Surf Museums are a blast.  The first Surfing Museum in California and the mainland was the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.   I am lucky,  I have my own Surfing Museum in Monterey,  the On the Beach Classic Surfboard Museum, the Noble Collection.

Most Surfing Museums focus on local surf history.  I am directly involved with the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum and I have five antique surfboard in the exhibit.  Most Museums are locally financed.  That means with the crap the government has laid on all of us that Surf Museum’s our passion do not come under necessary operations for government agencies.   Such as the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum taken over the funding  the Santa Cruz Surfing Club (this is another long story).  All members, me included the Vice President just happen to be big suckers for the city of Santa Cruz.  I thought I paid my dues to the city of Santa Cruz when I was a long time board member (20 plus years) and former President of the Santa Cruz Longboard Union when I worked with club member to put on an unbelievable Surfing Contest at Steamers Lane,  Not!    It takes about $20K+ to keep that little museum open.  I should have stuck with my job as head surfing judge!

The model for all Surfing Museum’s is the Heritage Surfing Museum in San Clemente.  Founded by my buddy Dick Metz and company.  Dick con me in to loaning him the Malibu Preputal Surfboard to Heritage Surfing Museum, which my whole family are members.   We could sure use that Malibu board back in my museum.

Charlie Bunger of Bunger Surfboards has the Long Island Surfing Museum for the New York area.   Famous East Coast Shaper and Board manufacturer had vision when he collected some pretty choice pieces.   But come for the West Coast Boards and stay for the Bunger Boards.  Oh Yes, I have two Bunger boards in my museum in Monterey Ca!  Charlie is a great shaper!

Surf Shop Mike at Brighton Surf Shop helped start the New Jersey Surfing Museum down the coast.  This is another example of regional surfing history and culture.  Many examples of Collier and Matador Surfboards in this collection.  East Coast pioneers of the surf industry.  Remember in the mid sixties more major manufactures sent more board to the East than consumed on the West Coast.  So they have in both of these museum some real classics in near perfect condition!  I want a Matador Surfboard in my museum!

My Museum, with the help of Kelly Sorensen and Mike Locatelli we put together a private surf museum second to none.  Just read the brochure and dream!  If you seen this old display in Carmel you believe.   It was featured int he NALU magazine on the legends issue.  They photographed every board and measured each surfboard.  You may recall that Greg Noll was on the cover!  My poor son Garin had to take the NALU people to two locations.   I was coaching football at Gavilan College at the time for my old college roommate Dan Antencio at the time, thank you Garin.  Tust me my son worked his butt off!

Yes, I had a little story about each surfboard either how I acquired it or what the owner told me about the board.  That collection stay together until about 2000 when Kelly moved his operation totally to Monterey.

The new collection features over 80 surfboards.  Several ones of ones and several extremely rare surfboards.  Believe me Dick Metz and the Heritage people would love to cherry pick this exhibit.  We sale garments with a portion of the proceeds to support the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.  You name the board and I probably have in it in this exhibit.   I have the #8  Surfboard that Henry Fry built in Texas!  A Spring Branch Texas that doesn’t mean much to all of us but a lot to all those wonder Texas Surfers its boss!  Roy Zanuck’s Balsa Twin Fin Hydro Hull Simmons (Which my wife Cathy use to block her knit garments when it was in our garage) is feature, on of probably 12!  Email On the Beach Surf Shop for information on how to buy this completely cool Museum garments and support the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum!

Sorry no 70′s surfboards on display (Remeber I am 62), however,  Kelly has put a few up to keep you excited!

There is also the Texas Surf Museum which displays the Pat Magee Collection,  the International Surfing Museum in Oceanside Ca,  the Huntington Beach Surfing Museum, Honolulu Surfing Museum (for your Jimmy Buffet/Parrot Heads fans) and of course the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.    Also private collections in restaurants such as Duke’s of Malibu and the Crows Nest in Santa Cruz to mention a few.   Several Surf Shops have collections on display.  Come into Noll Surfboards in San Clemente and be taken back in history!

Well, enough of blowing my horn, oh by the way my two Greg Nolls are on display!  Send us your photos of your Museum quality or should be in a museum because? Photos.  As usual alway remember that a photo is worth a 1000 words.   Lets share photos of great old surfboard,  Greg Noll especially!!!!!!!!!!!  Lets see some of those curved stringers!!!!!!!!

Keep Surfing,  da Coach

Surf Business Cards are another overlooked classic piece of Surf Memorabilia.  The good news is there were tons produced in the sixties which lowers their overall value but makes them easy to find.  However, small, easy display,  easy to store and several come up on the market for sale all good news.   In Graphic Surf and Surf’s Up you can view a cross section of my personal business cards.  I became a collector  of these business cards because Con Colburn gave them to me.  Now always remember when someone hands you a business card do not be so quick to discard it!  You just never know???

Most of these business cards have a little discoloration and fading.   Remember, as in the Greg Noll logo on our old surfboards the red ink faded quickly with exposure to the sun.  The same is true with business cards or anything printed in the sixties.  My close personal/best friend Boots Mc Ghee (who saved my life in Costa Rica and its costs me a fortune, who said the body is only worth  about $200) always uses UV protective glass on all of his prints.   When he does a memorabilia piece for me an automatic.  The early pieces I had framed they are not UV protective glass.  I have a great Greg Noll,  Roberts Surf Shop and Dewey Weber Price Lists framed to be put on a small wall between two built in cases.   My wife Cathy moved them quickly after she saw the red in the Dewey Weber logo fading.

