SURFERMAG ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
• During the summer of 1956 and 1957, Terry “Tubesteak” Tracy lived in a shack on the point at Malibu. This was a time before lifeguards or sherrifs when Malibu was too far out in the sticks for anyone to care. During this time a young woman named Kathy Kohner fell in with the Malibu crew and started surfing. She reported her adventures back to her father, who turned the story into a coming of age story called Gidget. The book was popular, and the 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson and James Darren introduced the world to the surfing lifestyle, and changed it forever.
• On June 6, 1951 possibly the first African American surfer at Malibu – Nick Gabaldon – tries to shoot the pier on a big south swell. He disappears and his body is found a few days later.
• During the winter of 1969, a giant storm dumps dozens of inches of rain down the canyons, washing out Malibu Beach completely, destroying the points and leaving a thick coat of mud in its wake. The surf takes months and years to recover.
• During the Dogtown days of Summer 1975, 17-year-old Allen Sarlo resists skateboarding too much with Jay Adams and Tony Alva because of the risk of injury. He enters the Malibu AAAA contest against Mike Purpus and many others, and beats them all.
• In September of 1975, one of the biggest Southern Hemis of all time – dubbed The Monster from New Zealand – delivers one of the biggest days at Malibu ever seen.
• In the summer of 1978, John Milius’ Big Wednesday is set in Malibu from the 50s to the 70s and follows the arc of three surfing buddies as they pass from teen age to adult hood by way of Vietnam, drugs and the other trials and tribulations of the second half of the 20th Century. Milius based the movie on his own experiences as a Malibu surfer during the 50s and 60s. The producers used Peter Townend, Ian Cairns and Jay Riddle at the Ranch and El Salvador to double for Jan Michael Vincent, Gary Busey and William Katt at Malibu and the Pit. The climactic Big Wednesday swell was filmed at 15-foot Sunset in Hawaii: “Italians love this movie,” Milius said. “They put it up on the same level at Apocalypse Now or Red Dawn. I had men with tears in their eyes come up to me and tell me how much they loved the movie. Loved me. It’s good to be loved.”
• It becomes illegal to ride bodyboards in the surf zone at Malibu. Modern Malibu surfers get the shakes thinking of how chaotic it would be out there with dozens of bodyboarders thrown into the mix.
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READER COMMENTS
Tue Jun23, 2009, 12:45 AM
I started surfing Malibu in 1966. I pretty much stopped getting in the water there around 1978. The problem? Assholes: Very young, very rude, very entitled. They made sure the vibe changed to match their conceit, and that same attitude has insured that Malibu surfrider outshines all southern California surf spots in ugly intensity. Mickey Dora? I remember him well. He hardly surfed. He was a drug addled little thief,(though he could still surf like a bastard when he felt the urge)and it was because of his confused state of mind and a clear personal frustration that he fucked with other surfers, not because he was some cool surf pioneer that was robbed of "his" waves. As to surfing etiquette at the points being non-existent, I say, good. The assholes out there started the trend 40 years ago. they're all just surfing in the Kharma of their own shitty medicine.
Sat Jul11, 2009, 8:17 PM
Why is it that degradation of 3rd and 2nd point is never mentioned.Two of the finest hollowest swell south spots on the coast.If you can find old footage you will see it is NOTHING like it used to be .There is more than a water quality problem.The wave is disappearing more each year .Check out the coastal records project of surfrider beach from 1972 to 2009 the beach is gone and so are the perfect waves.Those 2 points were machine like winding quality .This year the bottom of 2nd you might catch a couple of shoulders. pat conway
Fri Jul24, 2009, 8:51 PM
If there is one spot in So Cal that I would have loved to grow up at in the 30's/40's, it's Malibu. I've been surfing there since I was 8 and even though I live 20 minutes away in Venice, I'd rather surf the pier. The vibe there sucks now, a bunch of straight legged old men, "Soul'd Out" groms about 10 years behind in thier fashion statements, and even the girls who can't surf to save thier lives seem to be snakes these days...
Mon Aug 3, 2009, 10:30 PM
TomR sizzles! His steaks are the best. Decker Creek still drums the vibe.
Wed Sep30, 2009, 6:01 PM
Malibu has a few things going for it that ruin it. Easy access, and an easy tame paddle out and soft friendly surf. there are so many better surf experiences to be had around the world, but not many where you can surf in the morning, chillax in your house and grab some grub, and then be a sell-out in a suit by noon. Selling real estate, or an image to movies and print. Sarlo? come on that moron snakes everybody with his over-amped gorilla squat barking all the way down the line. Wow that sounds like fun, snake three guys then yell at people the rest of the wave cause you think they are going to snake you. Total Combat. As for Matt Rapf, he might be a decent realtor and decent guy, but surfer? ah no-- he pretty much sucks. No where is it written that this thing they call the united states will live in perpetuity. Malibu was majic before that dumb bitch so called "owned it" in the early 1900's.
Sun Oct 4, 2009, 11:49 AM
So it is true, bodyboarding isn't allowed? What a piece of &@#§. I've never seen this. Pipeline allows it, but not 3 feet Malibu? Oh well, they can keep their over rated, over crowded, over cool attitude and snake themselves in "peace".