It’s kind of crazy when Robert August and Mike Hynson walk into LAX wearing suits, carrying their boards under their arms. Crazy because surfers didn’t wear suits. Back then. Photo: Encyclopedia of Surfing
If you’re not a Southern California resident, hell, even if you are, you may be unfamiliar with KCRW. The NPR local station based in Santa Monica is a beloved LA staple that does some incredible local reporting in its own right, but seldom is it heard outside of SoCal.
For the sake of full disclosure, it’s worth noting here that I listen to KCRW every morning in the car. And recently, I stumbled upon an extremely well done 17-minute episode of KCRW’s The Document that looks at the legacy of Bruce Brown’s opus, The Endless Summer more than 50 years since its release.
From inspiring generations of would-be surfers to hit the road to the consequences of increased surf travel (like fecal matter in Tamarindo), Bruce Brown changed the face of surfing forever – in some cases, if we’re honest, not necessarily for the better.
This episode features a writer, professor, and contributor of ours, Keith Plocek, and outshines (in my view) most surf podcasts, specifically because it’s not technically a “surf podcast.”