I guess you are wondering about value?  These cards have sold from $5 to as high as $75 depending upon condition.   As always the most important factor is how bad do you want it!   Several times in trades the duplicated I had I included to spice  up the trade.  There are hundreds of cards from the sixties from Surfboards Manufacturers,  Glassers,  Fins,  Repairs,  Photography, Surf Clothing and Surf Shops.   As demostrated in the Rockford Files, It was easy for old Jim to change his identity and his profession.  You remember the portable printing press he had in the back seat don’t you?

My personal favorite business cards are two.   Number one, My brother Tommy’s Card from Newport Surf & Sport which underneath his name says “All around good egg” and my second seen here his Toes on the Nose Card!

Share your business cards with all of us!   Help us connect with another person who just wants to look at yours and remember the good ole days!  Always remember a picture is worth a 1000 words.  Show us yur cards baby!

Keep Surfing,  da coach

Surf Movie brochures are another item that are rare and rarely sought after.   We enter the world of give away collectible items!   In general items that were given away as these brochures were at the movies to promote the next movie and advertise sponsors of the movie you were watching were generally not kept.   Why?  I have heard one reason, but first a story:  Kentucky Fried Chicken gave away a truckers style cap at the Toronto Blue Jays game in the 80s.  That cap is one of the most sought after caps!  Why because it was a give away,  low quality,  Only 500 made,  fun at the time and when it came to get rid of something,  bad news for you and your $1000 cap was trashed just like many of the thousands of these brochures and give aways that were produced.   Always remember one man’s junk is another man’s treasure and a Peteism:  and “something you die to have back when your older”!  There are millions of sad stories about give away such as these Surf Movie Brochure,  it is a good thing that most surfers are cheap!

I have shared with you two Bruce Brown movies.   Yes,  every film maker did handouts such as these that Bruce Brown did!  Some were only a one page copied document and other elboarate like Bruce’s later movies.  Lets try to find out who still has these puppies.   Those of you who have these treasures how about sharing them with all of us.   How many movies can we catalog?  Always remember that a picture is worth a thousand words!  Show us what you got!

Keep Surfing,  dacoach

Surf Magazines are probably the most popular collectible Surf items because they are so easy to store and keep!  Not to mention the number that were produced.   Value,  Wow!, at the height of sales of surf memorabilia the Surfer Quartiles were selling for a $1000 plus!  Remember when they printed the first surfer it was all out of pocket and they spent most of their monies producing the magazine,  the first one as seen here.  The Vol 2-#1-#4 were limited printing always making them hard to find and the most valuable, supply and demand!  When I appraised the Pat Magee Collection Pat had amassed a large number of quartiles.  These magazines are for sale at the Texas Surf Museum.  There are also many other sites featuring Surfing Magazines from the sixties.   However, remember things to look for:  General Damage,  pages missing,  ad/pictures cut out and if you lucky the magazine was not circlated or read Wow, cook, bitchin, you’ve got a keeper!

Note: Newer publications are general face value or less so be ware when you’re trying to fill in Longboarders or Longboard Magazine or even Surfers Journal.  You don’t need to pay an arm and leg like for these magazines I am featuring.  Just in case they have entered your mind as you read.  I know what you thinking is there a chance to put my kid through college, the answer is NO!  Maybe with these old ones, a year and just maybe!

What about other valuable surf magazines?   Reef only produced three issues.   Most magazine collector will argue about the value of the Surfer Quartiles vs Reef Magazine!   Hard to find until about five years ago several of these magazines were found in the original boxes of   Vol 1  #1, #2 & #3

from the printer and drove prices down on this magazine.  I was able to be given Vol 1 #1 and Vol 1 #2 by Con Colburn.  My two copies are mint.  I had them for sale on the surfwarez site.  However, when the box of originals were found prices went down by as much as 60%.   I personally would rather trade another collector rather than sell.   It seems like when and if you do a cash deal sides are taken.   When you do a trade both parties seem to be more happy, well at least I am always happier with a trade.  Reef as well as Surf Guides  (Surfer Quarterlies are also short magazines) are low in information magazines.   I have always use what little magazines I have for references.  The lack of fluff in the early magazines makes them extremely interesting to me.  There were basically only Surfboard makers for advertising.   Yes, no board bags, clothing, wax,  and maybe some wetsuit vest!

Surf Guide outlasted Reef but still was toast in the end.   A beer budget and with the addition of Surfing magazine competition for advertising was tough.   Surfer and Surfing ruled the magazine racks nationally.  So again,  Surf Guide like Reef has its cult followers.  Surf Guide as it progressed had more fluff than earlier editions,  as seen here.   Now also remember there were several East Coast magazines dedicated to the East.  Surf Guide and Reef kept a California flavor mixed in with a little Hawaii for spice.  We were all dreaming of a steamship ride to Hawaii and big surf!   People have their favorite issues for many reasons.   I like the two Surf Guides,  my first the one with Buzzy Trent, the first surf magazine I had ever seen.   The second with my old buddy Lance Carson on the cover.   Now for the Surfers Quarterlies   Vol 2 #2 which features another old friend  Reynolds Yater.

Greg spent most of his advertising in Surfing Magazine.  Surfing had much more fluff.  The magazine also was not produced as well as the for mentioned magazines.  More stuff to buy and a little more East Coast presence.  On our site you can view many of these old ads.

So enough rambling,  I have purposely left out many magazines to challenge each and every one of you to send in a comment with your favorite Surf Magazine.   Always remember a picture is worth a 1000 words.

Keep Surfing, dacoach