In 1974, there was a how-to article in Surfer Magazine by pro surfer Mike Purpus that revealed step-by-step how to do Mike’s signature move: the roundhouse cutback. We already knew about dragging your inside hand or using the booster turn to set up the cutback, but Mike’s provenance was the real revelation. Unlike the big wave heroics and mysticism the media fixated on, every kook could work on their cutback in crummy waves any day of the year. Mike lived and surfed in humble Hermosa Beach when he wasn’t competing or campaigning on the North Shore. Hermosa was rarely crowded and rarely good, but it was a beacon of surf culture and remains an important part of surf history. It’s hard not to reminisce about early days in South Bay.
Mike sometimes lived in “Doc’s House” north of Hermosa Pier with his three proteges: WSA Men’s competitor Terry Stevens, WSA juniors competitor Mike Benevidez and WSA boys competitor Chris Barela. The “Purp Patrol” would pull into heaving tubes for photos or for laughs, but they would almost never make the wave. The crew wore different color booties so they could be identified in the headless stand up tube photos. Chris seemed fearless and unbreakable until he caught his board with his forehead resulting in 30+ stitches. Because Hermosa was such a closeout, the waves everywhere else seemed perfect by comparison.
Doc’s House was a pretty storied location. Previously, Dru Harrison and David Nuuhiwa called it home. Peter Pope Kahapea recalls living in the South Bay in the sixties:
“I rode for Dewey Weber when Donald Takayama and Harold Iggy were shaping for him. We lived on 25th Street then. I knew Dru’s family well. They fed us in the old days. What a wonderful family the Harrison’s were. They treated us like their own! I worked for Juicy James (Bill Ray’s Dad) on the corner of 14th and Strand and used to sneak into the Biltmore Hotel and go for a swim. Juicy also had a surf mat rental place on the Strand and I worked there next to old man Joe who had mat rentals as well. We hung around the Insomniac and the Lighthouse across the street. Some great music came off of Pier Avenue then. Taco Bill’s burritos for fifty cents. They were sixty cents if you wanted sour cream. Poop Deck had dime beers on Tuesday nights. The little Italian Deli down at 2nd Street was always good for a “deli grinder.” I loved the South Bay and its people. It was a tight little community.”
Matt Warshaw was the area’s prototypical Pro/Am competitor. He started surfing in 1968 in Venice, California. In 1976, he passed on $300 in prize money to retain his amateur status. “The fun I had competing as an amateur was worth more than three hundred dollars,” Matt recalls. He went on to author of The Encyclopedia of Surfing, Mavericks, and The History of Surfing. According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Warshaw has written more cogent words about surfing than any other human.”
Mark Levy was another standout who made his mark on the South Bay. “He had the Mark Levy Tiger Tail model,” says Warshaw. “What a sharp looking board! He was the next-biggest star after Purpus during my era. He’s a super nice guy to boot. He still rips….”
Ted Robinson, former pro surfer and current O’Neill sales rep, recalls conflict between Surfrider and Chevron when a rock jetty replaced the steel oil peer at his home break. “The first year after the rock jetty was built, the waves were great – tubing from the end of the jetty to the sand. There are still a lot of closeouts, but the best waves throw out kind of square.” According to Ted, the surfing lifestyle has always been very diverse in the South Bay because of its location in the ever-dynamic Los Angeles County.
“Hermosa Beach is the true Surf City,” says Dennis Jarvis, shaper, former pro surfer and founder of Spyder Surf. Body Glove, Greg Noll, Dale Velzy, Hap Jacobs, Dewey Weber, Bing Copeland, Eddie Talbot, Doc Ball, Leroy Grannis and many other creative and influential forces in surf culture hailed from the small area that is Hermosa Beach.
