From Buying A Board to the Spicoli Effect

As Ike learns early in the novel, not all surfboards are created equal. The surfboard has undergone quite an evolution since its initial development in Polynesian culture. TAPPING THE SOURCE's young protagonist from the desert doesn't realize he should've purchased a noserider instead of a gun. Ehow.com didn't exist in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Ike and Michelle don't come from the most stable backgrounds. The same can be said for pro surfer and actress (John From Cincinnati) Keala Kennelly, who "[grew] up fully immersed in the culture on Kauai, she lived in a geodesic dome designed by her bohemian mother, who split from the family one day while Keala was at school and left a note on her pillow."

A few weeks ago Kem Nunn and others got together at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a discussion about "Surf Culture." The "tendency to portray surfers as unintelligent slackers," aka the "Spicoli Effect" was addressed.

In 1982 some high school kids made an 8mm movie about a day spent surfing. A lot of it was shot on the waves at Hunting Beach (note the oil drilling platform in the background of some of the shots).



If Monday's entry about the history of HB wasn't enough as for setting the scene, I found a few other great photos:

HB in 1957
The Sheraton Beach Inn, 1964
Both of those photos are from this collection of found photos, which chronicles the travels of a local HB family from 1953 to 1968.

HB in 1986
OP Pro Surf Contest Riot, 1986
(Things got a little out of control, apparently.)

For Sunday's gathering I don't plan to have surf videos playing in the background. You'll have to make do with the following:

A teaser for the film THE FANTASTIC PLASTIC MACHINE

The opening sequence to OFF THE WALL II (the music is great)

This may be stretching things a bit, but I like how the theme lightly ties in with the novel - Punk vs. Surfer Moped Chase (1981)

Hang loose!