Santa Cruz Surfing Museum Local Legends

History records that surfboard riding began in the Hawaiian Islands hundreds of years ago. It took until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s before it was introduced to the U.S. mainland, mostly along the southern coast of California. Surfing became known in the Santa Cruz area when some local youth started constructing boards of their own creation in the Mission Hill Junior High School wood shop. Around that time, a few young men from the beaches of southern California migrated to the San Francisco Bay area to seek jobs or attend college. They already knew how to surf and brought their boards with them. Soon they discovered the beaches of the Monterey Bay and the outstanding surf breaking across the outer reefs and sandbars at Cowell’s Beach. They also discovered the good surf at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River and at Pleasure Point.

Local teenagers on the beach kept close tabs on these visitors and their "imported" surfboards. The locals soon made friends with the visitors, borrowing the visitors’ boards and getting some instruction from them, and redesigning their own boards, blending their experience with the southern California board designs. These early boards were hollow and weighed 60 to 90 pounds.

At this time in history, there were no surf shops, wet suits, leashes, balsa or foam boards, “Gidget,” surf music, etc. It would be 30 years before the epic surfing movie “Endless Summer” was shown.

About 1936, a high degree of camaraderie developed between the visitors and the local teens. This prompted David Steward to invite them to store their surfboards in the basement of his parents’ house at Gharkey Street and Lighthouse Avenue. It was here that the idea of forming the Santa Cruz Surfing Club came about. When the Stewards moved to a house on Bay Street with a barn behind it, the visitors were invited to use the loft of the barn not just for storing their boards, but for sleeping as well. Since the barn was only three blocks from Cowell’s Beach, it became a regular meeting place for all surfers.

In 1938, the Santa Cruz Jaycees built a board storage house on Cowell’s Beach between the Santa Cruz Horseshoe Club and the pier bath house. Space not used by the club members was rented out to non-members. In 1942, the club rented a former hamburger stand, only 30 feet from the board house, as their clubhouse.

As the club grew and became more serious, they elected officers and had T-shirts and sweatshirts made with the club’s logo. Members and their friends spent many happy years growing up on the sands in front of their clubhouse. Beach volleyball and the rigors of surfing resulted in strong and healthy bodies.

Most members served in the armed forces in World War II. Fortunately, they all returned home safely, but things were never the same on the beach again. Many of the members drifted away from the old ways and got on with their lives – college, marriage, families, jobs and responsibilities.

In 1952, the board house was taken down. The clubhouse itself is now part of a private home on Frederick Street. However, the club members and their friends have continued to have reunions since then. The 50th reunion, 1986, was held at the Cocoanut Grove just a few months after opening the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse Surfing Museum. The Museum gave club members a new place to meet, as well as a venue to share their history with the community and with visitors to the area.

In 1992, based on an inspiration of some of the original club members, a surfing sculpture monument was erected on West Cliff Drive at Pelton Avenue. It is dedicated to all surfers, past, present, and future.

Listed below are the names of the original Santa Cruz Surfing Club members:
James S. Alumbaugh
Bob Gillies
Harold W. Goody
Bill Grace
Terrence Hickey
Alex Hokamp
Fred Hunt

John Larrecq
Dave Ledyard
Bill J. Lidderdale, Jr.
David Littlefield
Sam A. Maugeri
Harry Mayo
Jack Moore
Harry Murray
Pete Muttersbach
Don Patterson
Alex B. Pedemonte
Duane Polly
Lloyd M. Ragon
Bob Rittenhouse
Tommy Roussel
David Steward
Ted Schultz
Richard Thompson
Doug Thorne
Blake Turner