at Coney Island, New York. (Photo, Wiki Commons)
By the 1920s in Huntington Beach, Bud Higgins and others were enamored with the sport and inspired to make their own boards after meeting "the Duke."
"Duke Kahanamoku from Kahaliana and two other Hawaiians came over from Hawaii to make a movie and spotted the surf at Corona Del Mar, surfed there...It was there I first saw their boards, talked to the Hawaiians and invited them to surf the Huntington Beach Pier," recalled Higgins in a personal history he wrote in the mid 1960s.
"They visited here on several occasions surfing the west side of the pier. After surfing here they stashed their boards, which were 11 feet long and l8 inches wide," Higgins remembered. "They said if we should make new boards, they should not be longer then 10 feet."
Surfing legend Corky Carroll wrote about Higgins on his blog, "Bud was born in 1908 and became a Huntington Beach lifeguard. He grew up riding what we would call a 'bellyboard' these days, along with body surfing." Carroll notes the boards crafted in the 1920s were vastly different than what you'll see on the beach today.
"They weighed 135 pounds. Obviously these were not all that easy to carry around. You just didn't see guys riding their bikes down to the beach with a board under their arm in those days," writes Carroll. Surfers holding a board under one arm, bicycling, skating, or walking barefoot to the beach is an everyday site in Huntington Beach today.
"By Bud's own account, they would wind up using old telephone poles that were weather beaten and had become lighter just to get the weight down to a "manageable" 100 pounds," continued Carroll. "...these dudes took to attaching metal "nose guards" on their big wood boards to protect them from damage caused by running into the pier. Can you even imagine getting run down by one of these massive board/ships with a big macking metal nose guard? Amazing that they didn't just knock the pier over on the way through."
Higgins remembered his first attempt at making a board, with friend and fellow lifeguard Gene Belshe in 1927. They used---what else---California redwood, the lumber available for local home building.
"We went to the San Piedro (sic) Lumber Company to inquire about lumber. We found we could buy a solid plank of kiln dried redwood 20 feet long, 24 inches wide, and 3 inches thick for $40. We purchased the plank and cut it in two so we would each have a 10-foot board," recalled Higgins.
Higgins confirmed Carroll's account of using telephone poles, "We also found that in the rural part of the city the telephone company had old lines using 4 by 6 inch redwood poles that were weather beaten and light. We traded them for our new planks and made the boards out of the old poles having them planed to thinner planks."
As surfing took off along the coast, there were a variety of jerry-rigged boards. Higgins recalled some "made wood frame works and covered them with metal, soldering the seams to make them waterproof. They sounded like a can bouncing on the pavement when ridden on a wave and were not too successful."
According to legendarysurfers.com, Higgins is reported to have surfed the Huntington Beach pier "while standing on his head." Early surfers were allowed to jump off the pier with their boards, to save a little time and effort paddling out.
As reported in Historic Huntington Beach's July 4, 2013, post, one of Higgins' famous feats of daring for the annual celebration was to set himself on fire and dive off the pier. (We feel compelled to remind those readers who self-identify as knuckleheads: none of these stunts are allowed any more.)
SURF CULTURE - By the 1960s, surfing had attracted a huge following and a distinct So Cal culture. Generations of Huntington Beach residents learned as children and continue to surf into their golden years. (Test photos, City of Huntington Beach archives, circa 1963)
A century after the first splash of boards near the pier, Huntington Beach retains an unabashed fondness for surfers. Welcome visitors, to the U.S. Open of Surfing.
While you're here, visit the International Surfing Museum, stroll the Surfing Walk of Fame on Main Street, and visit the Surfers' Hall of Fame inside Huntington Surf & Sport, also on Main Street.
While you're here, visit the International Surfing Museum, stroll the Surfing Walk of Fame on Main Street, and visit the Surfers' Hall of Fame inside Huntington Surf & Sport, also on Main Street.
HISTORIC DOWNTOWN HUNTINGTON BEACH WALKING TOUR STOP #21: The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum is housed in a 1935 Deco/Moderne building at 411 Olive Avenue, just a few steps northwest of Main Street. Walk inland up Main Street from the pier, turn left on Olive and find the Museum a few steps down the street. Don't be surprised if there is a surf band playing in the parking lot. Walking tour maps are available at the kiosk at the foot of the pier.
WEBCAM MINI VACATION - Can't visit in person? View the Huntington Beach pier area on four different webcams at HBCams, http://hbcams.com/
ONE OF THE LAST SURF SHACKS - Now a memory and no longer in its original condition, The Gordie House, http://historichuntingtonbeach.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-gordie-house.html
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