From the original beachcomber personalities like the Waikiki Beachboys of the early 20th century, to the postwar rise of southern California as a creative epicenter for music, art, and film, Pop Surf Culture traces the roots of the surf boom from its earliest days as an insular, regional Hawaiian subculture, to its proliferation nationwide in mainstream teen fads and entertainment. Criss-crossing through the 1950s Beat Generation, 1960s counterculture, 1970s punk rock, the book illustrates why surf culture is a vital art movement of the 20th century. Pop Surf Culture covers the highs and lows of surf’s mainstreaming, including the popular “beach” movies of the 1950s and ’60s which featured such stars as Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and the music of Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, Brian Wilson, the Pyramids, Gary Usher, James Brown, and Little Stevie Wonder. 1960s art figures Michael Dormer and Rick Griffin—as well as the surf magazines which promoted their art—are featured alongside the progenitors of “surf music,” from the little known (the Centurians) to the wildly popular (the Beach Boys). From Duke Kahanamoku, the Gas House, Gidget, surfing on television, the bohemian surf aesthetic, surf music hot spots, and Mickey “Da Cat” Dora, the entire spectrum of pop surf culture is covered within these colorfully illustrated pages.
Brian Chidester, Domenic Priore Frank Kozik, Justin Allan-Spencer