Why Have a Surfing Hall of Fame for Pacific Beach?
That's a great question!
And the answer is, can you imagine Pacific Beach without surfing? How different would it be without its great waves? What about all the people who have ridden these waves? And those who built the surfboards to ride them on? And the businesses that were built around surfing? And the photographers, filmmakers, and writers who documented it all?
It would be just another sleepy beach town.
But it's far from that, thanks to the long and storied history of our favorite ocean pastime. It's a vibrant community that cherishes sunshine, playing in the ocean, and all of the well documented health benefits that a surfing lifestyle can offer. And we think it's time we documented and preserved that history for future generations.
So welcome. Let's make this the best way we know to honor those who have made surfing in Pacific Beach such a wonderful way of life!
The Timeline
Consider this project an example of “right place, right time”.
The place is in the same building that once housed the original Gordon & Smith store at 751-763 Turquoise Street in north PB.
The time is now, because Pacific Beach’s rich surfing history is in jeopardy of being lost to the sands of time. Too few of today’s surfers know much (if any) of this history, and we should rectify that.
At this time the project is still in the planning phase, and we're looking to get a group of like minded people together to help make it happen this year. The list of people who have expressed interest in this project includes former PBSC president Ron Greene, Debbie Gordon of G&S, longtime PB local Dennis Ogden, and Derek and Alex of Surf Lounge to name but a few.
As of today the site is at Phase One and is about halfway finished, and has these basic functions:
- Nominees List with bios of each nominee - sorry about the page load times, we're working on it!
- Nominate People - enter your own nominee(s)
- Donate to help us transform a surfy art studio into a legit museum setting
- Subscribe to help us keep the bills paid
Phase Two will add the ability to vote in the 2025 class of nominees right on the website, with the nominating period ending sometime in the late summer.
Final elections of the class of ‘25 will be done by paper ballots at a big bash at 751 Turquoise St., in conjunction with PBSC and Surf Lounge at 763 Turquoise St.
We have come up with a few criteria that people may be nominated for, which include:- Pioneers - The OG crew who started it all way back when
- Lifers - People who have surfed PB for decades
- Standouts - People who have surfed PB so well that they can’t be denied, even if they don’t exactly fit in either of the above categories
- Aloha - Anyone who has spread copious amounts of aloha in PB
- Photographers/Filmmakers - People who documented it all
- Surfboard Shaping - People who make the boards we all ride
- Surfing Industry - People who made PB surfing better thanks to their efforts
Of course some people will meet several of these criteria, which will only boost their chances of being elected.
We suggest clicking "Subscribe" to sign up for the mailing list to stay up to speed as things progress, and try to make it to our launch party on July 5th.