A New York Times opinion piece reminds us of Richard Nixon’s war on surf. Photo: The New York Times
We’re not sure exactly what in the heck this opinion piece from The New York Times is all about. (Okay, it’s a swirling reverie about the lasting influence of Richard Nixon as seen through a surfer’s eyes. Or something.) But it’s got some historical tidbits worth remembering.
As many a SoCal surfer knows, we owe some debt of gratitude to Nixon for granting public access to Trestles and the the blissfully undeveloped stretch of coast to the south. But it’s not as if Tricky Dick were some bodysurfing, coconut water-slurping prez (that would be Obama).
Amongst the poetic ramblings is a fun recap of the strange goings-on at Nixon’s San Clemente abode, the Western White House, perched on the bluffs above Cotton’s. Here’s a quick tour:
– Nixon’s neighbor, a mere 50 yards away, was Surfer magazine founder John Severson.
– The Secret Service banned surfing whenever old Milhous was around, for “safety” reasons. No doubt, today’s Secret Service would think that was pretty cute — remember when surfers were one of the biggest presidential hazards? Ha!
– Coast Guard boats would round up surfers in the water and force them to shore, where military police would greet them, and sometimes fire warning shots.
– Under Nixon, Marines would confiscate and destroy the boards of surfers who snuck onto Camp Pendleton for a surf.
– Severson would have made TMZ proud with a bunch of photos to sold to Life magazine of Nixon’s Spanish-style compound, La Casa Pacifica. After that, as the Times piece describes:
“Severson and his friends were convinced (Severson’s house) had been bugged. “They knew everything that was going on at that house,” Steve Pezman, who ran Surfer magazine for two decades after Severson, recalls. ”Nixon knew what he had for dinner, how it came out and what he said to his wife in bed.”
And now, your moment of Zen, one of the piece’s closing paragraphs:
“History, like surfing, happens in waves, some that peter out, others that refract, bending, their energy coming back to us in unexpected ways. Vietnam becomes Iraq, Nixon becomes George W. Bush, the utopian dreams of the hippies become a kind of pop aesthetic sold to their grandchildren.”
