The first time I walked into Bird’s Surf Shed in San Diego was overwhelming. I wasn’t sure where to look. Inside this corrugated metal hangar of sorts, surfboards of all shapes, colors, and from different decades were strung up in such a way that the place enveloped me. Getting a kink in my neck was a serious possibility when I stared upward, just thinking about the stories behind each craft.
Eric “Bird” Huffman is the proprietor of the Shed. It’s a surf shop, an event space, and a display of one of the most impressive board collections in the world (though Bird is quick to point out his buddy Joe Roper down the street has an incredible collection too). He’s collected hundreds if not thousands of boards over the years. But, perhaps most importantly, the boards are not to be treated like relics. “I always say, this place isn’t a museum, it’s more like a library,” says Bird.
If the Shed is a library, he’s its incredibly knowledgeable librarian – with an intimate knowledge of who shaped what, what kind of waves a board was intended for and how a particular design relates to the history of shaping in general. Bird has a passion for surfing, and surf craft in particular, that’s unparalleled.
When I arrived to conduct and interview, we also brought a board with us – an old Hobie that was just sitting in our office. No one was quite sure how it got there. With my remedial knowledge of surf history, I figured it might have an interesting story to tell. Before heading to the Shed, I emailed Bird some photos of the thing. “What do you think?” I wondered. Bird was immediately able to tell me when the board was shaped within a few years, and postulated it was a self-shape for someone who worked in the Hobie factory – “probably Mickey “the Mongoose” Muñoz, he thought.
We walked through the door. I showed Bird the board. His eyes lit up. He started rapping about how the pin line told him more about who may have glassed it, how the fin wasn’t typical of the period but looked like it was made by hand, and even more interesting, crazy facts. Shed regulars would saunter in, some guys with a wealth of board knowledge themselves, and they and Bird would go back and forth, exchanging ideas about the historic clues hidden within the foam and fiberglass.
The experience revealed the passion behind the man, the reason someone would take such care in preserving the history of surf craft, creating a mecca through which younger generations (myself included) can understand and educate themselves.
Passing it on is a key part of Bird’s program and the Shed’s mentality. Local shapers can use boards to experiment or fine tune their templates. There’s a shaping bay in the back available to rent per hour. And, most obviously, the Shed operates day to day as a surf shop, with a variety of new and used boards to buy, wetsuits, and standard surf goods and accessories.
First and foremost, though, it’s about the boards. As Bird says, “Without surfboards there is no surfing. So that pretty much cuts right to the chase.”
CREATORS is The Inertia’s profile series featuring individuals who make inspiring and innovative contributions to ocean and outdoor culture. View more CREATORS profiles below:
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